Menu for a Holiday Week

Photo courtesy of free downloads at Pixabay.com

It's a holiday week, but DH and I both work right until Thursday; he also works Friday and Saturday. He doesn't even get an extra day since it's his day off anyway. I don't think anyone is doing the city Thanksgiving 8K or fun run. DD2 has been burning her candles at both ends and could use a morning to just sleep in, but she murmured something last night about it. We'll increase our end of year donation to family services and the food bank, the beneficiaries of the run. I do enjoy the festivities and it is supposed to be warmer, but I'll have more time to pull my dishes together if I don't head downtown. 

I need to shop today for the following, which will most likely exceed my grocery target balance. I'll be adding up items on my head, reminiscent of when we truly did have just dollars left to spend before payday.

4 pounds sweet potatoes
3 acorn squash
2 bricks cream cheese
1 carton sour cream
mayonnaise
frozen spinach
water chestnuts
carrots
celery
cucumber
broccoli
salsa
snack crackers
cheddar cheese
black olives
Tortilla chips
Tortillas
eggs
baking soda
2 bread
deli ham
cereal
hot dog buns

For Thanksgiving, I'm bringing roasted sweet potatoes, and wedges of acorn squash, plus appetizers of cream cheese /pepper jam with crackers, and tortilla roll-ups for the dinner. DD1 is making a salad to take along. For later at my sisters for snacking, playing  cards and games and watching football, and round 2 sandwiches, I've got a veggie tray with spinach dip, and a taco dip with tortilla chips. I'll bring bottles of wine to both places, not in grocery budget.

Meals-roughly 12 needed as there is Thanksgiving, a dinner event out, and we'll be gone two nights for a college scholarship meeting and audition  and concert with DD2. We'll pack sandwiches for the road, are provided breakfast at the motel, and lunch at the college. We'll apply the road trip costs to the college visit account, but because we need a hotel two nights, I think we may end up exceeding that budget. Yeah, my story this year.  

1. Leftovers-at least two nights
2. Bean Soup, crackers, and ham sandwiches
3. Chicken noodle soup, crackers, egg salad sandwiches
4. Pork roast, potato's, canned corn, apple sauce
5. Pork fried rice with steamed vegetables
6. Goulash with green beans
7. Spaghetti with red sauce
8. Brats and French fries
9. Leftover sliced brats with red beans and rice
10. Cheesie lasagna
11. Tuna Hotdish
12. Hamburger Salisbury Steak with gravy, potato's and vegetable

We might just eek out my target of $400 for the month. Doing some good baking will help, and inexpensive snacks like popcorn will help. I've got muffins baking and will do a batch of pumpkin bread, and oatmeal cookies today. This is also entirely self imposed, so I'm looking at this as fun, and hopefully sharing some ideas on how to stretch a freezer and pantry through a lean period, particularly when not self imposed.