I'll keep meal planning, but that doesn't mean we'll eat what we plan. At this point, it is more of an exercise to keep me busy, and as a reference if when dinner time comes no one thinks of anything, I can go back to what I planned via the blog.
Here was the plan and what we actually had.
Sunday: Easter Brunch/Dinner: Egg bake, ham asparagus, strawberry crescent rolls, fruit, juice. Later, fend for your self/homemade beer bread
Monday: Spaghetti Long grain and wild rice, steamed mixed vegetables and meatballs
Tuesday: Chicken parcels (I need to find my recipe but it's basically chicken pot pie filling in a crescent roll dough, mashed potato's) This might be it, or very close. Savory Crescent Chicken Squares DD2 really liked the pizza from the other night and I had all the ingredients left over, so we had another pizza, and as I had grabbed garlic cheese bread when I shopped for my MIL, we had a few slices of that as well
Wednesday: Leftovers DH made Rotini pasta and marinara sauce, and the rest of the cheese garlic bread
Thursday: Three bean chili, crackers, + added grilled cheese, which meant we had a lot of leftover chili
Friday: pizza-take out, take and bake, homemade, or frozen Farfalle pasta layered with the last of the pizza sauce and tomatoes, layered with a package of frozen spinach, a zucchini, and mushrooms, with cherry tomatoes on top, made in the crock pot. It was so good! I had a1/3 of a bag of frozen French fries so cooked them in the air fryer as well to use up.
Saturday: Chicken wings homemade sweet potato fries, loaded potato skins Chicken strips, diced potatoes with veg, steamed carrots, cherry tomatoes and broccoli
Sunday: Pork Chops, mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans
Monday: Tacos/burritos/bowls with Spanish rice, black beans, and corn
Tuesday: Some sort of soup-using up the remnants of all the vegetables-probably a pasta fagiole, homemade garlic and herb drop biscuits
Wednesday: Hamburgers and homemade French fries
Thursday: Trying the chicken parcels again with mashed potatoes
Friday: Pizza-homemade, or order, or take and bake
Saturday: Crock pot pasta with vegetables, garlic bread
Besides last weeks chili, we have bean soup in the freezer and enough ham for a meal or to take out for sandwiches. There's bacon and sausage as well, so I might decide to make just a big brunch today and save the pork chops, and just have chili or soup tonight. We're flexible. I am using some of the canned goods, but more to supplement the fresh. There's been talk that because of the cases in meat plants, all types of meat might be harder to come by. When I do shop, I'll try and get a bit for the freezer, but won't go crazy with it, more regular shop and will try and use less. We still have had no issues with produce, so I'm happy to bulk up our meals with more vegetables. I also have two pounds each of pinto and navy beans, and my daughter has a wealth of recipes.
How about you? Is anyone seeing a need to change some of your meals based on availability of items? Is it easy for you to come up with an alternative?
We pretty much have most of what we need available so far, except flour. Flour? Really? I've been baking bread and sweets from scratch for my family for about 10 years now. Luckily I usually have several varieties of flour on hand and still have bread flour so I'm good for another couple of weeks but wow. T.P. and flour. Reminds me of the mad crush before a snow storm to buy milk, eggs and bread. Why people?! Why?!
ReplyDeleteThere was the issue in the first few weeks of the stay at home when TP and flour were non-existent and my daughter happened to score both for me. Now, while not stocked to the gills, if people buy one, there seems to be enough to go around. Both baffled me Really? All you non-bakers are going to suddenly start making loaves of bread and all your own baked products? I'm scared to think of how much flour and other baking products will just be thrown when the hoarders realize the didn't need it, didn't use it, and no one else now needs it either. When did our world get so stupidly selfish? Has it always been so but times like this it stands out so severe?
DeleteIn times of 'the unknown/having little control over your life" people do things they wouldn't normally do. Call it panic mode/survival mode but they overbuy. I was wondering why suddenly most of the blogs I read were baking/needing large amounts of flour when before they were NOT inclined to bake. Needing extra comfort food maybe or not wanting to pay reg. retail for a loaf of bread? I just hope everyone knows you can freeze flour once this is over and nothing is wasted/thrown out.
DeleteThat's a good point-fear brings strange actions. I've always liked home baked goods and baking in general but often didn't have the time. Now at least I can whip ups something, and I'm home working while it bakes, so am using more flour than normal, but not pounds and pounds more. We seem to be eating a lot of homemade pizza, particularly now that Aldi is not close and I won't make a special drive out of town trip when I have a store that is walking distance of me, or very close to my MIL's for shopping for her. At least TP will not go bad.
DeleteWe typically know which meals we are having, but the dates might shift. Because we double up all of our meals, it's less likely that we'll substitute.
ReplyDeleteI seem to have lost my batch cooking ability except for soup/chili. We usually have a portion or two leftover, but my daughter and I are usually eating that for lunch.
DeleteBeing able to actually cook is the only problem I have. Last night, I opened a jar of spaghetti and went outside and picked salad--kale, red lettuce, romaine. I have plenty of chicken bought before the latest chicken plant problem.
