I've been busy this past week, hence my low postings. The annual headlong rush into the holidays is upon me this coming week. I'm going to try to keep up with at least meal plans, A Year of Savings, and Morning Coffee posts but the Home Ec series may well be put on hold until the end of the year. I've got several postings I want to make in that series and several articles to scan for even more but I'm just not sure I'm going to have time to spare.
I'm going to try hard to keep meals as economical as possible. Tis the season for spending you know and we've several things coming up in addition to the holidays. I don't mind cutting down on grocery spending this time of year when we've the pleasure of holiday meals to look forward to. I'll also be working on food inventory lists while I'm dividing myself among all the other tasks before me. I want to start the New Year with a clear idea of what we have, what we're NOT using as I thought we would. We all have those items we purchase because they seem a good buy or we think we'll save money and then we don't...I know there are a couple of such items in my freezers and perhaps on my shelves. I'm going to be diligent about figuring out how to use those items and careful to note which ones NOT to buy.
Well, let the meal planning begin! I'm leaning hard and heavy on this meal plan of late. It's saving time and money and it's awfully nice to tell John we've food ready made at home instead of having to stop for takeout or picking up quick to make items.
Oh, I did want to address two comments. Lena, you asked about the smoked turkey. This is a fully cooked item. It is a Butterball product which we bought at Aldi last year. When it's heated, a lot of liquid comes out of the bird. I usually drain my pan when I heat but the leaflet that comes with the meat plainly says you can slice and serve cold OR heat it up.
Louise, perhaps it does sound silly to you about buying pecans when I've trees here. There are many varieties of pecans and mine are sort of a 'wild' variety called seedlings. Seedlings can be difficult to shell and hard to pick meats out of, while other varieties like Stewart or Papershell are well known for large meats and thin, easy to crack shells. In my youth, you could take nuts to a pecan station and they would crack them for you, which is about half the hard work. I haven't found a place that will do that. It would take hours to shell out pecans, however, if I haven't enough to sell this year (and it's not looking like I will) I may just plan to do all that hard work after the holidays.
Sunday: A meal with family.
Monday: Bbq Turkey Sliders, Chips, Pickle Spears
This bumped from last week. We ended up having a much longer day out on Thursday than usual and we got a sandwich for our meal that day. This works well for us this week. I made a dozen of these sandwiches last week. We'll have sandwiches for several meals.
Tuesday: Chicken and Broccoli Stir fry, Rice, Oranges
I found this recipe earlier this week. I have the sauce made already and plenty of broccoli on hand.
Wednesday: Swedish Meatballs, Noodles, Beets, Green Salad
I may make up extra meatballs while I'm making this dish and freeze them for later use. I find that a plain meatball is very versatile for soups, sandwiches, pasta meals, etc.
Thursday: Cream of Broccoli Soup, Toast Rounds, Fruit Hash
I have lots of chicken broth in the freezer, and more than enough broccoli this week to make up a batch of this soup.
Friday: Pigs in Blankets, Potatoes with Onions, Broccoli and Apple Salad
I'll make my own biscuit dough to wrap the hot dogs. I'll make a full recipe of biscuits so we can have them for breakfast tomorrow morning.
Saturday: Quiche, Asparagus, 24 hour salad
I like to make this salad now and then, using whatever I have on hand rather than following the cookbook recipe. I know I have carrots, peas, lettuce and sweet peppers this week. The asparagus are canned. Mama gave them to me and I know their expiration date is nearing. I don't mind canned asparagus but have 'saved' them long enough.
2 comments:
With several almost too good to pass up sales at the grocery store ads this week...it was hard to pass them up...but we did. I have a lot stored already and so only bought two products that were extra exceptional in price and only a few of each of them. I can also see we are not using things like we used to. I also note many of the items are on sale often enough and I can wait to restock...I hope. With prices changing etc I can't be sure though if those special prices will come up often enough like they have been. Things like mayo I thought would go up and up and up. It did for a while then leveled out. Lots of sales on it often too. I can make it myself if needed too. Other things like Philadelphia cream cheese..wow! 84cents and 6 months later $1.98 On a Good Sale! I found some at $1.49 and looked twice!! LOL. I heard milk is to go up { and therefore milk products} but it has not here but we noted tonight ice cream on sale is up $1 from what it usually is. What have you heard? Course I realize that over the many years we have been warned sugar and so many other things were said to be hard to get and prices went up then down again. How often do we hear some news person say "in this economy" or "In these hard times" ..like it is a new thing to worry about having enough money. Or watching your money. Now though with the government printing excess money and our country owing $ to other countries and such it is a bit different. None of us can understand why we have to pay Our bills but it is ok for the country to owe and keep owing and add more to the debt. How is this an example to others and our children??? Ok I am getting off the soap box.... :) I used the left over meat balls from the stuffed bell pepper sauce and put some spaghetti sauce over them and some melted cheese and into hoagie buns for Italian sandwiches this week. I will use the left over little bag of stuffing in the freezer to add to meatloaf this week. We used the last of the left over turkey to make soup this afternoon. I Am working on using up everything and you have been an encouragement to me in that respect for sure. I know we all look forward to any posts you can give us but also understand you have a life and a lot to do too. I do hope you get some good news about this insurance mess. I wrote a comment that day you posted about it but I guess it did not get through. Several years ago we got on Medicare and could keep our same doctors. We were really blessed. I am keeping your family in prayer. Sarah
Interesting. I've never seen this turkey before. But then, unfortunately, we don't have Aldi here... Sigh...
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