Menu Plan Week 133 - Using What We Hav!

Well, here we are, Day 12 of the Pantry / Freezer Challenge and so far, no issues to be had.  I DID add some stuff to the freezer this past week, 15 pounds worth of chicken for FREE using the Target $5 off $20 and Cartwheel AND some gift cards I had stashed. Since I was getting low on chicken breast, I didn’t feel bad about doing this! PLUS it was FREE! Oh, and yes, there was a stop at Costco, again, that was free as I used my rebate check and a gift card (and still have a few dollars left).
I am also extremely happy to report that I ate all three meals at home this past week … even with Hubby traveling, I stayed on task. Granted, I had a lot of leftovers since Hubby had to travel at the last minute for the majority of the week … I spent a total of $66 this past week on food out of pocket, and yes, that did include $20 for beer and ice for our boating trip on Saturday … So, technically, I stayed under budget which is ALWAYS a good thing!

Sunday always involves a little meal prep in addition to menu planning as it makes the work week a hell of a lot easier!  So I cleaned out all THREE refrigerators (seriously, I need to really consolidate the stuff, don’t you think?), chopped up 5 heads of romaine lettuce (from Costco) for salads the week ahead, spriralized and chopped up some red cabbage for salads, riced some cauliflower (still need to do a post on that), roasted a tray of broccoli (post on how I do that coming this week) AND something I’ve not done for a while: made up individual containers with leftover blackened chicken and veggies on the side for 3 lunches this week. I kind of like the grab and go factor as I usually put my lunches together in the morning while my breakfast is cooking. This might make my life a little easier in that I can clean the kitchen while breakfast is cooking now and have less dishes in the morning. I’ll keep you posted how that works out!

So, here's what I'm looking at for the week ahead:

Sunday - Smoked Sausage and Potatoes Au Gratin ... only because we have some fresh smoked sausage in the fridge that needs to be eaten asap!  I will make a boxed potato au gratin from the pantry ... believe me, I'd rather make from scratch but I'll keep the fresh potatoes for something more fun that I have on my to do list! Well! Pool time got the best of us AND we ended up ordering Dominos Pizza ... oops. I'm actually ok with this at the end of the day ;-)

Monday - Chicken and Veggie Kabobs ... chicken breast from freezer, veggies in the fridge that need to be used up ;-)

Tuesday - Taco Tuesday - beef from freezer, fixins in the fridge (need to grate the cheese) and margaritas to go along ... I may just bring out the Kirkland bottle of premixed stuff to keep myself in check with one or two this evening. The Boy should be home and he will be the prep cook on this, making fresh salsa and guac for me ;-)


Wednesday - 4 way chili ... chili in freezer (surprise!) and I will spiralize some zucchini for ME and cook pasta (pantry) for the rest of the household that's here. Cheese and onions in the fridge (hope to have leftover from Taco Tuesday!)


Thursday - BLT Inspired Chicken Salad - chicken and bacon in freezer, salad stuff in fridge, tomatoes on counter (will stop at produce store if needed). Hope to have an avocado leftover to garnish the salad with!


Friday - Burgers and Dogs AND Hubby's smoked sausage  ... he reminded me that its smoked sausage ... beef and dogs in the freezer and buns are in the pantry (at this moment, they are, hopefully still good by this day, otherwise will need to buy) ... AND if everything goes according to plan (still!) I want to make some Street Fries ... these have been on my to do list for over a month now!

Saturday - Hubby's choice ... he's pretty good about making sure we use what we have on hand, well, at least from the freezer ... so we'll see what he comes up with!

What are you looking to make this week?

Sharing over at Organized Junkie's Menu Plan Monday party ... go check it out!

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