Menu Planning and Breaking Ruts

   

      I meant to try Anne's Geek chicken, but defaulted to same olds again. I need to break my rut. Here's was last week's plan and reality.

• Sunday: Potato soup, red bag chicken sandwich ( portions for sister)
• Monday: Meatloaf, roast Potatoes,  green beans ( portion for sister)
• Tuesday: Pasta with Bolognese TJ tomatoes red pepper soup, grilled cheese
• Wednesday: Sloppy Joes and French fries   Pasta with Bolognese 
• Thursday: leftovers
• Friday: Fish and au gratin potatoes,  Mac and cheese, tots coleslaw
• Saturday: Greek Chicken Dinner out

     Which means, I can move a few the things to this week. I've got a very busy work week, so not ashamed to say we may turn to a take and bake pizza or things from the freezer. No soup on the list, but if we get some cold weather again, with the last batch of chicken noodle devoured, I wouldn't mind another batch, or a batch of hearty bean soup. Everyone's cooking with leeks it seems and I don't even see them in produce sections around here. Minnesota gardeners, do they grow here? I love the flavor. 

• Sunday: Chicken and broccoli stir fry with rice, egg rolls
• Monday: Tuna hotdish with mixed vegetables
• Tuesday:  Pizza- may be frozen or Take and bake
• Wednesday: If ambitious, Chicken parcels ( kind of chicken pot pie filling tucked in puff pastry/ crescent roll dough) and JoJo potatoes
• Thursday: Burritos or bowls or maybe some new take on similar ingredients
• Friday: Patty Melts with sweet potato wedges, salad
• Saturday: Greek Chicken, cucumber and olive salad (or may be chicken strips from freezer)

     I'm eating all my lunches from home and DH has been coming home at least 3 of his 4 weekday lunch breaks. His company provides Saturday lunch. Good thing as his checks have been so low, he needs some little perk. I may make a curry today for a little lunch variety and to up my vegetable intake. If I do, we'll need to have a leftover night as even freezing a portion or two, I'll get 2-3 lunches. Some days I just feel like hummus, carrots, fruit, and either crackers or toast so leftovers sit.

     I wish someone else would make a menu, shop, and get it all organized. I don't mind the actual cooking or clean up. Maybe this will be the week I actually get Greek Chicken served. How about your plans this week? 

Belt Tightening Menu Week

     

     I suppose I should do a bit of menu planning-even if it is just to have a list of options if I'm going to make November a $400 (+$100 towards Holiday) spend month. Tha't sht eplan for December as well. I' already at $85 in groceries after  the massive  Sam's Club stop, and another $11 at two other  small stops, so have $204 through the end of November. But, it's already November 7th, so really only three weeks to plan for. $68 average per week, since I have  many thing son hand, seems doable. I'd also like to  keep adding loss leaders to the pantry or freezer as well, so some of my weekly budget will go there. So with minimal shopping, what am I thinking this week? I'm intentionally building in extras to get meals made more quickly and I have assorted items I' trying to use up from the refrigerator to ensure I don't waste. If the week is as nice as this weekend, I'm going to want to get outside and not be tied to the stove. 

• Pasta Fagiole soup with turkey and cheese toasties
• Mushroom and hamburger fettucine 
• Cottage pie
• Egg bake with bacon and spinach 
• Sausage and  roasted vegetable tray bake
• Cheese ravioli in marinara sauce
• Chicken stir fry with broccoli over rice (make extra rice)
• Fried Rice with mixed vegetables and egg rolls
• BLT sandwiches and homemade fries

     Pretty much everything will yield lunch leftovers or a repeat supper of leftovers. This is the norm though with just two of us, and I don't mind. As you can see, I'm honing in on comfort foods. I bought a few more freezer containers, and will freeze portions that do not get eaten the day or next after for my own ready meals. What do I  I need to buy?

• Milk
• Eggs
• Boneless chicken breasts or thighs
• Egg rolls
• Bread
• Crushed Tomatoes

     I received a $10 of $50 coupon along with 2-3  giant loss leader items in the mail to our local grocery store. I think I'll just do that rather than an Aldi run, but later in the week, I'll combine Aldi with Sam's Club to get the rotisserie chicken, to top off until Thanksgiving week. That's my kitchen plan for the week. I'm going to check out the links sent by a few of you for even more recipes. and inspiration. What's cooking at your house?

