Before I sat down to plan this menu I did an inventory check of my fridge and pantry. I made note of what I already have on hand - especially anything that was in danger of going bad or seemed to be becoming a fixture. If you're pinching pennies in the kitchen, food you throw away is money you are wasting. I can't afford to do that. This is also a great time to cull any items that actually are past their prime. I noticed I had some barely touched apricot preserves and aging orange marmalade. You'll see their influence in this week's meals:
29 S - Spaghetti/Salad/Garlic Bread
30 U - In-a-Hurry Curry/Salad/Bread Sticks
31 M - Perfect Potstickers/Carrot 'n' Celery Amandine
1 T - Apricot Salsa Chicken/Rice/Broccoli
2 W - Church Dinner
3 R - Curry Chicken Pot Pie
4 F - Hamburgers/French Fries
5 S - Apricot Kielbasa Slices/Egg Noodles/Broccoli
6 U - L.O. Spaghetti/Salad/Garlic Bread
7 M - Beef Stew
8 T - Mandarin Orange Chicken/Rice/Green Beans
9 W - Church Dinner
10 R - Chicken Patties/Mac & Cheese/Carrot Sticks
11 F - Bruschetta Minute Steaks (Kraft, Sum'06, pg. 57)/Salad
When I go to the grocery store, I turn on my tunnel vision. If I want to buy something, it had better be on my list or it's not going home with me. I don't buy much in bulk and I don't stockpile for the sake of stockpiling. I buy what we need and make sure we eat it. It is tempting to buy extra of things that are on sale, but if that extra goes bad before we eat it - it's not saving us any money.
The recipe for the Bruschetta Minute Steaks is from Kraft's Food & Family magazine, which is free and published quarterly. The best thing about this magazine is that it gives a recipe with options to help customize your dinner (ex. : you could have regular lasagna or Mexican lasagna) - usually they give 4 different plans. You can subscribe with this link - do it! It's FREE!
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