Meal and Job Plan for June 8-14

Wow.  I am sooo tired!  I worked hard this past week.  I'll do a bit of work this week as well if I can and then it will be a return to a more normal pace.  I've posted my week's worth of projects and such so you know what I've been up to.  All that and routine housework, too.  My big fail this week was reading.  I hadn't read a word, not once by Wednesday and then I decided I didn't really need that added pressure, so I read two or three magazines from my gently read stash and passed them on.  I was too tired at night to even think of reading and wouldn't stop during the day for it.

Each meal I made this past week used something from pantry or freezer.  I'm a long  way from being done.  I do need, at this moment, to go buy produce, dairy and bread.  We will also pick up one or two items for John's work lunches this week as well as get prepared for our needs when company comes in middle of next week.  However, I am still planning to use all I can from my pantry and freezer to provide meals for us.  I'll only purchase items I'm fully out of just now.



I deviated from my menus last week as I found items I'd forgotten I had.  For instance, I had cooked macaroni in the freezer and I'd planned to make mac and cheese for the freezer. I thawed the cooked macaroni and then decided to make it into macaroni salad when I found I didn't have cheese enough to make the planned dish.  It was a HUGE fail on more scores than one.  It went into the trash.  I don't like to throw food away but everything was wrong that could be.  The texture was off, the taste was off and there simply was no salvage for it.  Out it went.  Big meal that day?  Spam sandwiches.

 I meant to make a Spanish Chicken Soup, but 90 degrees with 90% humidity...NOT soup weather.  I found a half pint of Salsa Verde in the fridge freezer and corn tortillas at the back of the fridge.  I used the same ingredients (minus the chicken broth) to make Chicken Verde.  Let's see how this week is planned...and what I actually do with it all.

Breakfasts:  
Blueberry Cinnamon Muffins, Cheese Cubes (I put half a dozen muffins in the freezer as well as a half dozen donuts)
French Toast (using leftover French bread we bought on Friday),  Sausage Patties
Scrambled Eggs with Cream Cheese(fridge) and Chives, Biscuits
Cold Cereal with berries, Peanut Butter Toast
Granola Bar (Pantry), Smoothie(using pineapple/mango/orange juice from freezer)
Sausage Biscuits 
Western Omelet(using bell peppers from freezer), Hash Brown potatoes (Freezer),Toasted Biscuits

Dinners:

BBQ Chicken, Coleslaw, Potatoes with Green Beans, Orange Sherbert
I ate lunch out with Mama last week and brought home 1/4 of a smoked chicken.  I will spread homemade with BBQ sauce I made a couple of weeks ago.  I've had the cabbage, carrot and potatoes on hand for several weeks.  It's use it or lose it time with the cabbage and potatoes.

Leftovers for me (chicken verde with my new favorite drink: 7up and strawberries)

Hamburger Steaks, Pan Roasted Italian Vegetables, Green Salad
I don't always want a cheeseburger, but do occasionally want a really good burger steak.  I'll season well and wrap with turkey bacon and broil.

Almond Chicken, Rice, Ambrosia
I like to make Almond Chicken.  It's easy and it uses staple ingredients that are almost always on hand.  It lends itself well to substitutions so if I am out of almonds, I might well make it Walnut or Cashew or peanut chicken.  It's inexpensive, as recipes that use pantry ingredients so often are.    And it just tastes good! That's always a bonus isn't it?

Florentine Turkey Meatballs, Pan Roasted Italian Vegetables (leftover), Pasta, Green Salad
Ground turkey and spinach from the freezer. I'll use end pieces of bread to make bread crumbs. I have half a box of fettuccine from a spaghetti dinner a couple of weeks ago.  Usually this recipe makes twice the meatballs we require so I'll probably put some in the freezer for another day.  My recipe is loosely based upon Rachel Ray's.

Leftovers for me

Corn Chowder, Tomato Sandwiches, Applesauce Cobbler
I said I'd buy produce and one of the local farmers has corn ready as of Monday.  They generally have fresh tomatoes, as well.  I plan to get a bag of ears to put up as creamed corn but will boil a few and make corn chowder, too. I'll use up the last of the old potatoes in this chowder.  I use canned evaporated milk (pantry) in my chowder, less expensive than using whole milk and half and half.  I'll use chicken broth from the freezer.

Roast Beef, Hash Brown Casserole, 24 hour Salad
Can you tell I found a bag of hash browns in the freezer?  I'll finish them off for this meal.  I have a sirloin tip roast so I'll slice it thin and use for sandwiches later in the week ahead.

Jobs This Week:

I do have a long list nonetheless I shall also do grocery shopping and errands and absolutely shall visit this grandson who will arrive this week, plus housework.  We'll see what I get done and what I don't and no worries.  Here's a few of my listed items:

Mending/Sewing: Curtains for the master bedroom, a sweater that I would love to wear once more, hem a pair of pants, make two old pairs into shorts, curtains for the front porch. Yes, you read that right, for the front porch where the sun from morning to mid afternoon will bear down upon you with burning intensity.

Plant bulbs, seeds in the pots where only one little plant germinated from last seeding and promptly curled up and died after.

Take donations to the charity drop off.

Sort vintage magazines into months once more and put them back into storage.DONE

List Victoria magazines on eBay.

Declutter and clean guest room closet.  All this declutter work is pretty much first pass sort of thing.  I've plenty to do despite being diligent in this area, but there will be a second pass through to refine areas.

Haul excess stuff to shed (these are items that I want to keep/repurpose/spruce up/can't part with.

Sort out the flea market stuff and organize it better.  Then tag a few things to take into the flea market this coming week.

Bring home the oldest items in the flea market and list online or donate.

And I 'll leave off there but I promise it's not even the tip of the iceberg of work I have to do!