I don't know whether I could make a menu for a week and stick to it.. too many unexpected things happen and then also what if I don't feel like what I planned for that day or that meal???? Yet it could help me stop wasting and overbuying if I make sure I utilise what I already have on hand, especially perishable items.. and also if I know what I'm making I might stop purchasing etxra things " just in case"!
I have got a lot better at not wasting. If I didn't have dogs a lot more would be wasted but a lot of excess of leftover food can be cooked up with their meat and therefore, not thrown out. As well, since I started feeding the birds, a lot of things can go to them. Things that I don't want to give to the dogs like leftover crackers. ( There always seems to be halfeaten boxes of crackers from when visitors are here.. they always go stale but rarely do we finish the box! I'm not keen on finishing them anyway.. it's OK to eat snack foods when people are over but I can do without eating them just to finish them up.. they're not very healthy!!)
Anyway, last time I went shopping I did myself a favour and made sure I got enough of the "essentials" to last me at least a week. So I should be able to avoid going to the supermarket until one full week is up... that is my goal.
I decided that the things I definitely cannot do without are these things:
dog food
cat food
fish food
toilet paper
dishwashing liquid
tea
Paul's cereal
soy milk
Nuttelex ( I like butter but Paul likes Nuttelex.. as long as we have that I can do without butter if I run out)
bread
eggs
clothes powder
toothpaste
I think that's about it. Everything else I think I could wait for till the next time I'm due to shop.
I guess you could say this is my "master list" I feel I should get these things every week even if I still have some left and that will ensure I never run out.
I got 7 tins of dogfood, 7 loaves of bread and so forth. I also bought quite a lot of other food in case we had people over on the weekend in addition to the food I got for camping. Since I was quite unwell after the camping trip we didn't ask anyone over so today I put some excess in the freezer... a packet of mince I was going to make either spag bol or chilli con carne with should people have dropped in. Also a packet of sausages we did not eat. They will keep for next weekend which is when we ususally eat sausages ( for breakfast or for BBQs).
This left me with some bacon, two cooked chorizo sausages( had four but used two last night in a pasta dish), a large piece of rump steak, and some cooked chicken.
I also have mushrooms, tomatoes, lots of carrots(I buy a big bag of juicing carrots for a couple of dollars, they are just as good as premium only some are broken or malformed), some broccoli stalks... a few other things as well but those are the things I am concentrating on....
I think rather than say we're going to eat this Monday and this Tuesday and so on, I will just list the dishes I will make sometime during the week. It doesn't matter which day we eat it, just as long as I use up these foods that are there.
Soooo....
Meal 1 ; curry using the steak, a piece of pumpkin left and some potatoes. Eat with rice and pappadums ( have those too!). Will cook this today so the flavour can develop for a day..
Meal 2 ; broccoli, bacon and potato soup using some of the bacon, the broccoli stalks and celery which I have and potatoes ( I got a big bag for $2!!! WIN!!!) I DON'T have any cream but I have a tin of soy evaporated milk and also regular milk, also sour cream.. that will do..
Meal 3 ; mini pizzas using the chorizos, capiscum, tinned pineapple, anchovies, onion and garlic, tomato sauce and an open packet of tortillas. I made these last week with the same ingredients and they were yummy. Oh, and cheese of course and I have plenty of that...
Meal 4; fetuccine carbonara using some more of the bacon and the mushrooms, parsley from my garden and olive oil and garlic... will save some of the sour cream and also I have some spring onions and white wine for the sauce..
Meal 5 ; chicken fried rice using the meat I can pull off the rest of the two small cooked chickens I roasted on Sunday, corn kernels, spring onions, grated carrot and eggs. Soya sauce and oil I have and the rice of course which I'll cook the day before so it makes better fried rice. Better cook the rice today in readiness!
Meal 6 ; chicken and sweet corn soup using the bones and chicken carcasses, the tin of sweet corn I have, eggs and spring onion and a tiny bit of bacon to garnish...boil up the chicken carcasses today when I make the fried rice..keep the stock and any meat bits in fridge for the soup.
Meal 7 ; vegetable crepes using whatever veges are left added to the little bit of frozen broccoli in the freezer, cheese sauce and crepes made with flour, egg and milk ( I have).
There! 7 meals! I know 2 of them are soup but my husband LOVES soup and I will serve either toasted sandwiches or make some cheese scones or garlic bread to have with them. Maybe those nights we could have a pudding as well. We don't generally eat a lot of sweets but the weather IS getting cooler and some family favourites we enjoy during the winter are chocolate self-saucing pudding, lemon delicious and pancakes with syrup and vanilla icecream! I don't have any vanilla icecream so we won't have pancakes this week.. come to think of it I don't have any custard powder or cream either... oh well, we can have cake! NEXT week will plan to include one or two of those desserts!!
No comments:
Post a Comment