Monday, October 12, 2009

Menu Plan Monday ~ Week of October 12th

Last week was all about avoiding wasted food. Somehow, I've managed to accumulate a lot of leftovers on the bottom shelf of the fridge. We really wanted to avoid having to toss any of it into the garbage. So we chipped away at the odds and ends and finished almost everything and only one small bowl of Chicken Corn Chowder needed to be tossed.

Even though I only actually cooked twice last week, I feel accomplished. Accomplished in the fact that we didn't throw a lot of money away in the form of wasted food.

I had another accomplishment last week. I was able to host a last minute and frugal lunch without having to go grocery shopping. My aunt and Gram wanted to come and visit me (actually the baby) and I wanted to be able to prepare lunch. I also invited my parents over for lunch too. I had a lot of leftover Cowboy Stew and some Beef Barley Soup in the freezer. My aunt brought some hoagies and my parents brought a pie. And I sent my aunt and gram each home with a quart of soup!

This week will be another creative week of trying to form a menu plan using items we have in our freezer or pantry. I'm trying to avoid a large shopping order since we are still experiencing some unexpected expenses. But we're far from deprived.

Here's this week's menu plan:


  • Monday: Chick-fil-a (using coupons*).
  • Tuesday: Spaghetti and meat sauce, Texas Toast.
  • Wednesday: Cheese Steak wraps, waffle fries.
  • Thursday: Ham Steak, Baked Beans, Pierogies.
  • Friday: Salmon, garlic mashes potatoes, peas..
  • Saturday: Leftover night.
  • Sunday: Pork Tenderloin, Sweet Potatoes, Green Bean Casserole.

*A while ago, I registered on Chick-fil-a during a promotion they were having. Just this weekend, I received two coupons for FREE chicken sandwiches. Mondays tend to be our errand day, so if we're out and about we'll pop into Chick-Fil-A for an early dinner. If not, then I'll do some adjusting to the menu plan.


For more menu planning inspiration, be sure to read Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

I'm also linking this to Make-Do Mondays since I think we did a really great job at making do with the leftovers! Again!

4 comments:

Sharinskishe said...

Awesome! Tossing food is always a hard thing for me to do. I try to avoid tossing by combining my leftovers and making new things out of them. I am so proud of your ingenuity this past week. Keep up the great work.

Come back and visit soon.

Shari

Oonie said...

Kim O'Donnell, a food writer, hosts Eating Down the Fridge challenges--sounds like you have this licked already! My connection is in and out so I can't copy the link but it's on my blog if you are interested (or you can google). Thanks for reminding me of the chowder in my freezer--yum!

GnJand Hailey said...

Love chick fil a. I did a lot of leftovers last week too. Instead of just reheating pasta and tomato sauce I added some leftover chicken and put it in a baking dish topped with cheese. Hailey "helped" with this dinner, she seemed to enjoy the helping more then the eating part, but I think that is more of a phase she is going thru. I like reading your menu plans....gives me ideas.

Alison said...

Thanks, Sheri! Be sure to stop back again soon!

Memegrl, thanks for the suggestion, I'll check out your blog to get the information.

J, we ended up not getting Chick-Fil-A last night. :( I ended up heating up the last of the boxed frozen food that Joe bought when the baby was first born. Glad to have that gone from the freezer, now there's more room for my homemade stuff! I'm sort of looking forward and dreading when Grace is old enough to want to "help" :)

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