Menu Plan Week 135 - Using What We Have
Hi ... it's that time again! My "not so" favorite time of the week ... mostly because it's Sunday and tomorrow means another 5 days of work! Ick. I'm so over that! But for now, it is what it is.
I stayed out of the grocery store for TWO weeks! Amazing! Well, not so much, because I have been on a Pantry/Freezer Challenge which is sort of making some progress ... the pantry is certainly looking better ... BUT when I did go to the stores, I made up for missing a week. I stopped at Aldis and spent $23 (produce, breads and cheese) and then I stopped at the Produce Store and picked up spaghetti squash, mini peppers, zucchini, brussel sprouts and THEN it was my very LEAST favorite store: Albertsons. I knew that I would totally stick to my list, if even that as the store here is just yucky. I went to get the 69 cents a pound chicken thighs, $1.69 chicken breast and the $5.99 a pound bone in rib eye steaks. Ended up spending $65 ... so between my 3 store stops, I spent a little less than $100. I guess that's not so bad considering I didn't shop last week.
The menu plan was so so last week. Ok, lets be honest. It was a failure on may levels. Hubby ended up traveling at the last minute and we went out for dinner on Monday, the kids took me out Tuesday and Hubby and I went again on Wednesday when he got home (I picked him up late at the airport and we were both starving). So yeah, the week sucked as far as Menu Planning went ...
There was NO food prep done on Sunday as I had a big typing job to finish up over the weekend :-( Food Prep or Extra Money ... hmmm ... it's a real hard choice, honestly. But, really, I needed to get this job done and out as I didn't want it hanging over my head (my attorney's I work for will occasionally give my name out to other attorneys when they have big typing jobs because I'm fast and know the proper formatting for legal documents (this last project? 150 pages, in case you were wondering) ...
Hubby is waffling back and forth about whether or not he's traveling this week. He has some stuff to take care of here as well as another city and just can't make up his mind...if he DOES travel, I'm in big trouble as I've got protein defrosting in the fridge!
So here's what I've got planned for the week:
Sunday -Italian night ... been awhile so I'll make some red sauce (sausage from freezer) and balance of ingredients from pantry, pasta in pantry, I have a wedge of parmesean in fridge and will finish up the dinner rolls from the freezer. Most likely will have leftover sauce to stash in freezer for future dinner This evening was all about leftovers. Just Hubby and I and well, I was typing, he was doing email for work and we just grabbed out the chicken from Friday and the steak from last night. Truthfully? I had a small plate of nachos to use up some of the salsa I made last week ... not exciting whatsoever!
Monday - Sausage and Peppers in foil packets. New recipe, sort of excited to see if it works as good as the old fashion way :-) ... sausage from freezer, onions and peppers from fridge. Will most likely either use a french bread loaf or dinner rolls from the freezer and cheese from the fridge for those who want sandwiches. Me? I'll serve mine over some shredded cabbage
Tuesday - Beef Barbacoa ... I'm excited to make this again! I picked up a roast for $2.99 a pound at Albertson on Friday specifically for this ... the roast was way less than ground beef would cost ... sadly ...balance of ingredients in the pantry and fridge and I will offer up shredded cabbage (fridge) to go along instead of lettuce since I'm limited on lettuce. Uhm, now that I look, I also am out of beer ... any kind of beer that would be suitable for this ... hmmm, wonder if I could use Funky Budda Floridian? And yes, there will be a margarita or two offered up to those who'd like one (*just a note,the boy should be going to Fresh Market for me to pick up the $2.99 a pound ground beef)
Wednesday - So I had to re-do the plan a little as the Boy decided he wanted to make dinner this evening (at least he tells me a few days in advance!) ... he's making Southwest Hamburgers ... something he's been thinking about, and like he said, he DOES work in a Mexican restaurant! Beef in freezer, buns in pantry (may need to re-evaluate) and he said he'd pick up anything else needed. Cool ...
Thursday - Ahem. 4 Way Chili ... we didn't get around to this yet again and well, THIS week is THE week to make it again! Chili in freezer, balance of ingredients in fridge and pantry. Will use leftover pasta from Sunday night and spiralize the zucchini for myself
Friday - I'm really NOT sure at this point what I want to make this night :-) I might just leave it up to Hubby and maybe lean towards leftovers?
