Week 7 Meals CHRISTMAS WEEK - $21 Grocery Budget Challenge & Pantry Build

[@BreeSB]

Love this! Recommend your channel as often as I can. You deserve anything good to come this year!🎉

[@jackiephillips9042]

Never have we ever made a ginger bread house either. You did very well for a first attempt. Your container that you are marinating in is exactly like one (different colour) that my Mom gave me.

[@adventuresingroceryland]

@@jackiephillips9042 I love my little blue marinator. I've had it for about 20 years! ❤️

[@delledonne1]

Great food for Christmas week. Wishing you both a Happy New Year!

[@adventuresingroceryland]

@@delledonne1 Thank you. I hope you had a great Christmas.

[@darleneprice6467]

What a fun Christmas you had! Nothing like Christmas week. happy New Year to you and the handsome one!

[@adventuresingroceryland]

@@darleneprice6467 Thanks, Darlene. Merry Christmas

[@cyclingonplants7444]

Hi Melanie 🤗 OMG that gingerbread house kit is so cute!!!! I have never made one myself but we used to have team challenges at work making these and it was so competitive!LOL! Isn't it funny how some jalapenos are so mild and others so HOT??? Your meals looked yummy as usual 😋 I love peach anything - they're my fave fruit! We had a white Christmas here in Southern Ontario - it was so pretty. I definitely want some of that delicious chili - looks amazing 😍

[@adventuresingroceryland]

@cyclingonplants7444 The chili was so good. My dad stirred it non stop for about an hour!! It was a huge pot. 8L. There was a very small amount left for my parents to take home. My parents brought 4 packages of chili powder and we put them all in. Ha. My sister asked me if we were drunk when we put that gingerbread house together. Ha ha ha. We laughed so hard as we were assembling it because we were doing such a messy job. Those little candies were rolling all over the place. That bag of jalapeños was the hottest I've ever had. They are on a different level. We have 1 left, so we learned a little goes a long way! Merry Christmas.

[@rjewell1260]

The gingerbread house turned out really good for your first time 😂

[@adventuresingroceryland]

@@rjewell1260 We laughed and laughed. Lol.

[@BrowneyedGirlmjd]

Your gingerbread house was adorable! 🏚️ is it possible the peppers were missed labelled and they weren’t jalapeños although they look like jalapeños. (And Die Hard IS a Christmas movie!!! I will defend you on this hill🎄) i’m so happy you had a wonderful Christmas. Wishing you, the handsome one and the entire Adventures in Groceryland family all the best for 2025!!

[@adventuresingroceryland]

@BrowneyedGirlmjd I don't think the jalapeños were. Just crazy hot. Ha. Die Hard was fantastic, as usual. Yippee Kai Yay. ❤️

[@luckyrobinshomestead]

Looks like you did great even with the holiday functions that could have thrown everything way off. You can take some of that turkey and make it into turkey salad, like you would chicken salad, for sandwiches. My daughter actually likes it better than chicken if it is made with the dark meat turkey and the same as chicken if made with the white meat turkey. Since the turkey freezes so well, we just take enough out to thaw on Friday night so it'll be ready on Sunday night to make sandwiches for lunches for her and her dad for the week. It lasted about 3 weeks after Thanksgiving. We also got a large pan of enchiladas, a pan of tater tot casserole, a pie sized chicken pot pie, a repeat dinner of Thanksgiving itself the next day and some turkey sandwiches. Plus, I just ate some turkey straight up as a snack since I don't eat much gluten. For Christmas we had a nice picnic ham, so we stripped the ham off the bone and I threw that in the freezer. We had a few sandwiches and I diced up the rest. I did 4 1 cup packages for pizza toppings. We make two pizzas at a time so 1 cup is enough for 2 12 inch pizzas. If we make 1 16 inch pizza it is all enough for that. Then we do 3 cup portions for ham, potato, and leek soup. I have two packets of that. And then one 2 cup portion to add to a bean soup for the kids. If there had been enough ham leftover, I would have diced some really finely so we could mix it into egg salad so my husband could have ham and egg salad sandwiches. If he has to choose, though, he'd rather have it on pizza and in soup. I also saved a few pieces of ham that was streaked with fat that I couldn't get out of the meat easily to flavor green beans and froze that. We have 8 small pieces of that to use. Yesterday, I pulled out my ham bone and threw it in my 8 quart Instant Pot with 3 roughly chopped carrots, the center of a celery bunch including the leaves roughly chopped, an onion with the skin, roughly chopped, a whole head of garlic cloves, each clove smashed, papers included, a TBSP of thyme, a tsp of pepper, 6 sprigs of fresh parsley, but dried would have been fine, 1 TBSP granulated onion, 1 TBSP granulated garlic, and then filled it to the max fill line with filtered water. I cooked it on high pressure on the soup/broth function then let it sit on warm all day before straining it and dividing the broth into containers to cool, and then to go in the fridge over night. It tastes good, but needs salt, but I won't be adding it until all the ingredients are in and can see what adding salty ham in does to the flavor profile. This morning I skimmed off all the fat and put it into a jar and put that back in the fridge. I will be using the fat to fry potatoes with later this week. It's almost as good as frying them in bacon fat. Tonight I will be making ham, potato, and leek soup for dinner. Of course, since you did a mustard and brown sugar ham, I don't know about making soup or pizza with it, if you got to take any back home.

