Menu modifications

The best laid plans of mice and men...
I did not follow my menu plan as originally written this week. We had several unexpected things come up, and by the end of the week, I was tired so we got fast food.

On Sunday, I cooked roast and gold potatoes in the crock pot. I cooked frozen green beans in the microwave to complete the meal. I bought about 4 lbs of roast. The three of us ate about 1/4 of it on Sunday. I divided another 1/4 in lunch-size portions. There was a lot of broth from the cooking. I probably put in too much water this time. I divided the broth and the rest of the meat between 2 containers and put them in the freezer. Later I will use them to make stroganoff stroganouf beef & noodles.

On Monday, Will was home! His work shift got canceled/postponed. So I made the fajitas.

On Tuesday, the power was out when we got home! The power came back on at 6:40. I pulled leftover roast and potatoes out of the fridge. I also cooked broccoli from the freezer.

On Wednesday, I made chicken & dumplings. I made it from scratch using self-rising flour to speed up the process. We had spinach to complete the meal.

On Thursday, I made macaroni and cheese with ham, broccoli, cauliflower and carrots mixed in. I had decided not to buy box mac & cheese. I made a white sauce and melted at least 6 oz of cheddar into it. The final dish wasn't as yellow or as strongly  cheesy as the box stuff, but that's because I didn't put any food coloring or MSG in mine. 

On Friday, we picked up some fast food. This allowed us to all eat together as a family even though Will was working til 9.

Saturday we had quesadillas for lunch. They were made with cooked spinach, salsa, leftover fajita meat I had frozen and, of course, cheese. For dinner we had meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans. The meatloaf had been frozen raw wrapped in foil. I put it in a baking dish still in the foil. I put it in the oven with out any pre-heating. This let the meatloaf thaw at a lower temperature so the outside was not burnt before the inside cooked. When the oven reached temp, I removed the foil because I like my meatloaf to brown. I also made ketchup, but that should probably be its own post.

More on Menus

I'm sure you've heard the advice: Never go grocery shopping when you're hungry. That's very good advice, and I try to stick to it. Add to that gem: Always make your menu before lunch. Before breakfast works too. Seriously, trying to make a creative, varied menu on a full stomach is hard. It's much easier to come up with 2 weeks of dinner ideas when you're hungry. Try it.

Our grocery ads come out on Wednesday. My preferred stored has its ads available online. So, just before I take my lunch break on Wednesday (or maybe Thursday if I'm busy having to work at work), I pull up the ad and select everything that looks like a good deal or just looks good. I make a quick menu using whatever meat is on sale as the repetitive focal point. I keep my menu saved as a note in my email. Then I go to lunch. When I come back, I do whatever work needs done. Then when I have time at the computer, I fill in the holes in my menu and cross off the things we don't really need or that aren't good deals.

This week my grocery store has roast on sale for $1.97/lb. I made that my big meat purchase. They also have a "meal deal" buy pre-seasoned fajita meat and get tortillas, lettuce, refried beans and pico de gallo all free. I have used this deal before, and know that it will cost about $8 for all of that. I built my menu around those two items. Both the roast and the fajita meat will make lots of leftovers that can be eaten for lunches and/or frozen for later use. The rest of my menu comes from my freezer. I currently have a whole chicken, 2 (1 lb) packs of hamburger, a small bag of chicken tenders, a small bag of pork chops, 2 ready-to-cook meatloaves, a piece of ham, a piece of fully-cooked pork loin, and about 2 cups of chicken broth with some meat in it. The "pieces" are leftovers that I have frozen for later meals.

 

Here is my menu for the next two weeks:

Sun 2/21
roast, potatoes

Mon 2/22 

leftover roast (because Will is working late, and Robbie and I don't mind repetitive meals.)

Tues 2/23
fajita meal deal

Wed 2/24 

chicken & dumplings (using the broth from freezer)

Thurs 2/25 

leftover fajitas (Will is working late again.)

