Menu Plan Week #92 - Using What We Have
It's that time of the week again ... and I'll be honest, sometimes I HATE doing a menu plan ... but I know that even if it's not followed 100%, it's going to save me money at the end of the week!
Having an idea of WHAT you have on hand to prepare for a meal keeps you from making that last minute dash to the grocery store for something to throw together quickly, or worse, doing the drive through and the $1 menu. Yikes. I keep telling myself how bad that stuff is for my body in an attempt to stay focused and eat healthier ... it works, most of the time.
So. What should I make this week? Hubby is out all this week and comes home NEXT Friday. I could so take an easy way out and make nachos and microwave popcorn BUT like I said above, I'm trying to be a little more conscious of what goes in my mouth. So, with him gone, I can make some of my favorite stand bys with avocados and mangos! Wheee!
NOTE: I am slowly STILL working my way through the pantry and freezer inventories. Make sure you check out the pages if you are curious as to what I have on hand!
Sunday - Balsamic Chicken Thighs with steamed broccoli and cauliflower (freezer) on the side. Most likely will make the Texas Toast that Hubby had bought Saturday that we forgot make! :-) The chicken thighs were from the freezer and were simply marinated for 24 hours (too long?) in 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp dijon mustard and a little bit of fresh chopped basil. They are really tasty and were cooked Saturday afternoon (instead of Friday night) and I had planned for this to be my protein for the week ... things changed!
Monday - Evil Jungle Salad using the leftover ribeye from Saturday night (big dinner with friends, steaks, salad with my homemade blue cheese dressing and baby taters). Avocado on counter, mango in freezer (hopefully it will defrost ok for the salad), will skip the pasta and might need to replenish the salad supply during lunch hour. I have all the ingredients to make the dressing too ... yippee ... I'm so excited ...feeding me & Princess
Tuesday - Spinach Shrimp Salad - spinach in fridge, shrimp in freezer and will use the dressing in fridge that I picked up at Whole Foods the other day. Feeding me & Princess
Wednesday - Burgers on the grill with blue cheese dressing over the top. Will stop and buy 6 lbs of ground beef on Tuesday at Fresh Market (85/15 for $2.99 per pound). Will dig out a bag of fries from the freezer if the kids want. Buns in freezer. Feeding 3 to 5 (depends if boyfriend/girlfriend are here)
Thursday - Going to attempt, yet again, Chipotle Rice Bowls ... rice in pantry, cilantro and limes in fridge (for the Cilantro Lime Rice), black beans in pantry and I have some precooked beef in the freezer for the Boy and I will cook up the Omaha Steak chicken breasts in the freezer (they are so small and pathetic, If the boy chooses, I have wraps in the pantry. Hubby would laugh at me if I served them for dinner to him ;-) ... quite certain that there will be 5 eating tonight
Friday - I might make this my Costco run night since tomorrow night has BIG festivities ... if so, honestly, probably just a quick salad (or microwave popcorn) ... just being honest. Of course, I will probably have a full house of kids who will be wanting food, so I might just pick up the uncooked pizza at Costco instead of ordering out ... feeding 5 to 9
Saturday ... a few weeks ago I was to have taken a girlfriend out for dinner and then bar hopping for her birthday.Luckily, It rained all day and all that night and well, no wants to drive 10 miles in the rain to go drink at bars all night. So I said, hey, Hubby is going to be out of town in a few weeks and we can do a girls night at the house if you prefer. Well, heck yeah. EVERYONE wants to come to my house for a girls night. Oh Oh. I've already said NO Fresh Fruit Margaritas ... so I am looking at making appetizer type things: sweet red chili chicken sticks (with chicken thighs from freezer), a greek salad (will need to buy all the veggies regardless this week), hummus (Costco) and pita chips (in pantry), chips (pantry) and salsa (making), guacamole (making) and cheese (fridge) and crackers (pantry) and possibly a small deli meat tray (will buy meat at Whole Foods and put together myself). I'm not sure. I really wanted to make the Thai Style Shrimp or the Island Shrimp with Mango (because I just stashed 6 lbs in the freezer and radishes in the fridge!) but not sure if everyone will like it ... I still might make it anyway for lunch or something ... I don't know if I'll make ALL that or just some of that or if ANY of that stuff ... but it's stuff that I want to eat! Feeding 10 to 14 (that was the last count, not sure if the kids will be around)
I also have a lot of new recipes I want to be trying this week if not over the weekend. Hosting that party on Saturday is going to put a little dent in those plans but I am still aiming to make at least one: Tahini Chicken Salad ... I've got that jar of Tahini in the pantry and well, time to use it!
