Hey Party People!  Have we all settled in to 2022?  Are you still accidentally writing 2021 on everything?  I would, if I still wrote anything but it doesn’t seem to be an issue anymore.  Anywho…

Do you remember when I posted about #NoBuyJanuary last year?  It is an idea from @andhattiemakesthree.  I loved this plan last year.  It has tons of great ideas but I really only tried to not go to the grocery store so much.  For someone like me, who goes to multiple grocery stores most days, this was a real challenge.  The beauty was, I had so much around the house I really didn’t need to go to the store.

I’m doing it again this January but on a smaller scale.  We’ve already made a few things to clear out what we’ve got.  Funnily enough, I went back and read my first No Buy January post from 2021 and our first meal that year was the same as our first meal this year:  meatballs leftover from NYE, I made spaghetti sauce from pantry staples, I had a bag of caesar in the fridge and 1/2 a baguette from NYE I turned into garlic cheese bread.

The girls got to have eggnog milk shakes as their after-school snack their first day back after winter break.  It was cold outside but they were so excited to have a milkshake as snack because that simply does not happen.  I always think we are going to drink the eggnog and we never do.  Why don’t I learn?

Last week I thawed duck breasts I had in the freezer.  I picked some up at Aldi when they were a “special buy.”  We had the duck breasts with roasted veggies, duck fat fried potatoes and a side of cassoulet beans (I just made the beans, not the entire dish).   We were all so happy!  We even broke out a good bottle of wine for that one.  Another item that we have stored, I didn’t buy it!

I know we aren’t going to have all fancy meals.  But it will be so great to clear some stuff out of this house.  I have probably 5 soups in the freezer and another 7 store bought soups in the pantry.  We don’t need that much soup.  And why not use up those emergency Trader Joe’s meals I have in the freezer?  My kids love Mandarin Chicken night and I would love some microwave gnocchi or risotto for lunch one day.

A lot of people like to do a cleanse in January or are all about getting organized.  This is my version of both.  If I can clean out most of that junk in the freezer and pantry it will be so much easier to organize it.  And plus, it saved me SO much money last year.  Again, I’m excited to see where I end up on February 1st.  Hopefully chips and crackers won’t fall out of the cabinet every time I open the door.  Fingers crossed!