Showing posts with label use what you buy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label use what you buy. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Meal Planning Again with Changes

I am trying to get back into meal plan mode here.
I still have to cook for the family but I can't always have what they are having, even with adaptations.
Since I don't feel like making 2 meals those nights, I'll probably just have something easy, like a sandwich or fruit with yogurt, etc.

The local restaurant supply store had a great sale on colored peppers over the weekend.....99¢ lb.
I bought a ton, along with zucchini and yellow squash for the same price.  This menu is loaded with peppers and what's leftover is getting sliced into strips and frozen for later use.

Here's the meal plan--

Sunday, I adapted my Lena's Lemon Chicken recipe so I could eat it.  Instead of using half the "cheap" Lemon Pepper seasoning(that's mostly SALT  lol), and half the salt-free Lemon Pepper seasoning, I just used the salt-free variety.  I use to half and half it because we like some salt and the salt-free variety is insanely expensive, and it calls for a large amount for the recipe.  All thee other ingredients are aok to have--chicken, brown rice(not salted when cooking), onions, zucchini, olive oil, garlic, diced tomatoes and tomato paste.

Monday, I made Macaroni Salad(minus the salt)and really loaded it up with carrots, celery, onions, 3 colors of peppers and black olives.  It was more a Veggie Salad really. lol
We had hamburgers(they had cheese, I didn't).  I had one of my half turkey/half beef burgers.  We also had a mélange of steamed corn, broccoli and carrots.

Tuesday, only Hubs and I were home for dinner.  He had a Chicken Enchilada.  I made 8 Enchiladas last week, without salt or refried beans and using my made from scratch enchilada sauce(salt-free).
I froze half of them for easy dinners with the container of leftover sauce in the fridge.  Hubs also ate leftover Macaroni Salad.
I didn't feel like a heavy meal so I just had apple slices dipped in my peanut butter.

Wednesday, tonight will be Italian Sausage, Onion and Peppers Sandwiches. I can't have the sausage so I'll figure something else out later today.  I have baby Portabella mushrooms here I have to use, so I'll think up something using those.  Maybe a bowl of fresh mushroom soup?

Thursday, we'll have Chicken Fajitas. Peppers, onions, mushrooms and chicken.  I'll make my own seasoning since Chili Powder is full of salt.  And cheese for the family but not on my fajita. 

Friday, Fish, Lena's Cabbage Salad, Yellow Squash Sauté.

Saturday, Either Leftovers or Pasta with meat sauce and a large Salad containing lettuce, carrots, celery, peppers, grape tomatoes, red cabbage and spinach. The sauce will be made from scratch and have half and half ground turkey or chicken and ground beef. I'll use my low salt dressing or olive oil and vinegar.

So that's how we're rolling this week.
Next week?
Who knows!

Sluggy
 

Monday, November 5, 2012

Food Spending OCTOBER Week 4+, Meal Planning NOVEMBER Week 1



Another wartime food waste poster.  From everything I've heard about Army food during the 1940's, the word "style" doesn't pop up too often. if. ever.  But yes, leftovers can taste AWESOME!

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If you read last week, you know I planned out being able to stick to my Meal Plan even if we lost power for a few days as a result of Sandy.  Luckily for us, we didn't lose power for very long.  This mostly meant that we didn't have to eat 3 cartons of ice cream in a very short time.lol

And here is what actually got served last week....
 
Sunday--Pot Roast, Carrots, Potatoes, Mushrooms, Onions
Monday--Sloppy Joe on Onion Rolls, Corn
Tuesday--Chinese take-out
Wednesday--Salmon, Kraft Mac&Cheese, Green Beans
Thursday--Beef Stew(used leftover Pot Roast), Bread
Friday-- more Stew or leftover Sloppy Joe or Chinese take-out
Saturday--Cheese Burgers(used up leftover onion rolls), leftover Green Beans
 
The food spending last week was $106.24 for $188.44 reg. retail worth of goods.  I also earned a $5 Cat Q last week.  Most of the spending was buying ahead so I could qualify for the Thanksgiving gift certificate at the local Shursave market.  Only about $15 of what was spent was for immediate needs.

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Going into this week, I have leftover Sloppy Joe(1 serving), so nothing really to incorporate into my new meals.  If I don't eat this for lunch this week, I could mix it into the spaghetti sauce on Friday.  Viola-no waste!

This week's menu....
 
Sunday--Steak on grill, Salad, Roasted Potatoes & Onions
Monday--Rueben Sandwiches
Tuesday--Grilled Pork Chops, Halushki(a cabbage & noodle dish), cinnamon apples
Wednesday--Honey Mustard Chicken, Rice, Broccoli
Thursday--Kielbasi on Rolls, Onions and leftover Sauerkraut, Corn
Friday-- Ravioli with Sauce, Spinach Salad
Saturday--Leftovers

Last week I hit upon a deal on sliced corned beef at Weis.  They had 8oz packs of Freidriech pastrami, roast beef and corned beef, regularly $5.99 pack on sale for $3.99.  Some packs had $2 instant discount Qs on them as they were nearing sell by dates, which made those $3.98 lb. for high end deli meats.  I scarfed up some roast beef to tuck into the freezer and enough corned beef to make Ruebens for dinner.  I already had Swiss cheese, 1000 Island Dressing and Sauerkraut, so I bought a loaf of Jewish rye bread on Sat.  Had I planned on this for a meal?  No, but as soon as I saw that deal the end of last week, I changed things up.   We'll be knoshing in style tonight for dinner! ;-)
 
What do I need to buy to serve this menu?  I bought the bag of salad on Saturday as it was on sale last week....ditto the deli meat for Ruebens.  Left to buy is a head of cabbage, kielbasi rolls, fresh spinach.
Also needed milk, and maybe fruit, though we still have many apples left from last week.

I will be buying a frozen turkey this week, as well as some good buys this week, along with getting items ahead that I'll need for Thanksgiving dinner.  This is the last week for purchases to qualify for the gift certificate at the local Shursave market so besides the $15 I need to spend for this week's meals, I'll be shelling out around $80 more dollars of food items.  Luckily the end of this week the Shursave market is having their semi-annual Meat Sale, so I can stock up on some meats....the ones they don't jack the price up on right before the sale and then lower them. lol  Spending this targeted amount means I get $20 in free food vouchers to spend the following 2 weeks.
 
So what are you cooking at your house this week?


Sluggy