Weekly Meal Plan - A Pantry Freezer Challenge Week of January 5-11

Now that January is well begun, I've determined to go back to my old January habit of giving myself a Pantry/Freezer Challenge.  This is where I try hard to shop at home for my grocery needs first, attempt to limit grocery store visits to milk/eggs and necessities we've run out of and SAVE the rest of my grocery budget.  The savings this pay period will help fund my next visit to the meat market, hopefully at the end of this month.  I've only a few packages of beef left in the freezer, but plenty of chicken and turkey and meatless proteins to help stretch it out.

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, Salad, Toasted Challah, Chocolate Cake
I purposely doubled up on the sauce. I want to make lasagna sometime this month and having the sauce already made streamlines the work.  The chocolate cake  (and frosting!) came from the freezer.  I put those items in back in November when John asked for a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  I just stirred the thawed frosting (butter-cream) well before spreading on the cake.

Oven Fried Chicken, Creamed Cabbage, Carrot Raisin Salad, Biscuits
The cabbage is leftover from Friday's Kielbasa meal.  I just added cream and a bread crumb topping and put in the oven alongside the chicken.  I cut the large bone in breasts in half since they were so big.  We'll have extra chicken for another meal.

Cheeseburger Mac, Tossed Salad, Oranges
I think I'm calling up a recent menu, one that I never had the opportunity to make due to leftovers.  It's a nice way to stretch a bit of ground beef into a satisfying winter meal.  I will thaw orange segments from the freezer, unless I wait and have this meal following grocery day this week when I have fresh oranges on hand. 

Chicken and Rice Soup, Fruit, Cheese and Crackers
Yes, this is a repeat menu from a couple of weeks ago!  I never did make that soup and ended up freezing the broth and chicken bits.  Well it's supposed to be super plenty cold and I guess soup is just the meal for such a day.  My recipe is Granny's way of making it, so not thin and broth-y but heavy on rice and low on chicken,  thick and substantial and super satisfying.

BBQ'd Pot Roast with Root Vegetables, Muffins, Coleslaw 
I have one last bit of roast in my freezer.  I hope to find a rutabaga to add to the pot roast but if not, the usual trio will do just fine.

Pinto Beans, Corn bread, Fruit Salad
I'm going to try and find that pinto bean recipe I stumbled across last year.  I remember it had onions...I have some smoked turkey I'll use a bit of to season the beans and give them that nice meaty flavor.  I'll make a mixed fruit salad (apples, oranges, bananas, grapes) and chill well to contrast with the smoky hot beans.

lunch out
Not with Mama nor with John but on my own.  John's new work schedule kicks in this week and he'll be gone all day long.  I'm going to take advantage of his being gone to go out and spend a good portion of my day thrifting, looking for new items for the booth.  Wish me luck!  I'll get a take out lunch while I'm out.