Showing posts with label menu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label menu. Show all posts

5/2/11

Making Your Meat Stretch Further

We grilled on Sunday.
Take that chicken & throw it into a quesadilla for dinner tonight.
Throw your leftover shredded pieces into a tossed salad for dinner tomorrow night.

I think this site is extremely, um, cautious, but none-the-less a fairly good rule of thumb on freshness of meat. Go HERE to read the article.

4/18/10

Weekly Menu Plan

We're moving. Like soon. As in the moving trailer will be here by week's end. So, cooking bare bones is taking on new life.

I highly recommend purging your pantry when you can. Not only are you helping to eliminate waste, you are giving yourself a low-budget grocery week. I'm quite sure we're only spending $10 on our groceries this week.

Here's what we're having...

MONDAY
Ribs. Tightwad Daddy smokes'em. Jimmy John's 50 cent bread. Frozen california-style mixed veggies.
Lemon pudding.

TUESDAY
Grilled burgers. Sesame buns. Sliced cheese. Roma tomatoes. Tator tots. Canned green beans.
Gingerbread cookies w/ marshmallow icing. (both purchased on sale after Christmas)

WEDNESDAY
Grilled whole chicken. (or use this on smaller portion) Bkd potatoes.
Take leftover chicken & divide. Take 1/2 & add chicken broth & egg noodles for tomorrow's lunch (the other 1/2 for tomorrow's dinner).
Mini pecan muffins for dessert AND tomorrow's breakfast.

THURSDAY
Chicken stir fry (w/ yesterday's chicken leftovers). Froz. stir fry from Aldi. Brownies w/ marsh crm frosting.
FRIDAY
Spaghetti & meatballs. Jimmy John's bread w/ garlic salt & butter. Frozen corn. Frozen asparagus.Sandwich ice cream cookies (from tuesday's cookies). Cupcakes w/ white icing.

SATURDAY
Moving food: donuts/pizza/brownies/rice crispy treats.

SUNDAY
breakfast=banana bread (made weeks ago & frozen)
lunch=potato soup
supper=grilled salmon. frozen corn. grilled jimmy johns bread. grilled green peppers.

I italicized what I had to buy. Remember that jimmy johns day old bread is only fifty cents!!

8/17/09

Menu Monday

MONDAY
garden tomatos (yum) = BLTs
TUESDAY
tyson chicken strips, corn on cob, mixed (froz) veggies
WEDNESDAY
hot dogs, tossed salad
THURSDAY
baked ziti (made & frozen last month), corn, salad, jimmy john's (day old) bread
FRIDAY
restaurant.com night

8/10/09

Menu Monday

monday
soccer night, eat on the run
tuesday
(leftover) roast pork sandwiches (sunday's leftover roast), fried potatoes, salad (jack in the box tacos for lunch of course)
wednesday
grilled chicken breasts (grill twice as much as you need), jimmy johns day old bread, zuccini
thursday
take the leftover chicken, add to tossed salad, leftover bread
friday
date night. restaurant.com gift certificate

5/18/09

Menu Monday

I've slacked lately when it comes to giving you my menu for the week.

I try to keep our meals at $5. Some nights the meal exceeds that amount... but usually we have enough leftover for lunches for the next day, BONUS!
Remember, for me, time means almost as much as money (or time is money!); so I do a lot of cooking ahead (cook my meat for three nights on the first night, etc.).

MONDAY
grilled chicken (season w/ whatever & throw on the grill, make enough for tomorrow night too) with hot dogs (for Wed night) (click HERE for a coupon for Kraft bbq sauce)
green peppers / zuccini (season w/ cheap italian dressing & grill) (click HERE for a Kraft dressing coupon, which probably makes it free!)
Jimmy John's 50-cent day-old bread (slice & brush open face w/ butter & garlic salt)
strawberries (ours were 'clearanced' down to 99 cents at our farmer's market)

TUESDAY
tossed salad (altho a little pricier, we prefer darker greens) with yesterday's chicken
JJ's day old bread (slice yesterday's other 1/2 & top w/ cheese of your choice, throw in toaster oven)
Aldi's fruit bars

WEDNESDAY
Daddy has dinner plans elsewhere, so we're doing a kid-dinner...
Monday's hot dogs
frozen green beans (aldi)
apple sauce

THURSDAY
stir fry (aldi)
crescents or rodes bread (coupon HERE)
graham crackers with icing (coupons for BOTH of those HERE!)

FRIDAY
pizza night
homemade pizza for our allergy kiddo
California Pizza Kitchen pizza for us! (coupon for a CPK pizza OR a DiGiorno pizza HERE)
leftover strawberries topped on ice cream

3/23/09

This Week's Menu

Monday
grill chicken breasts
add to tossed salad (spinach leaves, iceburg lettuce, carrots (all from shop n save) + green peppers (aldi's 3/$1).).
choice of salad dressing (my kids heart catalina)
leftover brownies (from last week) + ice cream
french bread (get day old fr bread loaves @ Jimmy John's for 50 cents)

Tuesday
meatloaf* (I mix w/ oats, eggs, ketchup, salt/pepper & sprinkle the top w/ brown sugar)
salad use leftover salad (w/o chicken)
baked potatoes
croissants
kiwis :)

Wednesday
use leftover grilled chicken (from Monday) for CHICKEN ENCHILLADA soup
(I use a mix, but you can make from scratch, it is more expensive)
cheddar biscuits (bisquick mix I found clearanced down at target)
pineapple

Thursday
burgers* (grilled, yum!)
garnish with: any still-green spinach leaves, cheese, etc.
diced potato mix (red tatoes from aldi's, onion, peppers, grill in foil, yum from Harris clan!)
steamed broccoli
shamrock cookie ice cream sandwiches (the cookies were marked down at shop n save minus Q!)