ReplyDeleteI would always enjoy pasta wit a side salad.
DeleteThe main thing that I have to keep an eye on using are eggs. We didn't even dye any this Easter, but I did insist on deviled eggs! Our stores are currently limiting eggs to just 1 carton per customer, and the price is absurd, particularly when, just before this happened, our local supermarket had a 1 day sale of $0.75/dozen. I bought 5 dozen that day, and am still using them. I should have bought 10 dozen, but didn't want to monkey with putting them away! No way I am going to pay upwards of $2.00/dozen under any condition, so other than baking, eggs are off the menu for a while. Interestingly, you also couldn't find baby chicks, so I am glad my daughter got hers when she did. Since I generally only shopped rock bottom prices, and stocked up when I did, the only thing that has changed for me is I am not shopping, since there are no loss leaders. Bottled water is another thing that is hard to come by, but I only kept it on hand for kids to take to school/have in the car, so we don't need it.
ReplyDeleteToday, I took out a beef rib roast I bought around Christmas for Sunday dinner. If there are leftovers, they will find themselves in a cottage pie, as we have plenty of potatoes. The rest of the week is up in the air.
Like you, I don't understand some people's thought processes and shopping habits, but, I never really did anyway.
Eggs are almost always over $2 a dozen, but unless I grab at Aldi, or the rare times I get groceries at Walmart. I buy the local eggs and am so happy with the quality. Even when they have been near $3, for a meal, I figure 2 eggs a piece, so two full meals for $1.50 is still pretty reasonable protein. Since I have a small family, the perspective is quite different I am sure. There are a lot of egg substitutes-learned from my daughter, for baking. Flax seed eggs is my go to back-up.
DeleteI'm hoping the shortage of flour is because parents are teaching their kids how to cook during lockdown.
ReplyDeleteWe write a list and so far have managed to get everything we need from the corner shop, no need to patronise those scary supermarkets. It is all about compromise in this new world, if it isn't on the shelf best to forget it. xxx
My daughter said she wants to do the shop this week for us and her grandma. That will be helpful to us both! I like your positive outlook on why flour is in shorter supply and hope that is the case. With eating all meals at home, we are certainly doing more breads and of course the delicious pizza crust.
DeleteIt sounds like you are doing just fine- there are no rules thankfully about cooking a great meal everyday or following a menu plan. This morning I made hash with leftover potatoes and corned beef from St Patrick's day- it looked a mess in the skillet but will be eaten again tonight and probably tomorrow too. No green vegetable or fruit served with it LOL.
ReplyDeleteWe are-the plan is nice to try and think through what needs to be used up, so even if used differently, we're avoiding waste. That tis the name of the game-avoiding waste.
DeleteGood to have some ideas and it looks like you are down to eliminating food waste in your supper ideas. Tonight is a crappy lasagna that hubby likes but i don't (part of a 2 pack from Costco 2 months ago). I will then have him eat the leftovers for lunch multiple days and I won't buy it again :)
ReplyDeleteGood to know it's not a hit and be able to avoid buying in the future. I haven't had lasagna in a while and that sounds actually kind of good, but not if a poorly made version. I am trying very hard to avoid waste and for the most part, pretty successful. Definitely the quality of our meals has improved.
DeleteI noticed that the meat shelves were more sparse than usual.
ReplyDeleteInteresting=I bet it will be all kinds of meat now, but I guess a good time to eat more plant based meals.
DeleteIt's been decades since I've made bread and I rarely bake, and I'm not starting now!I'm leaving the flour for those who will use it. Celie
ReplyDeleteYou would be the all of a sudden 30 pound flour buyer who I am wondering about. Why if a person never bakes do they think they will suddenly exclusively bake? I ge tth epanic at the beginning, Sluggy made good points above, but now that it clearly will be available, I sure hope all that god flour isn't thrown.
DeleteUncle Albertsons has soup again, so we got some tins of Cream of mushroom to make a few casseroles this week.
ReplyDeleteI've had to boy the large 26 ounce cans of cream of mushroom, but I'm lazy and use if for a couple meals a week, so no waste. OOOH, what kind of casseroles, or as I would say, hotdishes?
DeleteI do bake, but did not do any real baking this past Christmas, so I had about 10 pounds of flour on hand.
ReplyDeleteI am a sale buyer and never bought just enough for the week. I would buy a lot and freeze it in dinner portions, so I still have ground beef, chicken, lamb, corned beef, pork tenderloins, etc. I have found I have gotten obsessive about food waste, so we are not necessarily eating what we would like, but we are eating to finish anything that is left over. I am also cooking less at one time to reduce waste, plus now TheHub and I are sharing a single chicken breast for a meal and I am padding it with something like rice, noodles or potatoes.
I had bought 5 pounds with y first March shop and had some already but knew I'd be doing more baking once home. My daughter got me a spare on March 27th, and this weekend I started using that. I'm going to guess we are using about 5-6 pounds a month right now, so about 50% more. As long as I can keep getting fresh vegetables, I'll be loading our meals with those. Little by little I am done a few pounds.
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