Shelftember 2024
It's that time of year when thoughts turn to spring cleaning, and one of the things we should spring clean is our food pantry, especially if it's been a while and you have a good stockpile.
Why? Well it will help to rotate your food, so that everything is being used in a timely manner. And it will help you use up those obscure ingredients you have, perhaps given to you or you picked up as a freebie or bought for a new recipe.
Shelftember is the month you cook and eat from your pantry, using up what you have on hand.
If you take up the Shelftember Challenge, then for the month of September you eat just what you have on hand in the pantry, fridge, freezer and garden.
During Shelftember, what you have is what you live on for the month. That's it!
Same rules as a pantry challenge:
1. Use what you have today, and plan your month of meals around these ingredients.
2. Use nothing you buy. Keep shopping; this challenge isn't a stop shopping challenge, it's a use it up challenge. Keep stocking your pantry as you would, just don't buy the new ingredients you are adding each week or fortnight. The aim is to finish the challenge with your pantry as stocked as it would normally be, not run down.
3. Don't stop stocking your pantry. Don't stop being wise and looking ahead and preparing for what is coming. Don't stop growing food and don't stop preserving it.
If you have an ingredients based pantry you're set. You have options - remember, ingredients give you options. You will be able to eat well from your pantry and most likely won't even notice that you are taking part in the Shelftember Challenge.
Use Shelftember to create new recipes and meal ideas using what you have. You'll be rotating your pantry stocks and who knows, you could well create a new family favourite.
If you have a packet and can style pantry you may need to get more creative and look up recipes to use those packets and cans or you could get very bored with what you're eating before too long.
Either way, go do a pantry inventory. This includes your fridge and freezer and garden. Make sure you know what you have on hand. Then get your meal plan out and allocate ingredients/packets/cans to each meal. If you need to, get all those recipe books out and go through them for inspiration.
There are millions of ways to use cream of chicken soup or tuna or baked beans or tinned fruit. Cake mixes can be turned into cakes, muffins, breads, crumble toppings, breads, pancakes - get inventive, do some recipe hunting and see what you can come up with.
The idea for this challenge is to use up what you have in your pantry, rotate that stock, and clean it out.
It's an opportunity to use up the odd things lurking on the shelf, the things that seemed like a good idea, or were really cheap or were an ingredient in a recipe you're not ever going to make again.
You can do it!
Why? Well it will help to rotate your food, so that everything is being used in a timely manner. And it will help you use up those obscure ingredients you have, perhaps given to you or you picked up as a freebie or bought for a new recipe.
Shelftember is the month you cook and eat from your pantry, using up what you have on hand.
If you take up the Shelftember Challenge, then for the month of September you eat just what you have on hand in the pantry, fridge, freezer and garden.
During Shelftember, what you have is what you live on for the month. That's it!
Same rules as a pantry challenge:
1. Use what you have today, and plan your month of meals around these ingredients.
2. Use nothing you buy. Keep shopping; this challenge isn't a stop shopping challenge, it's a use it up challenge. Keep stocking your pantry as you would, just don't buy the new ingredients you are adding each week or fortnight. The aim is to finish the challenge with your pantry as stocked as it would normally be, not run down.
3. Don't stop stocking your pantry. Don't stop being wise and looking ahead and preparing for what is coming. Don't stop growing food and don't stop preserving it.
If you have an ingredients based pantry you're set. You have options - remember, ingredients give you options. You will be able to eat well from your pantry and most likely won't even notice that you are taking part in the Shelftember Challenge.
Use Shelftember to create new recipes and meal ideas using what you have. You'll be rotating your pantry stocks and who knows, you could well create a new family favourite.
If you have a packet and can style pantry you may need to get more creative and look up recipes to use those packets and cans or you could get very bored with what you're eating before too long.
Either way, go do a pantry inventory. This includes your fridge and freezer and garden. Make sure you know what you have on hand. Then get your meal plan out and allocate ingredients/packets/cans to each meal. If you need to, get all those recipe books out and go through them for inspiration.
There are millions of ways to use cream of chicken soup or tuna or baked beans or tinned fruit. Cake mixes can be turned into cakes, muffins, breads, crumble toppings, breads, pancakes - get inventive, do some recipe hunting and see what you can come up with.
The idea for this challenge is to use up what you have in your pantry, rotate that stock, and clean it out.
It's an opportunity to use up the odd things lurking on the shelf, the things that seemed like a good idea, or were really cheap or were an ingredient in a recipe you're not ever going to make again.
You can do it!