Meal Options When I Don't Want to Grocery Shop

 

   I didn't do a weekly shop but picked up a few odds when my daughter and I looked at mum's. Holding off a week, I'll have a decent budget target if over $75 for the last week of September, and meet or exceed my $300 challenge. I am even counting the Papa Murphy's DH picked up Friday and his rogue shops. Here was my plan for the past week, and what was changed.

Sunday-  Homemade macaroni and cheese, sliced cucumbers and tomatoes on the side.  

Monday: Chicken and dumplings, mashed potatoes, leftover ciabatta bread

Tuesday: Dollar Tree $5.00 Meal Challenge -beef jambalaya, broccoli and cheese, spring rolls

Wednesday: Meat loaf, sweet potato wedges  ham from freezer, au gratin potatoes

Thursday: Crock pot mock lasagna leftovers

Friday: Homemade Pepperoni Pizza Papa Murphy's pizza

Saturday: Burrito Bake from Taste of Home Pizza hotdish

     So many changes, but leaves me with a lot of ideas for the week. Sunday is set to be a hot one, plus game day and Veg Fest, so I may just figure out dinner later in the day based on how DH ate at home and what we indulged in at the festival. I have some bits that I could make little personal pizzas for a truly lazy day.  Here's my possible list.

• Burrito Bake I didn't try last week
• Spaghetti
• Tuna noodle hotdish with veg and cheese
• Chicken stir fry and rice
• Sausage meatballs with sweet potato wedges
• Chicken, broccoli, rice and cheese hotdish
• Chili dogs and tator tots
• Up cycled grilled cheese (multiple cheeses and tomato) and tomato red pepper soup
• Rice crust vegetable quiche and salad 
• Chili Mac and cheese bake

     I came up with me ten meals without any further shopping. Whether any are cooked is a guess. I've plenty for lunches and breakfasts as well, though leftovers has been my norm. Boring. Same old. Nothing new unless I do the burrito dish. Does anything speak to you? What might you suggest using my likely ingredients instead?

Wednesday Pantry-$5 Dollar Tree Challenge

      I can say I did it; it's done. I made a meal of sorts with five items from the Dollar Tree. I knew going into it, a protein and high sodium were going to be the main issues. You can get a lot of basics at Dollar Tree, and I wish I had stuck to them. It would not have been anything unique, but it might have had better results. First, the rules. My meal had to be enough to serve a minimum of 3-4 adults. I had to have five different items and for my self imposed challenge, nothing from my own pantry to add. Many allow salt, pepper, and even stretch to any seasonings they have, plus oil or butter, and sometimes even egg and milk.  I was very strict-which really makes it much harder, but if the challenge is a DT meal for $5, then that's what I think it should be. Had I challenged myself to make 3 meal for $10, I would have had an easier time planning, and probably better quality meal in the end. But, those weren't my rules. First, here's what I bought.

• 8 ounce/2 beef patties (I had seen people post Jennie O Turkey burgers, but my DT didn't have
• 16 ounce bag broccoli
• 5 ounce cheddar cheese
• Jambalaya rice mix
• Spring rolls

     The intent was to make a beefy rice and broccoli hotdish, topped with cheese. But when I saw the state of the broccoli-huge chunks of stems and very little florets, I decided to just cook that separately and hope that  putting cheese over it would help. It did not. I learned why the only frozen vegetables I see anyone buy is the pepper and onion mix, or the carrot, pea mixed vegetables, if they have either. The beef patties cooked very odd. I used as ground beef, but even though it was an uncooked product, there was no juice whatsoever. I reread the package multiple times. Still, mixed in with the  rice dish, it was pretty tasty. Had I known the broccoli would be such a disappointment, in hindsight, I would have bought the  sausage links instead of beef, and just browned discs of  that instead. The spring rolls were going to be my side dish to the  hot dish, but because I served the broccoli and cheese on the side, my plate shows three items. Here's my plated meal.

