Menu: Aug 26-Sept 2
More updates to our little organizational white board!
We added such things as breakfast and the weather forecast. I kept checking the forecast for the week when I was making the to-do list, and I got tired of being asked at completely inconvenient times what the weather was supposed to be like today. So I decided to include a basic weather forecast for the week, and Mum suggested we put it in the empty space next to the dates. Win! So we did.
I also started including breakfast ideas into the menu plan. No one else really needed lunch planned out so half that area was wasted space anyway. Having things planned makes it easier to eat those meals that are difficult for me to make decisions about because I always wait too long to eat them. If I ask Mr. Moon to go make breakfast, we don't have to spend half an hour going through the same conversation over and over again ("What do you want?" I don't know. [we both futz around online for a few minutes.] I'm hungry, would you please go make breakfast? "What do you want?" I don't know... [more internetz time.] My blood sugar is crashing, just f-ing be an adult and make a decision and cook something because you know I can't right now! And then half the time I'm too sick to eat it.)... Yeah. Because that's not going to frustrate EVERYONE. Not least because I know it's irrational to bitch about HIM not being able to make a decision when I can't either. Bah. Humbug.
So, breakfast has a plan. We also updated our seasonal to-do list! Thanks to that running to-do list we've got going on over here on the blog, I was able to parse out what was imminently doable and what needs to wait, and get it on the list. There was so much stuff to do for the garden that it got its own column. And I also had started a list of food-things I want to try making at home, so that got a list. It's so colorful!
---------------------
What's on the menu this week?
We have a family funeral this week, so as I mentioned last week we wanted a menu that is easy on the cooking, easily expandable, and best of all: Cheap. Contributing to the needs of the menu is that both freezers are packed reasonably full at the moment, as we have stocked up on a number of things that still need to be used. Not least of all the fact that I ended up with two different giant batches of marinara sauce in there so that we have an entire shelf devoted to it in the large freezer. The equivalent of 1/2 to 3/4 of your average sized in-home freezer. There's a lot of sauce there.
So Italian is on the menu weekly for a while.
We also just bought 10 lbs of salmon on a great sale, and attempted with moderate success to vacuum-seal it. Salmon will also be a regular feature for a while. It's just too bad I don't see the two working out together in the same meal.
But I digress! What did we decipher for a menu that is cheap, easy, flexible, expandable, uses up as much as we can of freezer stock, and is still pretending to make an attempt at vegetarianism?
Today: A vegetarian success story! Mac & Cheese that has veggies in it. I made one loaf pan for the four of us for dinner; froze another whole loaf pan and 4 mini loaf pans of single-serving sizes! I didn't have enough cheese for it all, so the frozen ones need a layer of cheese on top once they're half done, but still a lot easier than making them to-order.
Monday:
Breakfast: Leftover pancakes, waffles, and quiche frozen from other breakfasts.
Lunch: NO IDEA!
Dinner: Scraps of wilty veggies that need to GTFOut of my way but will make a great stir-fry. Oh, and one Mr. Moon gets the last serving of leftover chicken in his.
Tuesday:
Breakfast: Beans and rice (leftovers from freezer); topped with cilantro, and a couple soft-cooked eggs with hot sauce.
Lunch: Turkey wrap.
Dinner: Leftovers from a banquet meal, breaded and fried veal & chicken cordon bleu, not labeled confidently as to which is which when they were frozen so it's kind of a mystery meat meal, but both have already made good parmigiana.
Wednesday:
Busy cleaning day!!
Breakfast: Easy eggs and toast.
Lunch: Easy quesadilla.
Dinner: Possibly going out for a family dinner, possibly having the family over for dinner. We picked stuff that can be cooked from their current state (mostly, frozen) so that if we opted to go out then nothing would be thawed out and going bad.
Thursday:
Funeral early enough that Mr. Moon and I are rarely even awake at that time, let alone pressed and dressed and in a church. So breakfast needed to be quick and easy.
Breakfast: Parfait, made the night before with homemade granola that is too chewy to eat a whole bowl.
Lunch: At the church.
Dinner: Having family back at the house, ordering pizza; we're going to make a simple salad and some peach cobbler to get rid of some canned peaches and cool whip taking up space. Might make it peach crisp since I have an overabundance of oatmeal to use up.
Friday:
Breakfast: Biscuits (fresh) and gravy (freezer).
Lunch: Turkey club sandwich.
Dinner: Split pea soup (freezer) and sandwiches (with lunchmeat from freezer).
Saturday:
Breakfast: Another parfait because they're sooo good. And easy.
Lunch: Grilled cheese, because it's something my tummy doesn't mind me making myself.
Dinner: Mum is making her favorite tilapia (freezer) & stewed tomatoes recipe for herself and Pops. Mr. Moon and I are having steaks (freezer) and whatever veggies we can find.
Sunday:
Breakfast: Biscuits and gravy again, if there is enough.
Lunch: Tuna! Stella's favorite.
Dinner: Everybody is on their own. Usually this means Mr. Moon and I make a dinner plan the day before, either going out if the money is good enough or doing something delectable with whatever we have in house. Because the entire week is full of scraps, leftovers, and freezer stuff, there won't be a lot of leftovers to use for this. We may be getting extra creative, or eating pot pies [or in the future, this is what those single serving broccoli mac & cheeses, mini casseroles, etc. are supposed to be for--nights when no one wants to cook, no dinner plan is made, and no one wants to go out--homemade TV dinners!]. Or we may be going bowling. Not rightly sure yet.
As always, breakfasts and lunches are largely interchangeable. Though this week the breakfasts are calculated for maximum timing efficiency and minimum spoilage, so it's a bad week to skip around. Maybe it's the control freak in me, but I feel much more able to deal with the week knowing I won't be wasting time and energy every morning trying to get myself fed.
