Of all the things I've done for myself of late, setting aside one day to prepare foods for the week has been the greatest time and work saver of all! I kid you not, trading one hour of time to prepare multiple items and then clearing up behind saves me hours each week. This past week, I had enough food to carry us through the weekend, and leftovers enough to cover my meals the day John worked.
I made another decision last week. I chose to save rather than spend. Yes, I chose to skip grocery shopping and instead to put that money in savings. I purchased peaches and tomatoes for produce, went to our local grocery and got eggs, bananas, bread and a 2 litre bottle of soda for John.
So for us, it's a pantry/freezer challenge. This will be interesting as it will give me a sort of trial run in figuring out how to manage my nutritional needs using canned/frozen items with only a little fresh produce, much as it will be come winter.
This week John works two days. I expect to be out of house at least one of those days, so I'll not make a menu for that day. There are always leftovers for me to eat should I find I am home unexpectedly.
Breakfasts: Bagles and Cream Cheese, Peaches
Cornmeal Pancakes, Eggs, Bacon, Mixed Berries
Banana Bran Muffins, Cheese Sticks, Mixed Fruit Cup
Peanut Butter Toast, Bananas
Toast with Sausage Gravy, Berries
Eggs and Toast, Peach
Oatmeal, Bananas
Dinners: Cubed Steaks, Cream Corn, Creole Green Beans
BBQ Chicken Sliders, Slaw, Oven Potato 'Chips'
Tuna Pasta Salad, Crackers, Broiled Peach
Corned Beef, Cabbage, Carrots, Black eyed peas, Sliced Tomatoes
out on my own or leftovers
Salmon Patties, Green Peas, More Tomatoes, Slaw
Lemon Chicken, Wild Rice, Haricot Verts, Wedge Salad with blue cheese crumbles
Suppers: Egg Salad stuffed Tomatoes, Toast Wedges, Peach
Reubens, Carrot Sticks, Pear Salad
Cubed Steak Sandwich, Banana
Buffalo Chicken Salad, Orange halves
Vegetable Soup and Cheese Sandwich
Pocket Sandwiches (likely chicken salad in pita)
Leftovers
Jobs This Week
I want to finish cleaning the front porch. I put it off last week due to a painful shoulder.
Paint the front porch chairs and start painting railings if weather cooperates.
Try to finish the work on the back porch.
I need to really think long and hard about whether to continue my flea market booth. I hope to make that decision by end of this week.
Prune trees in front of house.
Work on the rose bed.
Remove daffodil bulbs from pots and get them planted in yard.
4 comments:
isn't it amazing how far the food that we already have will go? It has amost become a sort of game with me to see how long I can wait between shopping trips.
I made menus and a shopping list for meals for this week before we left for the weekend so that I can go shop in the morning and be ready for the week ahead. We did stop at Trader Joes on the way in and hubby went in for bread and milk. It is best for me to not even walk through that store without a plan and a list. I was appalled at the price of milk there and hated to spend 2.69 for bread when I can make it for so little but I could not do that tonight.
I know you have to watch your fats so I thought you might like the biscuit recipe that I developed 20 years ago for hubby's high cholesterol diet. Multiply the recipe to fit your needs. 1 cup White Lily unbleached self rising flour, 1 tablespoon oil and 1/2 cup milk. Stir together and drop with a 1/4 cup scoop or heaping spoonfuls onto a sprayed baking sheet. Flour your hand and pat them flat. Bake at 425 for 10-12 minutes.
I am feeling a change in the weather and the robins have been here for several weeks which is really odd. I think we will see an early winter this year. I am thinking it is time to plant some lettuce seeds.
Yes! I understand staying away from stores too. Thankfully these past weeks the grocery stores have had nothing interesting at a good price in the ads! I did peek! :-) I am trying got stock up on some things but not keep too much in the freezer. I need less meats and such in there and room instead for floor and such.
I missed a sale on veggies I needed but choose instead to substitute in the meals. I am not going to pay full price for them when I know there will be a sale. And if not, :) I will substitute again! It is not that important to life to have the perfect mix. :-) I am relaxing and enjoying inventing in the kitchen again.
I do some work ahead for meals but Hubby decides at the last minute to eat out and such and I can only prepare so much or thing might go to waste. But I have begun to cook whole meals to freeze again. Least
things get done for when needed + some prep work too. Pro for snacks though is getting done and what a help it is there! Saving time and $ but better saving our health! Thanks for the mention of this again. It was so good to check your site and see another new post! Sarah
My husband has started doing our meal planning within the past month or so. It's actually been a mixture of blessing and not blessing. I've done the meal planning for 23 years and to suddenly not do it it nice but odd. He's been working hard to lose weight and feels some sense of control, plus wants to help more these days, by picking out the menus. The reality is, he has more time to do that because he's got free time at work that I don't have. It all works out. But he hasn't learned the art of seasonal cooking and looking at sales. Truth be told, since we've been eating healthier, and cut out so much foods/drinks/etc that's bad for us, our grocery bill has gone down significantly. That's a nice change.
Well, you sent me off to Google 'Haricot Verts'. I'm a lot (a LOT) older than you and I've never heard of these, at least, not that I recall. And all your talk of peaches has me planning a trip to the local orchard tomorrow. There's still time...
Mindy
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