Fri 2/26
ham, mac & cheese

Sat 2/27
meatloaf,  mashed potatoes

Sun 2/28
crock pot chicken, rice

Mon 3/1
beef & noodles

Tues 3/2
chicken & dumplings

Wed 3/3
pork from freezer, rice

Thurs 3/4
quesadillas/nachos (This is often what I make when it's just Robbie and me.)

Fri 3/5
hamburger stir fry, rice

On Saturday 3/6, we will most likely eat leftovers and I will go grocery shopping again. I will probably modify this menu several times over the next 2 weeks if things are busy or other plans come up.

Bandwagons and Blog Carnivals

So, I started this blog because so many other people I know had them, it sounded like a good idea, and I thought it might be useful to some people. I've never been good with bandwagons, and it seems I've fallen off this one. The thing is, I did not have a clear plan as to how I would do this. I did not make a set time for blogging. I just figured I would just find the time somewhere. As you can see, that did not work.  But, now I'm going to get back on the blogging bandwagon! There are so many more people that I know on it now.

My goal is to get 52 posts published this year. That averages to posting once a week. Since I'm getting a late start, I'll have to catch up by posting more than once a week. Maybe I'll get in a groove and post more than 52 times this year. Maybe I'll slack off and have to post every day in December to meet my goal.

I'd like to think I could come up with an original blog post idea once a week. However, I know this is not always the case. I've thought of joining a blog carnival or two. Look for coming posts under headlines such as "Menu Plan Monday", "Works for Me Wednesday" and "Frugal Friday".

Since this may be my only post this week I'll start with "Frugal Menu Planning Works for Me on Wednesdays." I do my menu planning 2 (sometimes 3) weeks at a time and do my shopping for that time period. I do my best to go grocery shopping only twice each month. Since I work full-time, I go shopping on Saturdays. I like to have my list well planned out. I'm in fact OCD about having my list organized and thorough. (OCD is know on resumes as "detail oriented".) My grocery list is not just a list of random items. It is organized by area of the store, and includes how much I plan to spend on each item. I almost always know within $5 how much I will spend at the store. How do I do that? Some of it is remembering how much certain items I buy all the time cost. Most of it is using the sale ad from the grocery store to plan my menus. The store ads come out on Wednesdays. I start my planning on Wednesday, and by Saturday I have a very detailed list and menu. In an effort to post more often and provide material that may be useful to those who have decided to follow me, I thought I would document this process.

Sunday Dinner

When I was growing up as a pastor's daughter in rural Oklahoma, we lived close to my mother's family. We often went to her parents' house for lunch on Sunday. My grandmother would make roast and potatoes with carrots and green beans or asparagus from her garden. Dessert in the summer was strawberries fresh from the garden. Memories from those Sundays are some of my favorites. The sounds of the women talking and laughing in the kitchen and the men watching football (or some other sporting event) downstairs, the smells of the food all gave me such a feeling of home and security.

Now I live 8 hours from my closest family. (Except for a great-aunt and her kids who would be my 3rd? cousins.) I can't manage to get together with family every week, and cooking an elaborate meal by myself every week is just too much work. Remember my goal of being less tired? I decided to take Sundays off. But I didn't want to give up on good food for Sundays, and eating out every week would be too expensive. When I was a child and we didn't live near my grandparents, Sunday lunch was hot dogs nearly every week. I didn't want to establish this pattern in my own home. So, I started using the crock pot. I put the food in the crock on Saturday night and keep it in the fridge until 7am on Sunday. I take out the crock and put it in the part that plugs into the wall, I guess that's the pot. I turn it on at 8am, and by the time we get home, we have a perfectly cooked dinner.

