I promised to check in at the end of week with the progress of this idea. This is how it worked with our dinner menu and groceries.
Dinners:
Sun: Lasagna Had: homemade sauce from freezer, noodles, salad fixins, rolls from freezer; Bought: 1/2 # cheese.
Mon: Meatloaf Had: potatoes (mashed), frozen broccoli, broth for gravy; Bought: ground beef and pork
Tues: Crockpot beef sandwiches Had: beef , broth, frozen veggie; Bought: fresh rolls
Wed: Chicken cacciatore Had: frozen chicken tenders, onion, peppers, chicken broth, tomato paste, penne, salad; Bought: mushrooms.
Thurs: Homemade pizza dough ingredients, sauce, mushrooms (see Wed.), pepperoni, salad; Bought: mozzarella cheese
Fri: Burgers Had: noodles, american cheese; Bought: ground beef, buns, beans. (On burger days, we always buy the beef and buns fresh.
Sat: Soup Had: soup
Sun: Linguini with white clams sauce: Had: chopped clams(cans), clam base, garlic, olive oil, butter, linguini, salad
So, there you have it. I won't bore you with another week. I did buy more than what's listed for lunches and breakfast but those were the basics. Since we're home, I do make more hot lunches than I would if they brown-bagged it but it's usually something quick. I know I spent less on my grocery bill but what feels better is clearing out the cabinet and shelf space. I feel like once I do this, I can sort of start fresh and build a pantry with things that I actually use. It's nice to have a few things on hand for a quick meal. I like to have spagetti sauce in the freezer and clams on the shelf. Everyone likes linguini and white clam sauce. But I've found that I don't prefer to have meat in the freezer, I have to think too far ahead to use it.
I'm done boring you, but it's been a good practice and has actually made dinner easier these past 2 weeks. Of course, planning the menu is half the battle, but overall, the exercise, of "using what I have" at least with respect to meals, is quite liberating.
* An update to this update. I wasn't able to format and post this until AFTER the Blizzard of 2010. We got nearly 2 feet of snow in a matter of 24 hours. We also lost power for almost 2 days. This gave me a different perspective on the pantry and fridge contents. I was so relieved that there wasn't much in the fridge that I had to transfer to a cooler or pitch. There weren't many meats that I had to worry about. On the other hand, we had to come up with meals that could be cooked on the gas stovetop. I wasn't really prepared for more than a couple of days-worth of good canned soups. We certainly had enough but there are a few things that I would have liked to have on hand. You might be interested to know that we didn't open our freezers. After about 36 hours, the contents of the extra freezer in the garage were frozen solid. The contents of our freezer in the house were 1/2 and 1/2. The things on the top racks were thawing or thawed but cold, the things in the bottom baskets were frozen solid.
* An update to this update. I wasn't able to format and post this until AFTER the Blizzard of 2010. We got nearly 2 feet of snow in a matter of 24 hours. We also lost power for almost 2 days. This gave me a different perspective on the pantry and fridge contents. I was so relieved that there wasn't much in the fridge that I had to transfer to a cooler or pitch. There weren't many meats that I had to worry about. On the other hand, we had to come up with meals that could be cooked on the gas stovetop. I wasn't really prepared for more than a couple of days-worth of good canned soups. We certainly had enough but there are a few things that I would have liked to have on hand. You might be interested to know that we didn't open our freezers. After about 36 hours, the contents of the extra freezer in the garage were frozen solid. The contents of our freezer in the house were 1/2 and 1/2. The things on the top racks were thawing or thawed but cold, the things in the bottom baskets were frozen solid.
