Saying Goodbye to Eat From Your Pantry

After more than two years of blogging about food, nutrition, and living within our means, I'm ready to close the pantry doors.

A few months ago my family left our position as Resident Managers of a transitional housing facility to move into our very first home. Leaving was bittersweet as we loved the work we did there, but we are excited about all of the new adventures ahead of us.

As I sat down to write a new "About" page that reflected our new circumstances, I reflected on my reasons for beginning this blog. Part of our job as Resident Managers was to teach the residents basic life skills during our weekly meetings. We also helped to sort and stock the food pantry. I came to realize quickly that most of these residents, who have come from many different backgrounds and were homeless for a myriad of reasons, had in common the fact that they lacked the necessary skills to provide frugal, nutritious meals for their families. As I set out to tackle teaching on this enormous subject, I decided to chronicle what I was learning and teaching here, at Eat From Your Pantry.

As I've studied nutrition, my thoughts about food have continued to change. I gradually morphed from blogging about using only pantry ingredients, to blogging about cooking with what you have on hand. It has become increasingly difficult to fit the content I want to write into the parameters I set for this blog. I have also come to realize that there is a whole world of honest-to-goodness EXPERTS blogging about food, and I have no desire to compete.

However, I have LOVED blogging and building a community around this blog. I so value the motivation that has come from doing research and creating recipes for this blog. I have no plans to stop writing, cooking, or writing about cooking. On the contrary, I am closing this blog to christen another!

I have felt compelled to keep this blog fairly anonymous to preserve the subject matter. I have been blogging about family related things at another blog, but have felt restricted there, too. So, I'm biting the bullet and combining my writing efforts. I suppose I am officially becoming a "mom blogger." It may seem strange to move away from a niche readership to a broader one, but I know that I will write more often, and more genuinely if I can write about the full range of subjects that I'm passionate about.

So, all explanations over, please please join me over at 

Raising the Barrs!

If you aren't interested in family, etc. but have enjoyed my posts here, you'll find a convenient button on the right hand side of the new blog labeled "Good Food" that will take you to all food-related pots. There is also a link to my recipes at the top of the page.

Thanks for the great run, hope to see you at the other site!

Happy Turkey Day!

The Marie Callender's giveaway winners have been contacted, congrats!

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I'm thankful for you!

...and pie. :)

Marie Calender's Baked Meals Review and giveaway!

I've been given the opportunity to try the new Marie Calender's Baked meals at no cost and pass on my thoughts and some coupons to you! Two readers will get coupons for a free meal! Read through to the end for more details.

Regular readers may be surprised to see me writing a review for frozen meals. While I recommend cooking everything from scratch whenever possible, I acknowledge that there are days that circumstances don't make that easy. The best case scenario is that your fridge and pantry are stocked full of fresh and easy to prepare ingredients. Second best is that you have prepared for rough and/or hurried days with some frozen meals you cooked ahead of time from scratch. I won't lie though, sometimes the convenience of a frozen pizza or even fast food proves rewarding enough in the dividends it pays to my sanity to make it worth it.

So, long justification over, I'm posting a review for a frozen meal because the reality is that most of us eat them. I cannot in good consciousness recommend eating these on a regular basis due to the large amount of sodium and the processed ingredients they contain, but for the occasional relief from cooking, here's what I think:

I tried 3 of the Baked Meals and one Pie. A review of each is below.

Southwestern Style Chipotle Chicken Bake
 We microwaved this one as we were in a hurry. We were pleased that it really did come out cooked evenly and the rice had a good texture - not that gross grainy-ness that some instant rice has. I will warn you though that while the sauce had a good flavor, it was way too spicy for my husband and 2 year old. They weren't impressed at all. Also, we should have eaten it with tortilla chips or with a big salad b/c we were hungry an hour later. We don't do many carbs/grains and there wasn't much chicken in the meal. Still not bad for what it is.

Creamy Chicken Alfredo with Sun-Dried Tomatoes
This was delicious! I'll be tempted to buy it again for sure. The sauce was just right and the tomatoes added a kick. Everyone loved it! We microwaved this one as well. Even though all of these can be baked, the difference in prep time for this one was 10 minutes in the microwave, or 50 in the oven!! We knew we'd still be hungry this time, so we MAY have finshed dinner off with some pie...

Razzleberry Pie
I received a coupon for a percentage off of a pie and they were on sale, so I grabbed one. The fact that I chose Razzleberry is a testament to how much I love my husband. I would much rather have chosen Chocolate Cream, but he's a fruit guy. And as far as fruit pies go, I enjoyed this one. The biggest bummer for me was that I didn't read the baking instructions far enough ahead, and they suggest that you let the pit set for 3 hours after it's baked. We ended up eating it right before bed, which I wouldn't have chosen. Like most pies, I thought it was better cold for breakfast the next morning.

Three Meat and Four Cheese Lasagna
We finally got around to baking this one. The baking tray held up well and it baked very evenly! I made Cheesy Garlic Coconut Quick Bread to go with. It was definitely more substantial that the other two with 290 calories and 14g of protein per serving. Not bad at all for a frozen lasagna.

There are also three more varieties of baked meals that I didn't try:  Chicken Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna, Scalloped Potatoes and Ham, and Vermont White Cheddar Mac 'n Cheese.


Would you like to try your own??

Marie Callender's has graciously sent me coupons to give away to two of my readers! To win a coupon for a free Marie Callender's Multi-Serve Baked Meal, visit their site and then tell me in the comments which meal you think you'll try. That's it! Easy-peasy!

Comments will close on Wednesday, November 24th at 11:59pm. Two comments will be randomly chosen on Thanksgiving Day. Please leave me a way to contact you in your comment or I'll have to choose someone else.

***Disclosure: I was given coupons for two free baked meals as well as for cents off of a few more. I was also compensated for writing up my review and hosting the giveaway. However, I was in no way obligated to write anything favorable about the products or company. All ideas expressed in this post are mine.

Groupon - Deal of the Day

This isn't exactly food related, but I've wanted to pass this information along for a while and today is a great day for it.


Most of you have probably heard of Groupon or other deal-of-the-day sites, or at least seen all of the promotional advertisements around the web. We've been using Groupon since April and have gotten some spectacular deals! So far we've redeemed groupons for half of at a salon, a big discount on a membership to thelocal botanical garden, cheap oil changes, 1/2 off at Gap (new jeans - yay!!), donuts for my husband's employees, and a great price on a box of organic produce from Fresh Connect.

Every day Groupon offers a new deal at 50-90% off the regular price. They can offer these deals because large numbers of purchases are made by the "group" of groupon members. The companies offering the deals get massive exposure and a great return on other products/services purchased.

I can't recommend Groupon enough and I'm excited to let you know about today's deal. Usually Groupons are very local. I love that and try to support small, local business whenever possible. Still, it's awesome when there is a groupon for a larger company, like the one I redeemed for Gap, because you know it will be a great deal and that you'll be able to find something you want/need.


Today's Groupon is $25 for $50 worth of merchandise from American Apparel.

If you aren't yet a member of Groupon, please consider using my affiliate link to sign up. I will receive a $10 credit for each new member. If you are already a member but are learning about today's deal through this blog, I'd love for you to purchase it by clicking through either of the Groupon graphics above. I will earn a commission that way, too. Thanks so much!