     The review. The rice was pretty tasty, but with each bite, I could feel the salt coursing through my veins. Run, do not walk, past the frozen broccoli. I swear this must have been what was left after the plant packaged the real vegetable, and this was the remnants. The stalks were thick and woody, with no flavor except what was pulled from the cheese I  put on and allowed to melt from the steam. The egg rolls, made in the air fryer, had good reviews  on YouTube, which is why I forced them into my menu. I cooked them in the air fryer. They were just OK-the roll itself got nice and crispy, but the veg inside was a bit mush. A little dipping sauce would have gone a long way. The hit though might be the 5 oz. little brick of cheese-which was actually cheddar cheese. At 20 cents per ounce, it would come to $3.20 per pound, which is about what I can get at Walmart or Aldi. Admittedly, I had bought this before in both cheddar and pepper jack, so knew it was going to be fine. Thankfully, I didn't waste more than 1/2 on the broccoli that could not be saved. 

     Here's the sad facts. Packages were different serving sizes, so I converted everything to five servings to  compare along with the main ingredient, the rice. My plate above is roughly 1/5th of each, so the following should apply. While I didn't care for the broccoli, I had enough to eat. DH ate a plate, but then later had a bowl of granola and yogurt. I have probably 2/3rds of the rice left and will use over the next couple days for lunch. We nibbled on the spring rolls  later, and I tossed the rest of the broccoli. I've got1/2 the cheese left.

Total Calories        562 (women average 2,000 day, men 2,500)

Total Sodium        1,230 gr or 61% of ADA for a 2,000 calorie diet

Total Protein            19 grams (women need average 46 g, and men ave 60 g)

     We both would likely exceed our ADA of sodium, and be shy on protein in the day depending on what else we ate. DH would be calorie shy by a long shot, unless he ate double portions, but then, his sodium on this meal alone would be  over his ADA. This was an interesting experiment, and as I said, with different rules, I might have done much better both in quality and health. Your thoughts? Please note this was all for fun and entertainment. I in no way  endorse eating this way nor will rush to repeat it myself. In a future post, I'll share what I do think might be worthwhile DT buys. 

My Wednesday Pantry-What We've Been Eating

      I haven't done a My Wednesday  Pantry in quite a while-mostly because my blogging had taken a sporadic turn, and also I didn't feel anything interesting was gracing our tables. That might still be the case, but thought I'd recap and perhaps insert a  recipe or rather a process, for some of our meals. First, I'll start with some of the products that have been used. I know many of you don't use convenience foods or bottled jar and sauces, but for those readers that are time and culinary talent restricted, these might be as helpful to you as the were for me. 

• General Tso Asian Sauce-bought at Aldi. We love this stuff for stir fry and then with the addition of noodles, makes a tasty and easy lo mein. 
• Tika Masala Sauce-Another Aldi find that I'll use when I don't make an vegan curry.
• Bruschetta-bought at Trader Joe's and used to top bread for our "girls dinner" or as part of topping or  base for pizza.
• Ranch and Italian Dressing packets-I bought mine at Aldi as the are so inexpensive there, but they are in any store I would assume. 
• Artichoke  pieces in oil-I usually buy at Trader Joe's, but can be bought anywhere presumably.
• "Cream of" soups-yes, I buy them! They help me throw meals together quickly, but you could just substitute a white béchamel sauce with your choice of herbs and spices.

     I have benefitted over the last few weeks with some surplus food from my daughters work-food that was destined for disposal. Those of you that are regular readers know I abhor food waste. It literally gives me a sick feeling when I discover food that was perfectly fine and wonderful get tossed in the garbage because I did not plan properly. Food insecurity is real in this country and around the world. I feel we have a responsibility to make sure we don't contribute to the glut of waste. The other part of the  last produce, was it came "wild"  with no packaging and wrappers. Not adding to the landfills while eating  healthily was definitely another win to my pantry. Here's a few meals.

