Over the Limit and New Recipe Fail

I left work last night a little earlier than normal so I decided to swing by the store and pick up some hamburger for the recipe I wanted to try. I realized after I arrived at work yesterday that I did not have any on hand, and really did not want to change the menu I made for the week since it used up most of the ingredients I had on hand looking to be used. Long story short, that stop put me over the limit this month

Target trip:
1 container sour cream
2 boxes of yogurt
2 pkgs cheese sticks
1 bag dog food

Total: $27.01


Sprouts trip:

~.05lbs ginger root
4 lbs mandarin oranges
3 lbs ground beef
muffins

Total: $14.09

I did get rebates back on these items and am nearly at the tipping point to get $40.00 back but again can not count it until it is money in the bank.

Feb Total: $228.87

Dinner as on the menu was supposed to be these awesome Shepherd's Pie Potato Skins but the skins on my potatoes started peeling off as soon as I took them out of the microwave so I ended up making a more traditional pie and served it with garlic bread. It tasted fine, I was just disappointed that it did not work in the potato skins for me.

I am contemplating a Pantry Challenge for next month. A friend shared a  post from Good Cheap Eats on eating out of your pantry for a month. I read her post on having a pantry challenge and think I could pull it off. As always the trick for me is staying out of the grocery stores and if I get my produce through the co-op that would limit my exposure to the store. I have enough stuff at home between the pantry, fridge and freezer to cook a lot of meals. She gave herself produce and dairy to be purchased which makes sense. If I do the co-op I would only need to give myself a pass for dairy. I am pretty stocked up on cheese and sour cream right now so I am thinking milk would be my only dairy purchase. The money I would save if I could just run in and get milk would go a long way towards either my student loans or towards taking the boys to Florida to visit my family.

I will confirm in the next couple of days if I am going to do the challenge, as I have just managed to get a menu down for the week and hopefully stick to it.