I have cooked beef roast, pork roast, whole chicken, even meatloaf in the slow cooker. It's very satisfying to have a traditional "Sunday dinner" fully (or nearly) prepared when we get home from church. I wrote up a formal recipe for chicken in the crock pot. I prepare beef and pork roasts very similarly, but with simpler seasonings. To make meatloaf in the crock pot, make a meatloaf using your preferred recipe. Line the crock pot with foil (very important for cleaning) and form the meatloaf into a ball/loaf in the shape of the crock. I leave about an inch between the meatloaf and the side. Cook on low for about 5 hours. I don't put potatoes with meatloaf. I like to make mashed potatoes. A short-cut for that is to peel and chop the potatoes and keep them just covered in water in the fridge. Then drain the water and put the potatoes into water that was heating while you drained them.

Crock pot chicken

Serves 6+ (We eat it the first day, box the leftovers for lunches at work, and use the extra meat and broth for a meal later in the week.)

Ingredients

4-5lb whole chicken

~8 small, washed, unpeeled potatoes

2-4 carrots cut up (or 10-20 "baby cut" carrots)

seasonings: salt, pepper, onion powder, celery flakes, paprika, anything else you like (sage, garlic,...)

Directions:

Sprinkle seasonings in the bottom of the crock insert (this seasons both sides of the chicken)

Remove skin from chicken (This is not hard, just messy and can take time until you have practiced)

Place chicken in crock breast-side up

Sprinkle top with seasonings to taste

Place carrots around chicken (toward the bottom because they dry out badly)

Add water to come half-way up the chicken.

Wash potatoes and place around and on top of chicken.

Sprinkle salt on wet potatoes (otherwise they have no seasoning)

Cook on low for 4-5 hours. Makes a great Sunday lunch. A can of green beans completes the meal very well.

Strain the broth and save it for chicken and dumplings (Will's favorite) or soup for later in the week. Or freeze broth for future use in dumplings or soup.

What shall we eat? What shall we wear?

When my alarm went off at 5 this morning, my first thought was "I'm so glad it's Friday." Because this has been a long week. My second thought was "What am I going to make for dinner?" Will is going to be out with the guys tonight, and Robbie, understandably, does not like to play by himself when he finally sees us after a day at daycare. This week's menu, because of super busy work schedules, has been:
Mon-quesadillas (tortilla, cheese, cooked spinach, Sunday's leftover chicken)
Tues-leftovers for Robbie at the babysitter's, Taco Bell for us
Wed-hamburger patties with peas, mac & cheese for sides
Thurs-frozen pizza with spinach on the side

We're now out of leftovers, because I didn't really cook this week. So any dinner tonight will be a repeat of earlier this week, require more effort and attention than I can/want to give today, or require cash. Will's going out with the guys, Robbie and I can go out too. I made him eat spinach with his pizza last night. I can feed him nuggets and fries tonight. We'll eat real food tomorrow. I need to do a Target/Walmart run anyway. So, we can go to the store, then I can let him play on the playplace. What do we need from the store? Lightbulbs, shampoo & conditioner, Robbie needs some new clothes....
Clothes!!!!!
My only clean socks and Robbie's only clean pants are sitting wet in the washing machine. I've got to go put those in the dryer. Will I need to do another load tonight or does he have enough clean clothes for tomorrow?

"Do not worry saying, 'what shall we eat?' or 'what shall we wear?'" (Yes, the words of Jesus did interrupt my internal monologue this morning in a way that completely floored me.)

Wow, guilty as charged. That verse is aimed right at me as a wife and mother. Those have been my primary concerns these last few weeks. I've made out my menu from now until December 5 using what we have in the pantry and freezer. I've been making lists of what new clothes each of us need, and if I should get them now or (mostly in Robbie's case) put it on the Christmas list I'll give to interested grandparents.

I used a concordance to help me locate that passage this morning. And when I read it, ouch.

Matthew 6:24-25 as I read them in my Holman Christian Standard version.
     No one can be a slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and money.
     This is why I tell you: Don't worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing?

What?! Worrying about what to feed your family and what to dress them in is actually worshiping money? But I'm just trying to be frugal, a good steward, responsible... Obsessing over the wrong things with good intentions is still wrong. Matthew 6:33

     But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.

I'm not sure how God will provide clean socks and balanced nutrition for my family, but I'll be trusting Him for that and looking for ways to obsess over His kingdom.