Friday
breakfast-for-dinner:
french toast (use almost-stale bread that's left from the week)
bacon
fruit salad (great thing to do w/ the almost-bad fruit from the week)

I try to keep our meals around $5. Some are a buck or so more....the others are a buck or so less (like Friday's menu, which probably totals $3).
I also try to cook ahead. For example, with my family pack of ground beef* .... on Saturday, I pre-made burger patties (for Thursday), which I always mix w/ egg. I also took that time to pre-make our meatloafs. I use a really tiny loaf pan, one for each kiddo, & hubs & I share a bigger loaf. I then threw these in the freezer.
On Monday, I plan to cook the chicken for Monday & Wednesday.
It saves time & forces me to 'stick to the plan'!

3/16/09

Weekly Menu Plan

Monday
Spaghetti
(make large quantity of sauce & freeze 1/2 for Friday's Ziti)
tossed salad
garlic bread
brownies

Tuesday
Hubs & I are enjoying a date night (thanks to reader Regina!)
My kids will enjoy family night at Burger King (kids' meals for $1.99)
ice cream (brownies a la mode w/ leftover brownies?)

Wednesday
Grilled chicken (grill large quantity outside, set aside 1/2 for tomorrow's dinner)
Knorr pasta side
steamed broccoli (when you wash/cut brocc, do a large quantity, set aside 1/2 for tomorrow's salad)
crescents
shamrock cookies (marked down after St Patty's Day)

Thursday
salad (make extra, sans chicken, set aside for tomorrow nite's dinner) with grilled chicken (from yesterday)
french bread (can be bought @ Jimmy John's, day old, for 50 cents!)
(after dinner, get out Monday's frozen sauce, thaw in fridge for tomorrow nite)
ice cream sandwiches (homemade w/ leftover shamrock cookies?)

Friday
"Now & Later Ziti"* (w/ yesterday's sauce) for tonight's dinner & tomorrow's lunch!
salad (w/o chicken, from last night)
toast (I gather my almost-stale pieces, slather w/ butter & garlic salt, & throw in toaster oven)
corn on the cob
banana bread (made w/ this week's brown bananas)

RECIPE FOR N&L ZITI: (prep time 5 mins/serves 12)

Ingredients:
  • 2 lbs gr beef
  • 1 lg onion (chopped)
  • 1 jar (4 lbs 3 oz) pasta sauce
  • 1 box (16 oz) ziti or med tube-shaped pasta, cooked/drained
  • 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Directions:

Cook beef & onion in saucepot 'til browned (pour off fat, yuck).
Stir in pasta sauce, ziti, & 2 cups of mozz cheese.
Spoon into 2 (12 1/2" x 8 pans).
Top with remaining mozz. & parmesan.

Bake @ 350 degrees for 30 mins. (or until as hot as you'd like it).

2/3/09

This Week's Menu (a little late)

OR a little early (however you want to see it!)...

MONDAY frozen pizza (the kids' pizza was made 2 weeks ago, frozen obviously)

TUESDAY Burger King (family night, we all ate for $8)

WEDNESDAY spaghetti w/ ground pork, grn bean steamer veggies, french bread

THURSDAY Capt D's (coupons!)

FRIDAY Banquet snowflake chicken tenders, canned corn, salad, french fries

SATURDAY grilled chicken, brocoli chicken lipton packet, salad, french bread

SUNDAY meeting at church (getting fed :)

1/28/09

This Week's Menu (a little late)

But Reader Melinda is looking for some ideas, so here goes...

SUNDAY
Orange Roughie (Aldi's)
Baked Potatoes
Steamed veggies (Aldi's)
Croissant
MEAL COSTS $10 (w/ enough for lunch for everyone the next day)

MONDAY
Mexican Rice Casserole (leave a comment if you want the recipe, it is yum)
Tossed Salad
Choco-Chip Cookies
WHOLE MEAL FOR $12 (made for 4 extra people)

TUESDAY
Homemade Soup (potatoes, grn beans, garbanzo beans, 2 cut up chicken breasts, basil, chicken broth) -- everything thrown into the crockpot, chicken first....I literally just threw whatever I had in there & it was yummy.
Oranges
Biscuits
*lunch for the next day, a bowl to freeze for a lunch for next week, & enough to give supper to the neighbors for Wed.!*
WHOLE MEAL UNDER $7

WEDNESDAY
Leftover Casserole (from MOnday)
But the kids are having chicken tenders, steam veggies (aldi's), fries
EATING LESS THAN $5

THURSDAY
Capt D's (join the club!)
THE FAM CAN EAT FOR LESS THAN $10

FRIDAY
Pizza
(the kids eat one that we made 2 weeks ago, Daddy & I eat one from Aldi's)
THE WHOLE FAM EATS FOR $4

SATURDAY
Somewhere where K.E.F. (kids eat free!)
THE FAM CAN EAT FOR LESS THAN $20

SUNDAY
Superbowl Party :)

The whole week's menu (lunch included on most days!) for $68!! And that's more than usual!