Spinach Artichoke Pasta: Basically, I sautéed spinach in a bit of butter, added cream of chicken soup, 1/3 jar of rough chopped artichokes, 1 cup milk, 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, and healthy  shakes of garlic powder, onion powder, and ground pepper. I added 8 ounces of cooked, this time of penne pasta, and simmered to get the noodles are lovely coated. My daughter loved this as it was a close enough copy of a pasta from Applebee's no longer on their menu. O think I also added some leftover chicken, diced small, but not sure. 

Veggie Tika Masala: Basically  cooked vegetables to almost soft, add the jar of sauce, and I also the fill the jar half full and add a couple heaping teaspoons more of curry powder, and let it all simmer for  a good 20-30 minutes. Served over rice and naan, and it was delicious. My daughter took to work on both Monday and Tuesday, and I'll finish off the rest today. 

Veggie Lo Mein: I sautéed an onion,  cup and 1/2  small cut carrots, two stalks of celery, 1/4 of the head of cabbage, and part of a crown of broccoli. once softened, I added  a heaping teaspoon of ginger and probably 1/4 cup of so sauce, stirred it all around then added 1/4 bottle of the General Tso sauce. Prior, I had made  6 ounces of spaghetti noodles and set aside. I then added that to the veggies with another 1/4 bottle of the sauce, and  there was my cop cat Panda Express style lo mein.  We all ate Monday night, I ate for lunch yesterday, and DD2 took the last today. 

Roasted Vegetables and Chicken Sandwiches-You all know how t roasted vegetables! DH had this instead of curry. I made him a chicken sandwich to go with it, on toasted bun with bacon cheddar cheese. 

     I have odds and ends now left and did a  top off shop yesterday. DD wants  stroganoff so I bought mushrooms and cream of mushroom soup. There's leftover chicken and roasted vegetables so I thought I might turn them into a chicken pot pie or chicken and dumpling sort of meal to use up tonight. Friday perhaps homemade pizza using up the spinach and some peppers. I'm at $288 for the month in H&G, H&B spending with 11 days left in the month, but several meals in the pipeline already. It's a good thing this is turning out to be a low spend month since we've splurged on a bit of take out, happy hours, and lunch out. Does anything sound good to you? 

Cleaning Out the Cupboards

     

...and the freezer, and the fridge. June was not a low spend month, but we can still stay within the $500 for household, groceries, health and beauty budget if I use up what we have already. We grabbed take out and ate out a little too much for my preferences this month too, so want to avoid that these last days of June. As we head into July, I'm aiming to spend as little as possible before a shopping for 4th of July weekend. This is not an actual meal plan, but options to make with what I have on hand with minimal purchases. Both DH and DD2 will need lunch items to pack. I'll eat whatever and my daughter will take leftovers but DH needs his sandwich fillings. 

In no particular order, here's meal options. 

• Chili dogs with cheese, potato wedges
• Sausage meatballs and cheesy potatoes, green beans
• Vegetarian chili, loaded with vegetables and at least two kinds of beans, grilled cheese sandwiches
• Chicken cordon blue and au gratin potatoes
• Spaghetti and meatballs
• Homemade pizza with last of pepperoni
• Pulled BBQ chicken sandwiches with baked beans
• Chicken and rice hotdish with steamed vegetables
• Quinoa rice blend, grilled haloumi,  stuffed peppers

This was my weekend shopping list:

• Deli turkey
• Cheddar cheese
• mozzarella cheese
• apples 
• yogurt
• bread
• hamburger buns 
• hummus
• baby carrots

A couple things we may still need:

• Hot dog buns 
• milk
• juice
• bananas

     I've got the last in a box of burgers to bring to either bring to the lake today or eat at home (weather is iffy again), along with chips and salsa, rice crispy bars, and a tuna pasta salad. I need to use up bunches of bananas and other odds and ends in my freezer to make multiple loaves of bread-hopefully the rain cools things off and I can pop in the oven tomorrow morning. Using up what is already on hand helps me keep my grocery budge tin reason, but I'd like to do better in July. 

Stock photo used before  'cuz I was lazy.