And, good morning! It's now 7am.

²⁵ "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life? ²⁸ And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?' ³² For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well. ³⁴ "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day.

These verses were pulled from the full text available here.

Save Time in the Kitchen

1. Cook once, eat twice (or more). When you have time to cook, double your recipe and freeze the rest. It doesn't even have to be a fully prepared dish that is frozen. Having pre-cooked hamburger meat ready to toss into sauce and pasta is a great time saver. 

2. Use the microwave. I cook nearly all my vegetables in the microwave, and I think I've baked a potato in the oven about 3 times in my 4 years of marriage.

3. Buy convenience products when they help. I buy mac & cheese in a box, even though I could make it from scratch. I buy "baby" cut carrots because I found that I never got around to peeling the whole ones before they turned moldy. I buy individually frozen boneless, skinless chicken pieces for making fast dinners. The convenience products can be worth the extra cost.

4. Optimize cooking times. Start the dish that takes the longest first. While it's cooking, do everything else. For example, scrub the potatoes and cook them in the microwave (poke with a fork on all sides for even cooking, cook about 5 min per potato, rotate half-way through). Start browning hamburger patties in a skillet, and in a small sauce pan, cook some veggies. Being able to do this takes practice. Just start cooking regularly, and you'll find ways to multitask.

5. Use a slow cooker. This can allow you to get dinner on the table almost as soon as you get home.

My Favorite Chicken

Chicken and Peaches (with Spinach) over Rice
Adapted from recipe in Houston Chronicle "Chicken with Plum Chutney"
Serves: 4
This one is not as cheap as the others, but is "company worthy" and quite healthy. I love this recipe. It has so many colors and smells so good that I feel better just cooking it. My husband and son like it too, but I think I would cook this even if they hated it because I like it so much. The first time you make it could be fairly expensive because of the seasonings. However, if it becomes a favorite, you will get your money's worth eventually. It should take about 30min to prep and all ingredients get stored in the freezer or pantry, so have a long shelf life. If you don't have a very large skillet or an electric skillet, you should half the recipe.

Ingredients
1 lb. Chicken $2
(I use boneless skinless individually frozen tenders 3lb bag for $6)
1/2 onion (red, white or yellow) $.50 or less
(I buy these cheap, chop them and freeze them raw)
1/2 green bell pepper $.50
(original called for 2 jalapenos, but this suits our family better, I treat these the same as the onion)
1 lb. peaches $3
(I buy a bag of sliced, frozen unsweetened)
1/3 c. brown sugar
2T apple cider vinegar (white vinegar works, but cider is better)
3/4 t. curry powder
1/4 t. ground ginger
(These small amounts of seasonings cost pennies each, but if you don't have them, can add up quickly because the smallest purchasable units cost around $2 or $3 each.)
1/4c. water
OPTIONAL (but tasty and healthy): 1 bag frozen spinach $1
1c. rice to complete the meal

Directions
Spray a large skillet with cooking spray or use 1T cooking oil to coat.
Put in frozen (or fresh) chicken and cook until opaque throughout. (~10 min)
While chicken is cooking start the rice.
(My directions are different from the package. Use what works for you.)
    Spray a 2qt sauce pan with cooking spray
    Pour in rice, spread it evenly.
    Add 3 c. water.
    Cook on med-high heat until boiling.
    Turn heat to low for rest of cooking time.
    If using an electric stove, turn off heat just before all water is absorbed.
    This should take about 20 min.
When chicken is cooked, pull it out and put it on a plate.
Add 1T oil if not using non-stick skillet.
Put in onion and pepper, cook until softened and slightly browned.
Add frozen peaches, let thaw slightly.
Add brown sugar, vinegar, curry powder, ginger and water.
Stir well to combine, let simmer 8 min until peaches are softened and liquid is slightly syrupy.
(check the rice, it's probably time to turn it off)
Return chicken to pan, stir to coat,
Add frozen spinach and heat through.
Serve over rice.