Looking forward to sharing with Organized Junkie's Menu Plan Party!
Having an idea of WHAT you have on hand to prepare for a meal keeps you from making that last minute dash to the grocery store for something to throw together quickly, or worse, doing the drive through and the $1 menu. Yikes. I keep telling myself how bad that stuff is for my body in an attempt to stay focused and eat healthier ... it works, most of the time.
So. What should I make this week? Hubby is out all this week and comes home NEXT Friday. I could so take an easy way out and make nachos and microwave popcorn BUT like I said above, I'm trying to be a little more conscious of what goes in my mouth. So, with him gone, I can make some of my favorite stand bys with avocados and mangos! Wheee!
NOTE: I am slowly STILL working my way through the pantry and freezer inventories. Make sure you check out the pages if you are curious as to what I have on hand!
Sunday - Balsamic Chicken Thighs with steamed broccoli and cauliflower (freezer) on the side. Most likely will make the Texas Toast that Hubby had bought Saturday that we forgot make! :-) The chicken thighs were from the freezer and were simply marinated for 24 hours (too long?) in 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp dijon mustard and a little bit of fresh chopped basil. They are really tasty and were cooked Saturday afternoon (instead of Friday night) and I had planned for this to be my protein for the week ... things changed!
Monday - Evil Jungle Salad using the leftover ribeye from Saturday night (big dinner with friends, steaks, salad with my homemade blue cheese dressing and baby taters). Avocado on counter, mango in freezer (hopefully it will defrost ok for the salad), will skip the pasta and might need to replenish the salad supply during lunch hour. I have all the ingredients to make the dressing too ... yippee ... I'm so excited ...feeding me & Princess
Tuesday - Spinach Shrimp Salad - spinach in fridge, shrimp in freezer and will use the dressing in fridge that I picked up at Whole Foods the other day. Feeding me & Princess
Wednesday - Burgers on the grill with blue cheese dressing over the top. Will stop and buy 6 lbs of ground beef on Tuesday at Fresh Market (85/15 for $2.99 per pound). Will dig out a bag of fries from the freezer if the kids want. Buns in freezer. Feeding 3 to 5 (depends if boyfriend/girlfriend are here)
Thursday - Going to attempt, yet again, Chipotle Rice Bowls ... rice in pantry, cilantro and limes in fridge (for the Cilantro Lime Rice), black beans in pantry and I have some precooked beef in the freezer for the Boy and I will cook up the Omaha Steak chicken breasts in the freezer (they are so small and pathetic, If the boy chooses, I have wraps in the pantry. Hubby would laugh at me if I served them for dinner to him ;-) ... quite certain that there will be 5 eating tonight
Friday - I might make this my Costco run night since tomorrow night has BIG festivities ... if so, honestly, probably just a quick salad (or microwave popcorn) ... just being honest. Of course, I will probably have a full house of kids who will be wanting food, so I might just pick up the uncooked pizza at Costco instead of ordering out ... feeding 5 to 9
Saturday ... a few weeks ago I was to have taken a girlfriend out for dinner and then bar hopping for her birthday.
I also have a lot of new recipes I want to be trying this week if not over the weekend. Hosting that party on Saturday is going to put a little dent in those plans but I am still aiming to make at least one: Tahini Chicken Salad ... I've got that jar of Tahini in the pantry and well, time to use it!
Looking forward to sharing with Organized Junkie's Menu Plan Party!
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