Budget Challenge Week One Menu

      Interesting comments on yesterdays post about my uber low grocery budget challenge for February. It seems the consensus is it is doable-if I have a decently stocked pantry to start. I'd say I have a mediocre pantry, so yes, it will be tight, but anything to keep me mentally stimulated, even if  doing mathematical exercises in my brain on the cost per meal. Further mental gymnastics maybe then required to tweak to see if corners can be cut without sacrificing  my other guidelines of not being too carb heavy (well not more than usual), and ensuring adequate fruit and vegetables. As a refresh, I'm trying to keep my total household, grocery, health and beauty budget (H&G) to $350 for February. It is just me, my husband and our 25 pound dog, who's food is included in our budget. I typically eat leftovers for lunch and DH brings a a couple sandwiches, fruit, and granola bars for a snack. Take out and should we be brave and eat out (not likely yet), is in a separate  dining out and entertainment budget, but I'm trying to keep that to $100 for February. I'll start the planning below, even though today is still January. Here's what was planned last week. 

Plan:

Sunday:  Spaghetti and meat/mushroom sauce, garlic bread using leftover hotdog buns

Monday:  Sloppy Joes, French fries or wedges (used up hamburger buns)

Tuesday: Tuna noodle hotdish and peas 

Wednesday: Chicken pot pie (store bought crust bought a few weeks ago on clearance)

Thursday: *Chili and grilled cheese sandwiches

Friday: Chicken fajitas, rice, black beans, corn 

Saturday: Pork Cottage pie

Reality:

Sunday:  Chicken pot pie 

Monday:  *Spaghetti and meat/mushroom sauce, garlic bread using leftover hotdog buns

Tuesday: *Sloppy Joes, French fries or wedges (used up hamburger buns)

Wednesday: Tuna noodle hotdish and peas 

Thursday: *Chili and grilled cheese sandwiches

Friday:+ Grilled Chicken fajitas, sweet potato wedges

Saturday: Pork Cottage pie

*Put enough in the freezer for second meal. 

     I have to share Friday's dinner. I had a sweet potato that needed to be used up, so instead of tridiagonal fajitas, I jumped on the TikTok/Taco Bell dupe band wagon. After sautéing onions, and the handful of mushrooms I had left, and sliced in two previously cooked chicken thighs, I divided onto three flour tortillas, with about 1/4 cup of cheddar and pepper jack cheese on each, folded them burrito style, and gilled them seam side down, then flipped, for grilled fajitas. Oh, boy were these delicious! A whole different meal feel with the same ingredients. I had sliced avocado and salsa with mine and DH had two grilled fajitas without either salsa or avocado, hence why I ate the whole darn thing. Healthy fats, right?.. 

     So what about  this week? I'm doing some maneuvering to see where some of the items I bought when my daughter were out and about yesterday fall in my budget such as Cider we got for next weekend. We drove farther than planned as the day was so beautiful and ended up at one of our favorite little towns, very touristy. Even though most businesses close seasonally in the dead of winter, the cidery/winery and the pie shop were open, so yeah, we stopped; we bought. I also got a few odds and ends at an Aldi on route that will be calculated in February, saving me going out before next Saturday when I'll do a big shop. The plan:

• Sunday: Turkey meatballs in pepper jelly sauce, steamed carrots, rice pilaf
• Monday: Baked chicken, pasta salad with grated carrots, onion, celery, peas, and cheese (this may end up being a warm pasta side instead-depends on mood!)
• Tuesday: Pork loin with baked apples, steamed carrots, mashed potatoes
• Wednesday: Rice hotdish with leftover pork, carrots, celery, and peas
• Thursday: Chicken sliders on biscuits, French fries, baked beans (from freezer)
• Friday: Goulash
• Saturday: Ground beef enchiladas with rice(we'll see if these go over better with DH than the bean and cheese did), black bean and corn salsa

     Any night could be a leftover night if I'm getting too far ahead of what I can fit in the freezer or have for lunches. Veggies are getting  a little boring, but I have 2 pounds of carrots and a big bag of frozen peas to use up. I'll likely cook up eggs for egg salad for lunch variety and if I do, I might swap out any night for bean soup from the freezer with egg salad sandwiches if I just don't feel like cooking. What's your plan in the kitchen this week?