Tired Of Wasting Groceries? Try TikTok's Pantry Challenge

So many bags of lettuce and cartons of cherry tomatoes meet the same, mushy end. You buy them with the best intentions while grocery shopping, envisioning the salads and veggie-packed meals you plan to eat all week long.

But inevitably you forget all about your produce — until you spot it rotting in the bottom of your fridge — and the same goes for boxes of pasta, frozen foods in your freezer, and anything else you abandon after buying it at the store. But you’re not alone, a lot of people have been guilty of letting groceries sit untouched until they’re past their expiration date, and that’s where TikTok’s pantry challenge comes in.

The pantry challenge is all about making it a point to feed yourself using only what you already have, meaning no new groceries, takeout, or delivery. If you’re tired of throwing out bags of spinach and forgetting about the food you bought with the intent to make an intricate meal, then it might be worthwhile to try this challenge for a whole week — or even an entire month.

Trying TikTok’s Pantry Challenge

On TikTok, creator @karig119 said she spent all of January eating through her stockpile of food. She decided to feed her family using the frozen foods, leftovers, and dry items in their pantry so it didn’t go to waste. “Over the last year we accumulated a lot of food,” she said in her viral video. “I would go to the grocery store and buy things but then we would end up eating out.”

This challenge helped her use what she already had, and it seemed to be inspiring to others who had soggy veggies and over-packed freezers. In her comments, many said they’d be following her lead. “There was another lady on here who did this until her fridge was entirely empty,” another commenter wrote. “It was honestly intriguing and refreshing.”

In July, @frugalworkingmom also challenged herself to shop her pantry and fridge for a month. While she did buy a few necessities from the grocery store, she mostly got by with the things she already bought.

“As I was going through my pantry and freezer, I realized we actually had a lot of food in the house,” she said in her video. And that’s another epiphany many people seem to have during this challenge — even though it might seem like you have “nothing to eat,” you’re likely overlooking some pretty great ingredients that have been on your shelves for ages.

For anyone who tries the challenge, she recommends organizing your fridge as you go so fewer things get forgotten or lost in the back — plus, then you’ll have a clean slate when it is time to restock. Tidy your fridge, pantry, and freezer regularly, make sure all the foods are facing forward so you can see them, and keep the perishable items — like leftovers, yogurts, fruit, etc. — in the front so you remember to eat them.

Coming Up With Recipe Ideas

To come up with breakfast, lunch, and dinner ideas during your Pantry Challenge, one commenter under @karig119’s TikTok suggested plugging all the random foods you have into ChatGPT and asking for dinner ideas using only those ingredients. That way you won’t be tempted to give up when you’re missing an item and decide to order pizza instead.

Another recommended reviewing everything you have, making a list, and then planning meals in advance. Of course, Instagram and Pinterest are great places for inspo, too. During the Pantry Challenge, many people ate frozen Eggos from the back of their freezer, made slap-dash quesadillas with shredded cheese and tortillas, added almost-wilted spinach to pizza crust, or created soups with frozen vegetables, noodles, and broth — all things you likely have in your cabinets.

The results might not be glamorous — or exactly what you want to eat that day — but that’s all part of the challenge. Even just calling it a “challenge” is a way to gamify your grocery haul so you feel inspired to get creative, save money, and waste less in the future.