I know why y'all are wondering why I'm showing you pics of the refrigerator,  freezer and pantry where we are staying. We'll, here's why. 

Meal planning and shopping from my freezer first. Then plan meals around things I already have. 😌 

We are in a rent house right now and don't have alot of space to put things. Plus, we don't have the comfort of all of our frozen garden produce, canned garden goods or our freezer full of already packaged and vacuum sealed meats. So, while here,  I have to downsize and plan smaller meals but also make them stretch. 

So let me walk you through it. 

First I see what all I have on hand. I can get creative and come up with a recipe. 

For tonight I pulled put some chicken that was in a big pack and I only used half for one night and repackaged the rest for another night like tonight, a box of mashed cauliflower I wanted to try, and two bags of broccoli flowerettes. I looked in my cabinet and I have some left over bacon bits and in the fridge I see cheddar cheese. I will use these to add more to the mashed cauliflower.  Oh, I just spotted some left over sour cream I can add to the top. I already have olive oil, garlic,  lemon juice and butter to roast up the broccoli with. I turned the chicken into lemon/honey/garlic chicken also. See how I did that?

I also see a bottle of Olive Garden Italian dressing and a jar of Picante sauce which gives me a meal idea for another night with some chicken. Wow!

Now I  have some left over fried ravioli and some jars of pasta sauce and a block of mozzarella cheese.  So a ravioli baked casserole it is for one night. And served with some garlic toast from any of the loaves of bread you see in the freezer section. You can freeze bread and pull how many ever pieces you want out at a time and work with it.  The bread doesn't go bad as quick and saves money. I will also put some of those fried mozzarella cheese sticks with it. I will have some sauce left over for dipping them in. That is meal 2. 
Now, meal 3. I see some shrimp and some smoked sausages that I will do a sheet pan dinner one night. All I will have to get is a small Zucchini and a small squash. Meal 4 is going to be a pizza made with cauliflower crust. I have that bag of rice cauliflower in the freezer. I have another jar of pasta sauce, some of the leftover block of mozzarella cheese, and a small slice of ham in the freezer. I have some bacon and a can of rotel tomatoes and a bag of spinach. So spinach/bacon/tomato/ham pizza it will become. 
You see, that's not hard. Always, always shop from your freezer, fridge, and pantries first. You may have to supplement a few items and go pick them up at the grocery store. Always shop sales at the grocery store. We have found having a Kroger card is well worth it. You get prices that non members don't and there is no membership fee. Keep staples on hand. Sometimes you can splurge and look for a recipe first,  then go get the ingredients.  When you start seeing left over things in your pantry etc, do this exact thing I just did and get creative. There will come a time you will have to restock,  just do it wisely. Shop the sales and stock up if you can. I have so many helpful ideas on our Canning and Preserving Page and Homemaking Page. I hope I have gave you some inspiration to help you out a bit. 

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