Saturday - Hubby's choice, as always ... he's pretty good about using what we have on hand ;-)
What are YOU making this week? I'm looking forward to sharing over at Organized Junkie's Menu Plan Monday party ... go check it out!
I stayed out of the grocery store for TWO weeks! Amazing! Well, not so much, because I have been on a Pantry/Freezer Challenge which is sort of making some progress ... the pantry is certainly looking better ... BUT when I did go to the stores, I made up for missing a week. I stopped at Aldis and spent $23 (produce, breads and cheese) and then I stopped at the Produce Store and picked up spaghetti squash, mini peppers, zucchini, brussel sprouts and THEN it was my very LEAST favorite store: Albertsons. I knew that I would totally stick to my list, if even that as the store here is just yucky. I went to get the 69 cents a pound chicken thighs, $1.69 chicken breast and the $5.99 a pound bone in rib eye steaks. Ended up spending $65 ... so between my 3 store stops, I spent a little less than $100. I guess that's not so bad considering I didn't shop last week.
The menu plan was so so last week. Ok, lets be honest. It was a failure on may levels. Hubby ended up traveling at the last minute and we went out for dinner on Monday, the kids took me out Tuesday and Hubby and I went again on Wednesday when he got home (I picked him up late at the airport and we were both starving). So yeah, the week sucked as far as Menu Planning went ...
There was NO food prep done on Sunday as I had a big typing job to finish up over the weekend :-( Food Prep or Extra Money ... hmmm ... it's a real hard choice, honestly. But, really, I needed to get this job done and out as I didn't want it hanging over my head (my attorney's I work for will occasionally give my name out to other attorneys when they have big typing jobs because I'm fast and know the proper formatting for legal documents (this last project? 150 pages, in case you were wondering) ...
Hubby is waffling back and forth about whether or not he's traveling this week. He has some stuff to take care of here as well as another city and just can't make up his mind...if he DOES travel, I'm in big trouble as I've got protein defrosting in the fridge!
So here's what I've got planned for the week:
Sunday -
Monday - Sausage and Peppers in foil packets. New recipe, sort of excited to see if it works as good as the old fashion way :-) ... sausage from freezer, onions and peppers from fridge. Will most likely either use a french bread loaf or dinner rolls from the freezer and cheese from the fridge for those who want sandwiches. Me? I'll serve mine over some shredded cabbage
Tuesday - Beef Barbacoa ... I'm excited to make this again! I picked up a roast for $2.99 a pound at Albertson on Friday specifically for this ... the roast was way less than ground beef would cost ... sadly ...balance of ingredients in the pantry and fridge and I will offer up shredded cabbage (fridge) to go along instead of lettuce since I'm limited on lettuce. Uhm, now that I look, I also am out of beer ... any kind of beer that would be suitable for this ... hmmm, wonder if I could use Funky Budda Floridian? And yes, there will be a margarita or two offered up to those who'd like one (*just a note,the boy should be going to Fresh Market for me to pick up the $2.99 a pound ground beef)
Wednesday - So I had to re-do the plan a little as the Boy decided he wanted to make dinner this evening (at least he tells me a few days in advance!) ... he's making Southwest Hamburgers ... something he's been thinking about, and like he said, he DOES work in a Mexican restaurant! Beef in freezer, buns in pantry (may need to re-evaluate) and he said he'd pick up anything else needed. Cool ...
Thursday - Ahem. 4 Way Chili ... we didn't get around to this yet again and well, THIS week is THE week to make it again! Chili in freezer, balance of ingredients in fridge and pantry. Will use leftover pasta from Sunday night and spiralize the zucchini for myself
Friday - I'm really NOT sure at this point what I want to make this night :-) I might just leave it up to Hubby and maybe lean towards leftovers?
Saturday - Hubby's choice, as always ... he's pretty good about using what we have on hand ;-)
What are YOU making this week? I'm looking forward to sharing over at Organized Junkie's Menu Plan Monday party ... go check it out!
This looks fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing, and warm greetings from Montreal, Canada. :)
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