This Week on the Dining Table

The "Wacky Winter Weather" Edition--

The photo above it was a typical Winter in the Poconos where we use to live looked like.  This was taken standing in our circular driveway from about 20 feet away from the house The high "pile" on the right?   One of our cars is actually under all that snow. lolz
Ah the good old days.....

We don't get nearly as much snow at our current location in PA but we do get a whopper storm every couple of years.
Last week has been crazy Winter weather with it not knowing what it wants to do.  Cold a couple of days then it warms up, snow melts and then it rains some?  It was 50F degrees here last night!  The yard is now officially a swamp.  It's suppose to hit almost 60F degrees later this week, at which time the yard will be Lake Poop(since Daughter never cleans up after her dog and the dog is large and poops three times a day!lol).

So all you folks who get a few inches of snow each Winter, I don't want to hear the bellyaching. ;-)

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

1. Sunday--pizza(one homemade, one store bought frozen)  No one was really hungry so these happened and everyone grabbed something else to their liking if they wanted more/different.  It was a strange food day.

2. Monday--Leftovers

3. Tuesday--Tacos or Taco Salad

4. Wednesday--Fish, Veg, Potato Salad or ?

5. Thursday--Ham and Cheese Quiche, Salad
6. Friday--Leftovers
7. Saturday--?

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--pizza(one homemade, one store bought frozen) or FFY

2. Monday--Leftovers

3. Tuesday--Leftovers

4. Wednesday--Tacos or Taco Salad

5. Thursday--Salmon, Au Gratin Potatoes, Brussel Sprouts
6. Friday--Manicotti in Sauce, Salad
7. Saturday--Leftovers of Fend For Yourself

Last week saw 4 nights of home cooked dinners, 3 nights of leftovers/fend for yourself, 0 night of take-out and 0 nights of Eating out. 

1 trip to Weis and 1 trip to Ollies(Good Stuff Cheap!),brought the shopping last week to $65.78 for all.  That brings February's food spending total to $143.97.  There are 16 days left in my shopping month.

My savings percentages last week was 58.80% and the monthly savings so far ends up at 53.08%(without Rite-Aid trips added in).

Leftovers going into this week.......some ham chunks, beef stroganoff, manicotti(2) and a little taco beef.  I've put the rest of the ham chunks into the freezer(except for some for Sun. and Tues. night's meals).  All the leftovers will be eaten as lunches as there isn't enough of any of them to be dinners.

Here is this week's "food plan".....

1. Sunday--ham and cheese quiche

2. Monday--hot dogs on rolls, beans

3. Tuesday--ham and bean soup, cornbread

4. Wednesday--leftovers

5. Thursday--chicken fajitas
6. Friday--Italian pork roast, potatoes, onions and carrots
7. Saturday--leftovers

This week will see 5 new meals cooked, 2 nights of leftovers, 0 night of Take-out/Eat-Out.  I am trying to get my soup mojo back though it didn't happen on Sunday this week(Tues. will be soup night for now).

The only thing I need to buy to make these meals is some chicken breast and carrots as I am all out of those items.  I dug through the freezer and there is no chicken in there.  I'll go out there the day it hits 60F and look more closely for some chicken but until then I ain't spending that sort of time in the garage! lolz

The pork roast, hot dogs and ham bone along with some frozen veg to have with the hot dogs are in the freezer.  Baked beans, corn bread and pie crust(quiche)makings in the pantry, potatoes and onions in the root cellar and peppers in the fridge.

I shouldn't have to spend much this week at the stores and hopefully I WON'T! ;-)

What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?

Was last week's plan successful, did you go off plan or did you not even plan what was going to be eaten last week?

Any great deals on food at your stores this week?


Sluggy

Meal Plan Monday.....August 10th Edition Back in the Saddle, Sort of

Well last week I didn't have a Meal Plan. Since #2 son was at Band Camp from 9am to 8pm and ate all but breakfast away from home, I didn't even bother with writing down a weekly menu. I just shot from the hip! Just call me Ms. Spontaneity!lol

Each morning I'd open the pantry/freezer/fridge/garage storage doors and peer in and wait for the Inspiration to hit me.
And most mornings, it did and I pulled together something darn tasty and simple. Hubby loves leftovers so we used some of those up last week....which is always a GOOD thing!

Having produce in the garden ready to pick each morning was a great inspiration last week. Whatever was ripe it what we had, along with a protein/meat. We dined on Yellow Summer Squash(Battered & Fried), Swiss Chard(sauteed with bacon), Salad Greens(still harvesting those this late is crazy good!), Cucumbers(made into 'New Pickles'). I used up some meats from the freezer....ham slices, a London broil, kosher hot dogs, ground beef & turkey in meat pasta sauce, & a frozen pizza. I also dug some corn on the cob out of the freezer from last fall & served it. It tasted as good as it did last September!

Since #2 son will be away for meals this week as well, I'm going to stick to what I did last week, BUT I will write out a tentative Menu. The meals will be served but not necessarily in the order presented here. After regularly having a Meal Plan each week posted for many months now, I just felt weird NOT having one last week.


Here's what our family of 2(+ 1 more for the weekend) will be eating this week...

Monday-Hubby out of town, I'll eat whatever is leftover in the fridge
Tuesday-Veggie Burgers(in freezer),Summer Squash Casserole(from garden)
Wednesday-Grilled Chicken, Deviled Eggs(I have eggs to use up),Fried Zucchini(from garden)
Thursday-Ravioli in Meat Sauce(sauce is leftover), Salad Greens(from garden)
Friday-Band Picnic-will take a dish to share, not sure what yet
Saturday-either Chili or Beef Stroganoff(using leftover London broil)
Sunday-Chicken Parmesan(using chicken from freezer), Swiss Chard(from garden), garlic bread(using homemade loaf)

Desserts-French Apple Pie(using frozen apple pie mix I made last fall), Watermelon

My shopping list for this week's meals consists of....hamburger rolls, watermelon & ravioli. I am going to try to stay out of the grocery store this week besides these 3 items.....I really need to stay out for a bit after hitting Acme's Unilever Deal hard last week, as well as Price Chopper's Deal Saturday night. With those 2 Campaigns I got a TON of groceries/toiletries(over $1400 worth) but I've spent approx. $170OOP out of my Food Budget already for August.
I never did get to the farm for the bushel of green beans 2 weeks ago, so I'll try to get there this week. I might NOT get a bushel though as there isn't alot of real estate open in the freezer just yet.

Food Waste Report.....not much food was made the last 2 weeks(besides the metric TON of meat sauce!lol), so not much in the way of leftovers. Tonight I need to do a sweep in the fridge and see what got pushed to the very back on the shelves. Hopefully nothing is growing fuzz yet and there's something the dogs can eat back there. I have been faithfully using my compost bucket by the sink for anything that can be put on the pile out back.

Check out Organizing Junkie's Website Here to see what other Home Cooks are serving this week!

Sluggy