Hi all!
Per the last post on “Paring Down The Grocery Budget”, we are getting this party started! The first thing I’ve done, and I’m partially blaming this on nesting in addition to wanting to grab hold of our budget, is create a spreadsheet with our current pantry, fridge, and freezer items. I did this on Friday night – party animal right here! – and worked on it throughout the rest of the weekend. What I created ended up being a list of items that I either wanted to be a regularly stocked item, in addition to stockpiling what we already have so it can be used up.
I have several planned changes for our pantry due to this cleanup and organisation.
- Switch from canned beans to dried beans for storage purposes
- Keep track of frozen portioned out beans so as to figure out when we need to convert the dried to cooked
- Move pasta from the boxes/bags to airtight glass containers (most likely the milk coloured jars from IKEA)
- Farmer’s Markets make me buy things that I don’t necessarily need/use
- It is currently end of April and we still have halloween candy from last year — pantry hoarding is definitely a thing!
Due to how much stuff we simply have, I also wanted to try and do a meal plan that was based on what we already have so that this can be a small grocery trip to start the month off with. As we work through more of our pantry and freezer goods, we can start buying additional things.
Prepwork for success:
- Assemble overnight oats in mason jars. Our recipe is very simple! Oats, cashew nuts, and a couple of chocolate chips. Night before, add almond milk and a small spoonful of homemade strawberry jam and mix. Enjoy in the morning!
- Roast sweet potatoes ahead of time to make this a grab-and-go breakfast!
- Assembling the strata Saturday evening and baking it off Sunday morning gives you a great fresh breakfast in the morning, and also allows it to cool off and portion it out for breakfasts/lunches throughout the week.
- Roast and pickle beets (I use this sweet brine) in the beginning of the weekend to use throughout the week. These last quite awhile, so I make a big bunch when I get beets on sale/from my grandpa and can them.
Manuela:
Breakfast/Lunch
Overnight Oats + Fresh Mango/Fruit
Baked Sweet Potato with Maple Syrup, Brown Sugar, and Pecans – I will most likely write something up on this one, but it is super simple. Roast the sweet potato, mash it, add the toppings and enjoy! Easy to make ahead of time and microwave or eat it as a dessert at the end of a meal.
(Leftover) Tuna Casserole – Wasn’t too happy with the original recipe that I used, and ended up changing it quite a bit. I’m going to play with this a bit more and write something up, but it’s supposed to be a play off of ‘Tuna Helper’.
(Leftover) Rice and Ethiopian Red Lentils – I’ve been really enjoying this. My berbere spice that I got off of Amazon ages ago was much spicier than I thought, so it’s a bit spicy, but the flavour is wonderful.
(Leftover) Rice, Soy Sauce Potatoes, Seasoned Mung Bean Sprouts, and Salted Mackerel – everything except for the salted mackerel is already prepared, so this will be easy to whip up while I’m home from work.
Rice with Furikake, Kewpie, Sriracha, and Tuna
Charles:
Lunch:
Pad Thai (leftovers from him going out)
Strata – made with spinach, sweet potatoes, and feta. Based off of Smitten Kitchen’s Recipe. Was able to make this with the leftover stale bread that Charles had made last week! No waste 🙂
(Leftover) Eggplant Lasagna – this is a freezer meal. Made with eggplant ‘meatballs’, spinach, garlic, and plenty of cheese!
Combined Dinner:
Spinach, Sun Dried Tomato and Feta Ravioli w/ Marinara w/ small pickled beets salad and goat cheese
Ravioli made using fresh egg pasta.
Korean Street Toast (recipe coming soon) – Charles’ Request
One date night
Portabella Mushroom ‘Pizzas’
Laughter and Cooking 