Tonight is beef curry, shredded carrot & chopped tomato pulled from the freezer, and roasted smashed potato from the red & white potato we got in the produce box yesterday. I pulled a 2 cup container of mung bean curry for lunches this week once the lentil curry is done tomorrow or Tuesday. We also have some paneer in the fridge, so butter chicken later this week makes sense.
I’m feeling some resistance about fully meal planning atm, but there are certainly things to make meals from.
Week one recap: I think we did pretty good using multiple items from the freezers, obviously we(me) a long way to go with this. However, I do feel quite confident that we will make a significant dent in the next few weeks before I leave (and during my trip, SO will still have to eat!).
Week 2: used up:
Donut x 2
Hamburger patty x 2
Buns- 7
Croissant -4
Salmon patty
Chicken breast package
Hamburger package
Chicken soup- needs more spices which once added made it much better
Chinese dumplings
Strawberries x 12
Package of peaches
Mini banana loaf
1 lb of bacon
Bowl of granola
Chicken drum sticks
Week 2: added in:
1 rack of ribs
Cabbage rolls
Eating down is tough! I only have so much room in my stomache. I also don’t have to eat it all this month, it’s about being in progress and actively working on it.
I pulled the bacon out for breakfast tomorrow and to use to make egg bites. I do much better eating something small and having ready made overnight oats are really helpful for me. I didn’t make any this week and it was tough. I made 2 today for tomorrow morning.
I’m good with this. Actually want to spend more money on groceries, because I didn’t eat any salad this week. Oranges at least kept me from getting scurvy.
Goal 1: Think we have a plan, and I didn’t get a new class three days before the semester starts this time, so yay. Going to make something big on Sunday night for supper on Tuesday and Wednesday each week. He’ll cook Monday night because he’s home; I’ll cook Thurs and Friday. Weekends punt.
Lunches: he’s set up with his trail mix, I am making sandwiches for the freezer (cold cut turkey, cheese, mustard; they thaw by lunchtime). We can both use those for backups/a chance of pace. I got myself a sack of frozen burritoes that’ll last the first two weeks (and I have time to heat them since my schedule didn’t change). Bought salad fixings for supper tonight, some of which is a cabbage I’ll roast on Thursday.
Goal 2: Grocery spending to date: $130.17; that counts the New Year’s Day soft food pickup I mentioned above. (And antibiotics are helping the tooth.) Won’t need any people food until the weekend starting 1/21, but will likely need dog food next weekend. Oh, and eating out/takeout: $43.33. We had our anniversary dinner.
So a couple days before my car appointment and deciding to make this an eat-down-the-pantry month, I did some stocking up…60 eggs (although these were split with 2 friends), 10lbs of potatoes, 2lbs cherries, 3lbs cuties, a bag of apples, toilet paper, and laundry detergent being the main purchases. As of now that plus what I’ve got on hand makes it fairly easy to continue to avoid the grocery store.
Lunches (for me as well as to trade, and I’ll get 2-3 other entrees with 2-3 servings each in return) will be vegetarian again: quiche with potato crust, with peppers and onions and shredded cheddar for the filling. The non-potato vegetables and cheese will be out of the freezer, the vegetables from a bagged purchase, and the cheese from a block I shredded/bagged myself while cleaning out the fridge before the holidays.
Other fill-in meals will be oatmeal, baked potatoes, cooking club one night, and then my trivia team is going to try out a (theoretically cheaper, although we haven’t been since the start of the pandemic so I’m not too optimistic) venue so I’m still debating whether I want to go ahead and try out a meal there or just do a drink.
Grocery spending = $ 196.65
Goal $200 per week
Meal Plan = Did it we ended up with more leftovers than I anticipated so some meals will go into week 2 I did the meal plan for that yesterday and grocery shopping today.
Week 1:
Takeaway food:
1 cafe trip with kids, 1 Ponder by himself for a break, 1 by myself for a break.
McDonalds, due to disorganisation/ being out of the house
Fancy burgers
Takeaway pizza
Dinners/ notable meals: (some overlap)
Tuna salad with soy sauce
Shakshuka, baked beans
Takeaway Pizza, we were all sick with headcolds
Chicken curry
Fancy takeaway burgers
Sausages in bread (hotdogs. But real sausages.)
Currently on holiday, will go back to tracking on Tuesday.
I have an opinions wanted issue. I have a bunch of canned goods with mostly expired best by dates. I usually figure most things, especially canned vegetables, are good for maybe 5 years past best buy. I have 4 cans of Thai Kitchen Coconut Milk that have a best by of Dec 03 2019. I’m thinking it is still good for awhile yet, but want to get opinions. Also, anything canned that anyone has reservations about using after it is +/- a year out of date?
Also, I have a bunch of chocolate chips in large bags that are a few years old that I got from Mom’s pantry. I’m assuming chocolate doesn’t go bad?
Personally I’m good with pretty much anything canned regardless of expiration date (canned like from a supermarket, I’m not sure I’d be so trusting about home canning, but aside from a couple experiments with peaches I’ve never done that anyway) as long as the can isn’t severely damaged, doesn’t explode when I open it, and smells like food. Especially since anything that comes out of can I’m generally cooking thoroughly anyway.
I have reviewed the receipt again as per my goal. This week it is lunch meat that is startlingly expensive. Salmon I knew was expensive but as the casserole I want to make also contains cauliflower, fancy little potatoes and feta… Ouch. Well, I will make sure that it all gets eaten even though there’s more of everything than I need for the casserole, and the point of this exercise isn’t to not eat food that is nutritious that I want.
didn’t end up following the meal plan because I ended up with a head cold. but I didn’t have to make any extra grocery runs and was able to still feed myself while feeling extra crappy, so I’ll call it a win. and I stuck to one take out meal!
groceries $76.24
takeout $20.53
coffee/etc $25.03
meal planned is done for this week and I think I’m going to do a Costco shop on Wednesday or Thursday. so I’ll do that and a small produce run tomorrow.
So canned goods it’s definitely more about loss of quality. Texture on veggies will get worse, flavor will get flatter on sauces, stuff like that. But food safety wise you’re probably good to go. Use and trust your senses. No rusted cans, no bulges or dented cans, no weird smells.
My standard for food is to trust my senses. I smell it, look at it, and taste it. If cans are dented or the texture or color is off I toss it. If I think, “I’m not sure” then I toss it, because I have no doubt when I know something is good. Thus far I’ve never made myself or anyone else sick!
Batch cooking session 1 of 2 for the week completed yesterday. I made a big pot of black bean chili. It yielded 4 pints, I will stick 2 in the freezer.
I did the meal plan for that yesterday and grocery shopping today.