[@adventuresingroceryland]

There was some ham left for us to bring home. I've used it in 2 different suppers and froze the rest. ❤️ You did phenomenal with your turkey! Well done. Seriously.

[@susanchoja6800]

Sliced ham heated until crispy in the air fryer is so amazing! Dip it in mustard! You did great with all the festive foods with such a tight budget

[@adventuresingroceryland]

@@susanchoja6800 Thanks, Susan.

[@ruthlattie5111]

Happy New Year's 🎉 Gingerbread house looks great. I have never made one. Maybe next year

[@adventuresingroceryland]

@@ruthlattie5111 We actually had quite a bit of fun making it.

[@sandiedrew4086]

We sure did have a white Christmas here in Nova Scotia ❄️🎄🎅🎁❤️🥰

[@adventuresingroceryland]

@sandiedrew4086 We sure did. It was pretty stormy at our place Christmas Eve day, especially in the afternoon.

[@pennynickels5216]

​@@adventuresingroceryland How much ❄️❄️❄️???

[@CarolPearse-q3w]

Totally enjoyed watching this one, the food made me hungry, lol, so glad you had a GREAT Christmas with family, Happy New Year to you both! 🙏🥳

[@adventuresingroceryland]

@CarolPearse-q3w Thanks, Carol. It was a busy week with a fabulous Christmas. ❤️ I hope yours was fabulous too.

[@myhillsidegarden3998]

Wow! What awesome gatherings you had. Thanks for sharing today. enjoy the weekend. Catherine

[@adventuresingroceryland]

@myhillsidegarden3998 Catherine, we had a busy week. I should have taken some pictures from the first function we were at. The quantity of food was just unbelievable. I was so full I practically had to roll out the door! I slept it off once I got home. Ha.

[@Crackrzz]

11:22 I haven't done it yet, but apparently opening the tomato paste can at both ends, you can just push one end and, no mess. Then just fish the lid off the top of the food and rinse it off.

[@adventuresingroceryland]

@@Crackrzz OH. That's a clever idea.

[@sandiedrew4086]

Everything looks delicious! 😋

[@adventuresingroceryland]

@@sandiedrew4086 Thanks, Sandie.

[@choward8444]

what a nice video to wake up to: you are 4 hours ahead of me. I had to laugh out loud...as you were making your frothy coffee; I was making my own. I make a "bullet Proof Coffee with coconut oil and butter in it. Very tasty and creamy and as I also do not eat breakfast it keeps me full longer too. Today I used Gingerbread spice as a flavor from Epicure. Yum. Also funny is that my dinner plan was /is Sloppy Joes. Just shows great minds think alike.😆🙂🍵

[@adventuresingroceryland]

@@choward8444 Exactly. Great minds do think a like. I think that gingerbread spice I have from Epicure will probably last me the next 5 years. Lol.

[@choward8444]

@@adventuresingroceryland it was your use of the gingerbread spice that had me add it to my Epicure list

[@adventuresingroceryland]

@choward8444 I made the Extraordinary cheese dip for 2 of our 4 functions. My mother was just raving about it! Ha. I like it but honestly the epicure chipolte ranch bacon is my favourite. I don't have any ranch right now. Soon! We'll have some rewards to claim in a bit.

[@tenthousanddaysofgratitude]

Looks good for your first gingerbread house!

[@adventuresingroceryland]

@@tenthousanddaysofgratitude We just laughed and laughed. Ha

[@kathryndockrey1477]

Your meals all looked delicious! We had ham for Xmas, and picked up a $1.09 lb turkey this morning (which is in the oven) Hope to be able to make lots of meals from that. Lots of work preparing large meals, especially when travelling with them. Take a week and rest

[@adventuresingroceryland]

@@kathryndockrey1477 What a great price for a turkey. Awesome. I'll admit I'm a bit on the tired side after that week. But feeling great that we were able to do all the things we wanted to do within our challenge budget. That's pretty awesome!

[@samanthadodd8112]

Glad u had a Merry Christmas.

[@adventuresingroceryland]

@samanthadodd8112 Thanks, Samantha. I hope you did too.

[@CherylRoode]

Are u going to cuba in the New Year . My friend and i are goung in April .Can,t wait

[@adventuresingroceryland]

@CherylRoode No plans at this time. We do love Cuba but we are often spur of the moment bookers.

[@GrowinTO]

Love your videos! Hello and Merry Christmas from Ontario! Curious why you used the grooved container to marinate? I always go for maximum marinade lol, ziploc bag with the air squeezed out. Am I missing out?

[@adventuresingroceryland]

@@GrowinTO The grooves allow little spaces under the meat for the marinade to flow. 😁 Thanks so much for watching. I hope you had a Merry Christmas.

[@cathyblock7680]

How did you get the walls to stay upright? Placing roof always collapsed my house. Kudos!

[@adventuresingroceryland]

@@cathyblock7680 lots of icing as glue. Ha.

[@michellesmith9662]

How are you going to use your savings? Happy New Year!! ❤

[@adventuresingroceryland]

@@michellesmith9662 We need a part for our vehicle that's $350 + tax. I hate it when the hard earned savings have to go to boring things like that. Boo.

[@michellesmith9662]

@ Congratulations on saving for that bill!! ❤️

[@Smooshes786]

493g? Are they actually counting the packaging now?? Ugh!

[@adventuresingroceryland]

@@Smooshes786 I find it so annoying. It's a huge pet peeve of mine.