Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Cooking with Groceries from Your Freezer and Pantry

Monday morning routines...After my husband leaves for work I usually do 2-3 loads of laundry, clean both bathrooms and dust a little.  Since I often grocery shop on Mondays or Tuesdays (Grocery Game), I check our upright freezer while I'm in our laundry room to see what I have on hand. This week, except for perishables, I don't need much from the  grocery store.    In fact, I have a $5.00 coupon to use but I'll just buy produce this week.  :)  This happens about once a month, sometimes more often, since I stock up when things are at their lowest price.

Then I write the main course on a small dry erase board that's mounted on the side of our refrigerator.  Under the red line is some of the other things I noticed in the freezer that we could have for lunch this week.    Usually the day of the meal I add the side dishes that I want to make with the main dish.  Monday night we're  having baked fish with loaded baked potatoes (cheese and broccoli) and cantaloupe.



Monday's Dinner

Oops...I was going to post a photo here but I forgot to take one before we sat down to eat dinner.  You wouldn't want a photo of white plates with everything eaten off of them.  :)

Making these mini-menus BEFORE grocery shopping, couponing or looking through flyers really helps me save $$ on our groceries.  Remember, the menus don't need to be complete We just donated food  for Souper Sunday and all I needed to do was go to the pantry to fill a large paper grocery sack to take to church.  Sometimes frugal shopping overstocks your pantry and freezer, so I'm trying to have us eat from both to "clean" it out a bit.    One of my favorite blogs that a friend writes had a post about eating from the pantry in January. Check it out HERE.   We still have the variety of food to eat and a little advance planning takes the stress out of the 5:00 p.m. panic hour of what do I make for dinner!.   This is really helpful to me on the days of the week when I have later piano students (leaving around 6:00 or 6:30 p.m.)

Give it a try and relax a little in the evening instead of stressing out over your meals at home.



Proverbs 31:27 
She looks well to the ways of her household, 
And does not eat the abread of idleness. 



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