1/19/09

This Week's Menu

Monday
homemade hamburger pizza (cook your turkey/gr beef up tonight, brown 'balls' of it for tonight's pizza & finer clumps for tomorrow's pizza. you can really cook ahead by making thursday's browned gr beef/turkey & patty up the rest for friday, then throw into the freezer)
(pillsbury canned crust)
soy cheese (grate your own!, it's cheaper!)
canned pizza sauce (cantina)
olives
salad
gingerbread cookies (we made them for a craft today)

Tuesday
tacos
shells, lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, guacomole
sour cream
lemon bars

Wednesday
baked chicken breast (nothing special, just baked)
Lipton/Knorr chicken brocoli rice
green beans
crescent rolls
soy dream cones (dairy free ice cream)

Thursday
stuffed shells
(gr beef, parm chz, ricotta, italian seasoning, onion, garlic, eggs)
corn
salad
bread (that's almost stale) w/ butter/garlic salt sprinkled on
mandarin oranges for dessert

Friday
cheeseburgers (soy!)
buns
broccoli
fries
applesauce

Sat & Sun
Go somewhere where KIDS EAT FREE!
And leftovers :)

1/12/09

This Week's Menu wk 2

So, our pantry (we don't really have a pantry) is purged, mostly. I'm glad I was forced to evaluate what we have. I used lots of mixes & helps; which I'd been shoving to the back, mostly because I didn't feel like messing with it at that meal.

I encourage you, be a good steward of what you have. Don't waste.
And building meals around a single ingredient can encourage creativity, not that my meals are creative at all.

For this week, we meal planned on Friday. At dinner. After a quick game of, 'Guess what veggie is at the end of my fork' (stir fry, in a mug), we planned for this week. Each of my kiddos got to choose a meal for dinner. My girl chose chicken, my boy, burgers.

Here goes:

Monday
meatloaf with ketchup, onions, rosemary, s/p, oats, 2 eggs, brown sugar sprinkled on top
baked potatoes
tossed salad
apple sauce
*brown tonight & tomorrow's ground beef (3 lbs?) & possibly patty up Friday's burgers

Tuesday
spaghetti
meat
pasta sauce
corn on cob
green beans
going-stale bread (open face in oven w/ butter & garlic salt)

Wednesday
chicken tenders
mixed veggies
tator tots
apple sauce

Thursday
beef stew
stew meat
potatoes
carrots
brown gravy
mandarin oranges
cheddar biscuits (bisquick mix)

Friday
burgers
soy cheese
fries
broccoli
apple sauce

Saturday
K.E.F. (kids eat free!)

Happy Eating!

1/7/09

This Week's Menu

I challenge you to try what we're doing this week. Of course, this week for us is not a challenge, it's a requirement. We aren't to spend a dime til payday. So I have taken the 2 things of meat that were in our deep freeze, to build meals around them for the week.

The first things I did to make what we have stretch into a whole week was to contact our mommas & ask which day/evening we could spend with them for a meal. No kidding, I really did.

So Sunday, Hubby's bday, we spent lunch at his momma's.
Monday, we spent supper with my momma.

Here is what we had to work with for the rest of the week:
2.5 lbs ground beef
1 large bag of frozen chicken breasts

So, here is how we planned to use the meat for the remainder of the week (with ONLY what we had/have in our lazy susan).

TUESDAY: brown all the ground beef. separate 1/2 & season with taco seasoning for tonight's BURRITOES.
  • gr beef
  • taco seasoning
  • cheese
  • sour crm
  • refried beans
  • salsa

WEDNESDAY: use 1/2 of yesterday's gr beef for tonight's CHILI

  • gr beef (cooked yesterday)
  • cumin
  • beans
  • sauce
  • celery
  • lots of pepper
  • chili seasoning
  • crackers/cheese/sour crm to taste

THURSDAY: thaw/marinade chicken breasts in garlic lemon marinade (found deep in the corners of the cabinet!) & cook for tonight's CHICKEN BREASTS (thaw another few breasts, not marinade, for tomorrow's dinner)
  • marinade
  • canned potatoes
  • green beans
  • sliced wheat bread (put in toaster oven spread with butter & garlic salt)
FRIDAY: use yesterday's cooked (& unmarinaded chicken) chicken breasts for tonight's STIR FRY
  • stir fry veggies
  • couscous
  • soy sauce

SATURDAY: We'll go to dinner (afterall, it is payday!:) at a K.E.F. (kids eat free!) restaurant, maybe we'll go to the newest restaurant on the list, Steak N Shake.