---------------------
I've linked up to Menu Plan Monday, go check out the list of links for some awesome menu ideas!
We added such things as breakfast and the weather forecast. I kept checking the forecast for the week when I was making the to-do list, and I got tired of being asked at completely inconvenient times what the weather was supposed to be like today. So I decided to include a basic weather forecast for the week, and Mum suggested we put it in the empty space next to the dates. Win! So we did.
I also started including breakfast ideas into the menu plan. No one else really needed lunch planned out so half that area was wasted space anyway. Having things planned makes it easier to eat those meals that are difficult for me to make decisions about because I always wait too long to eat them. If I ask Mr. Moon to go make breakfast, we don't have to spend half an hour going through the same conversation over and over again ("What do you want?" I don't know. [we both futz around online for a few minutes.] I'm hungry, would you please go make breakfast? "What do you want?" I don't know... [more internetz time.] My blood sugar is crashing, just f-ing be an adult and make a decision and cook something because you know I can't right now! And then half the time I'm too sick to eat it.)... Yeah. Because that's not going to frustrate EVERYONE. Not least because I know it's irrational to bitch about HIM not being able to make a decision when I can't either. Bah. Humbug.
So, breakfast has a plan. We also updated our seasonal to-do list! Thanks to that running to-do list we've got going on over here on the blog, I was able to parse out what was imminently doable and what needs to wait, and get it on the list. There was so much stuff to do for the garden that it got its own column. And I also had started a list of food-things I want to try making at home, so that got a list. It's so colorful!
---------------------
What's on the menu this week?
We have a family funeral this week, so as I mentioned last week we wanted a menu that is easy on the cooking, easily expandable, and best of all: Cheap. Contributing to the needs of the menu is that both freezers are packed reasonably full at the moment, as we have stocked up on a number of things that still need to be used. Not least of all the fact that I ended up with two different giant batches of marinara sauce in there so that we have an entire shelf devoted to it in the large freezer. The equivalent of 1/2 to 3/4 of your average sized in-home freezer. There's a lot of sauce there.
So Italian is on the menu weekly for a while.
We also just bought 10 lbs of salmon on a great sale, and attempted with moderate success to vacuum-seal it. Salmon will also be a regular feature for a while. It's just too bad I don't see the two working out together in the same meal.
But I digress! What did we decipher for a menu that is cheap, easy, flexible, expandable, uses up as much as we can of freezer stock, and is still pretending to make an attempt at vegetarianism?
Monday:
Breakfast: Leftover pancakes, waffles, and quiche frozen from other breakfasts.
Lunch: NO IDEA!
Dinner: Scraps of wilty veggies that need to GTFOut of my way but will make a great stir-fry. Oh, and one Mr. Moon gets the last serving of leftover chicken in his.
Tuesday:
Breakfast: Beans and rice (leftovers from freezer); topped with cilantro, and a couple soft-cooked eggs with hot sauce.
Lunch: Turkey wrap.
Dinner: Leftovers from a banquet meal, breaded and fried veal & chicken cordon bleu, not labeled confidently as to which is which when they were frozen so it's kind of a mystery meat meal, but both have already made good parmigiana.
Wednesday:
Busy cleaning day!!
Breakfast: Easy eggs and toast.
Lunch: Easy quesadilla.
Dinner: Possibly going out for a family dinner, possibly having the family over for dinner. We picked stuff that can be cooked from their current state (mostly, frozen) so that if we opted to go out then nothing would be thawed out and going bad.
Thursday:
Funeral early enough that Mr. Moon and I are rarely even awake at that time, let alone pressed and dressed and in a church. So breakfast needed to be quick and easy.
Breakfast: Parfait, made the night before with homemade granola that is too chewy to eat a whole bowl.
Lunch: At the church.
Dinner: Having family back at the house, ordering pizza; we're going to make a simple salad and some peach cobbler to get rid of some canned peaches and cool whip taking up space. Might make it peach crisp since I have an overabundance of oatmeal to use up.
Friday:
Breakfast: Biscuits (fresh) and gravy (freezer).
Lunch: Turkey club sandwich.
Dinner: Split pea soup (freezer) and sandwiches (with lunchmeat from freezer).
Saturday:
Breakfast: Another parfait because they're sooo good. And easy.
Lunch: Grilled cheese, because it's something my tummy doesn't mind me making myself.
Dinner: Mum is making her favorite tilapia (freezer) & stewed tomatoes recipe for herself and Pops. Mr. Moon and I are having steaks (freezer) and whatever veggies we can find.
Sunday:
Breakfast: Biscuits and gravy again, if there is enough.
Lunch: Tuna! Stella's favorite.
Dinner: Everybody is on their own. Usually this means Mr. Moon and I make a dinner plan the day before, either going out if the money is good enough or doing something delectable with whatever we have in house. Because the entire week is full of scraps, leftovers, and freezer stuff, there won't be a lot of leftovers to use for this. We may be getting extra creative, or eating pot pies [or in the future, this is what those single serving broccoli mac & cheeses, mini casseroles, etc. are supposed to be for--nights when no one wants to cook, no dinner plan is made, and no one wants to go out--homemade TV dinners!]. Or we may be going bowling. Not rightly sure yet.
As always, breakfasts and lunches are largely interchangeable. Though this week the breakfasts are calculated for maximum timing efficiency and minimum spoilage, so it's a bad week to skip around. Maybe it's the control freak in me, but I feel much more able to deal with the week knowing I won't be wasting time and energy every morning trying to get myself fed.
---------------------
I've linked up to Menu Plan Monday, go check out the list of links for some awesome menu ideas!
Biscuits and gravy!!
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