Three Rivers Challenge – 2025 Pantry Challenge

Posts on Happily Homegrown contain affiliate links. When you make a purchase through an affiliate link, your price will be the same, but Happily Homegrown will receive a small commission. Thank you for your support!

It’s time for the Three Rivers Challenge – the annual pantry challenge, where we eat through what we have in our pantry and freezer, shop less and do our best to cut down on the food waste in our homes.

From Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day, we eat many rich foods and recipes I don’t make regularly. It’s also the time of year when our grocery budget goes out the window because we enjoy splurging on fun foods, baking supplies, candies, etc.

My pantry is full of store-bought and home-canned items. The freezer is packed with half a beef and a case of chicken, plus venison from friends. It’s time to start eating through what we have on hand so it doesn’t go to waste. Plus, this will give us a good idea as to what we need to grow more of in the coming year or what items my family just isn’t interested in.

I first heard of the Three Rivers Pantry Challenge in 2023 when Becky from Acre Homestead discussed it on her channel. Without meaning to, I joined the challenge and took inspiration to start using what we had on hand instead of grocery shopping or ordering takeout.

I have started following Jessica at Three Rivers Homestead, and when she shared her video explaining the how and why of the Three Rivers Challenge, I knew I had to do this intentionally this January.

Rules for the #ThreeRiversChallenge

The best part of the Three Rivers Challenge is that Jessica encourages each family to make their own rules for how they will participate in the challenge. She knows that what works for her family won’t work for everyone else.

Jessica chooses to eat from her pantry & freezers for January and February. During this time, she doesn’t go to the grocery store except to purchase the items for the children’s birthday meals that she may need. She also has a bulk citrus order that will arrive and provide a year’s worth of citrus to her family. Other than that, she intentionally uses what she has preserved in her pantry and freezer during the growing season.

Our Shopping Habits

Our family and homestead structure is quite different from that at Three Rivers Homestead. We are a family of 5, but my inlaws live with us making us a family of 7. That said, we do not eat most meals together as the larger family so most of my cooking is for five people.

Our family lives in the suburbs and does not have livestock beyond a small flock of laying hens. We rely on a local dairy for our milk and a butcher for our meat and poultry. The week after Thanksgiving, we picked up a side of beef and case of chicken from the butcher so our freezers are quite full.

Usually, I do a sizeable monthly shop in Lancaster, hitting up all of my favorite discount grocery stores. Then, I shop at Costco for our paper products and additional staples. There are usually weekly trips to Aldi and Tanner Bros Dairy for bread, milk, cheese, and produce. And don’t forget the Amazon Subscribe & Save order, where we get most of our toiletries, cat food, tea, and a few snacks.

All of these little trips add up quickly. On average, we spend about $900 a month on groceries, pet supplies, health & beauty items, and household products. Our average grocery spending has soared in the past few years because of inflation and scarcity at the markets, so taking some time to focus on what we have is particularly helpful and we can allocate the savings from this month towards other expenses, like setting up the garden or other home projects.

Rules for the Happily Homegrown Pantry Challenge

1. Minimal grocery shopping for January. My goal would be to only get milk and produce at Tanner’s each week, however there are a few items we are currently out of and with the holidays, I didn’t have the energy to go to the grocery store. I will stick to my list when shopping for those items, and probably do a pickup order to limit temptation.
2. Grocery shopping for our Scout camping trip is fine. All Scouts and adults attending chip in for the groceries for the weekend. I tend to shop for our adults.
3. Restock livestock feed and pet supplies. While chicken feed, cat food, and turtle food are part of our grocery budget these are specialty items our animals need and they can’t make do with what we have on hand. As such, I will be going to the feed store this month to stock up for the chickens and cats, and have already ordered what we need for the turtle.
4. Eat 3 meals a day and snacks from our pantry and freezers. Focus on using up store-bought items that could expire before the home-canned items that have a longer shelf life. My
5. Maintain a grocery list of the items we run out of but need vs want.
6. Reassess at the end of January to decide if we will continue into February.
7. Share photos of our meals and cooking projects on Instagram using #threeriverschallenge & #happilyhomegrown

Three Rivers Challenge Week 1

We chose to start the pantry challenge on Sunday, January 3 – the start of the first full week of January.

Breakfast Options

We eat breakfast as each member of the family wakes up. We aren’t big breakfast eaters, and tend to graze more in the morning, This week’s options include tea, coffee, and hot cocoa along with cereal bars, cereal, oatmeal, and fruit.

Lunch Options

All five of us have lunch together each day. This week we are having leftovers, pb&j sandwiches, apple butter sandwiches, or bagels. If someone chooses a lunch and needs a little protein to go with it we have jerky or cashews as an option. We also have bananas, apples, and citrus on hand.

Dinners this Week

My daughter and I are supposed to be a way at the end of the week, so I’m only planning dinners through Thursday. It’s been a while since I have menu planned more than a few days at a time, so this may change by the time the week is over.

Sunday – Homemade Chinese Takeout – Beef & Vegetables with Rice
Monday – Homemade Chili
Tuesday – Melt in Your Mouth Chicken, Chicken Rice, Peas
Wednesday – Chicken, Veggies, & Pasta Freezer Meal
Thursday – Chicken Cutlets, Mashed Potatoes, Veggies, & Gravy

Join the Pantry Challenge

I would love to have you join us for the pantry challenge. Comment below with what your rules will be, and then share your photos on social media using the hashtags #threeriverschallenge #happilyhomegrown.