Last week turned out to be different than expected with lots of weather involved.  I did not cook on Thursday, so the Bacon Cheeseburger pizza is moved to this week. I wanted to use up more of the leftovers so we could stay on track.  Both the kids and I are out of school today for the holiday, so I did a bit of extra cooking today.  I also went to the grocery store this weekend and started to purchase food for our annual junk food Sunday.

Breakfast- Saturday-Lily brought home bagels from Panera. Sunday- Dad’s Breakfast Casserole Monday- Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday– find it (breakfast burritos, muffins, oatmeal, cereal and milk, French toast sticks, sausage, pop-tarts, and eggs. We are really low on eggs, so I have purchased some instant oatmeal and grits to add to breakfast.

Lunch- Saturday-leftovers   Sunday-Dinner out with Friends (CHRISTOS) Monday- corn on the cob and bacon Tuesday, – soup Wednesday- eat out or leftovers Thursday- soup. Friday- eat out.

Dinner- Saturday- Copycat Olive Garden Chicken gnocchi soup and breadsticks.   Sunday- Left-overs    Monday- Corn chowder (using frozen corn from our freezer) Pear sauce cake in the crockpot.  Tuesday- Burritos using Taco Rice in the fridge.    Wednesday- Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza (everything from the freezer) Thursday- Eat on the way to swim meet Friday- Parmesan Chicken (we have an excess of chicken in the connivence freezer)

Pantry Challenge
1.Purchasing items that we are completely out of that are staples such as diary as well as buns or other items that will help use items we already have. Total spending for the three months of the 2025 will be less than $900   Current total $514.46. This week we received an Azure order (first one in 18 months) and I started to gather items for our Junk Food Sunday. I also pulled out cash to use for groceries for the remainder of the challenge. I currently have $220 left to meet the goal of $900. Not sure this is entirely possible but even keeping that budget for 2 months would mean $800 in savings.
2. Use at least one “meal/meat portion of the meal” from the stand-up freezer each week. (This is where most of the meals are) Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza. I also pulled out 3 packs of frozen corn on the cob, 2 of which I will use this week for meals. This corn is from at least 2 years ago so I am very proud to be using it up.
3. Use at least 3 jars a week from the canning pantry. I pulled a pint jar of pear sauce and will be using at least 3 jars of chicken broth this week for cooking. My plan is to also use a jar of spaghetti sauce for the chicken parm on Friday.
4. Use one item a week from the connivence freezer in my room. I ended up giving my mom a bag of Chicken nuggets this week and I hope to use some of the chicken patties to make the chicken parm. on Friday.
5. Each Monday after menu planning provide a list of how I followed the guidelines for the week.  Done!

Things are starting to get back on track.  I am so thankful for the extra time at home due to weather over the past week!  I am actually feeling almost better and ready to dive in to a more normal routine.  You will notice that we did not eat out this weekend due to the weather as well.

Breakfast- Saturday-Pancakes or French toast from freezer. Sunday- Baked oatmeal Monday- Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday– find it (breakfast burritos, muffins, oatmeal, omelets cereal and milk, French toast sticks, sausage, pop-tarts, and eggs. I have added a rice cake with peanut butter to my list of things to eat.

Lunch- Saturday-Lily made meatballs Sunday-My Dad’s chicken stew Monday- leftovers Tuesday, – soup Wednesday- eat out or leftovers Thursday- soup. Friday- eat out.

Dinner- Saturday- Chicken and rice or meatball and rice.   Sunday-Hamburger and French Fries   Monday-Cowboy beans and cornbread    Tuesday- Chicken Fried Rice and eggrolls   Wednesday- Million Dollar Spaghetti Pie Thursday- Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza Friday- Eat out before the swim meet.

Pantry Challenge
1.Purchasing items that we are completely out of that are staples such as diary as well as buns or other items that will help use items we already have. Total spending for the three months of the 2025 will be less than $900   Current total $289.89
2. Use at least one “meal/meat portion of the meal” from the stand-up freezer each week. (This is where most of the meals are)  Million Dollar Pie, Hamburgers and Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza.
3. Use at least 3 jars a week from the canning pantry. We have used 10-pint jars for meals so far this week and probably another 10 cans from the store pantry.  I did add 8 pint jar of chicken stock to the closet.
4. Use one item a week from the connivence freezer in my room. We used hamburger buns from the connivence freezer and a couple of rolls of sausage. Lily found some shells to use for her lunch.
5. Each Monday after menu planning provide a list of how I followed the guidelines for the week.  Done!

With all our sickness this has been a great week for weather related events.  I had a 3-hour delay for a workday on Monday, a two-hour delay on Tuesday and a remote learning day on Friday. This allowed me some extra time at home to start to get things back in order and prepared. On Friday, after finishing work I was able to immediately get started on getting things done around the house.  Dinner was already going as I had started in the crockpot during my lunch.

The soup on Friday was a new one to us. Everyone enjoyed and we placed some in the fridge for later meals.  One of the things I am trying to do is when I make a pot of soup, put some in containers for easy lunches but also freeze a container that can be used for a quick and easy meal later.  But this did not allow us enough for the freezer.  I was also able to pull out and make a breakfast casserole for Friday morning, using up things that we already had. It actually was a hit and will be a do over!   I even pulled out eggs from the freezer so that we did not use our precious egg supply right now.

One of the hardest parts of starting straight back to work after returning from a trip is the lack of food preparation that is done. This week, I knew I had canned a couple of soups so I used that for my lunches. We also had very simple dinners that basically included heat and eat. Lily also cooked on Thursday night and Saturday lunch which was a huge blessing! My goal for the weekend which I knew ahead of time was to try and get some meals made that first used up ingredients from our pantries and freezers but also that provided options for lunches for the next week.

Lily made meatballs for lunch on Saturday, which were great!  Hot dog buns were used for sub rolls and we pulled out a jar of spaghetti sauce along with BBQ Sause to use as a topping.  I ended up making cranberry meatballs for my dinner on Saturday night with enough left for at least one lunch this week.  Matt and Lily headed to Costco for some car stuff on Saturday as well. They brought back a rotisserie chicken which was enjoyed for dinner by others as well. I had also made a pot of rice for a dinner later this week which most of us added to the protein.

I pulled all the chicken off the bones and put in the fridge to use for our soup today. My Dad’s chicken stew which is most like a Brunswick stew has been on my short list.  I threw the bones and skins in the crockpot with water to make chicken stock. This cooked overnight and was ready for use this morning.  I was able to pressure can 8 pints of chicken stock which are now shelf-stable for future use.

I was able to use frozen onions and celery, along with a couple of expired cans of mixed vegetables along with cans of corn, tomato and green beans to start a big pot of chicken stew. We will be eating this for lunch as well as freezing one portion for future use and having 4-5 bowl available for next week as well.

My current plan is to have hamburgers for dinner, using buns from the freezer!  I am going to start a batch of cowboy beans in the roaster in the morning which will be another lunch options along with a batch in the freezer and other lunch choices as well.

I think we are good for both using pantry items and having prepared meals now!