Menu Plan Week 101 - Using What We Have
It's the 2nd week of DECEMBER!!!
Yes, I'm feeling a little pressure ... We got the Boy's birthday out of the way on Friday last week (22 years old!) and I ended up stopping at Whole Foods and picking up some New York Strips and grilling them ... along with sweet potato fries. The girlfriend made margaritas and a cake and the Princess made a salad. Nice ...
This week, we have the Princess birthday to get out of the way on Monday (chicken piccata, her favorite) ... but I think the Boy is working that night so he's going to miss out (no loss on his part, he'd say, he doesn't do chicken willingly!
We also have the boat parade party on Saturday so the week ahead is going to be super busy. We have 3/4 of the lights done outside, will buy the Christmas tree today, and I need to get crackin on the decorating of the inside of house. I also have my list of foods going but it's not complete so I really need to work on that ...
There was a stop at Costco on Saturday ... for the party and other stuff ... spent WAY TOO MUCH and have resigned myself to the fact that I must make that a cash only store from here on out. 2015 Resolution! I will be posting that trip later today or tomorrow ...
UPS and the mail man have been stopping at the house pretty frequently this past week with Christmas deliveries ... thank you Amazon for making my life so much easier ... I've been buying all my small stocking stuffers and gifts using the gift cards earned through Swagbucks. If you are one those who don't know yet (!!??) 450 swagbucks gets you a $5 Amazon giftcard ... sweet! AND if you shop through Swagbucks to Amazon, you can earn up to 5 points for each dollar spent in certain departments ... sweet!
Ok, ok, I know, you are here for the weekly Menu Plan ... so continue on!
Sunday -Creamy Chicken Soup ... all ingredients in fridge and freezer, will also pull out some dinner rolls Pulled pork sandwiches with a small salad ... serving 4. Found a package of cooked bbq pork that I had put in the freezer (foodsaver bag) and will use some of these buns that I picked up from Costco. (Got carried away decorating and doing chores that the soup is going to have to wait!)
Monday - Birthday girl, Princess is 24! She has requested Chicken Piccata. I need to get capers and pasta ... chicken in freezer, lemons in fridge (Costco) and balance of ingredients in pantry. Serving 4.
Tuesday - Taco Tuesday ... beef in freezer, fixins in fridge ... will make a batch of salsa probably. Feeding 4.
Wednesday - Time to get crackin on the food prep for Saturday ... clean out the fridge night: leftovers, soup and sandwich, salad UNLESS the kids want to hop to and make something for ME without cluttering up the main kitchen. ;-) Yeah right? Feeding 6.
Thursday - frozen pizzas from the freezer (DiGiornos, picked up for $3 each, sweet deal!) ... need to really get crackin on the food prep this evening! Will offer up a side of salad if desired. Feeding 6 (we have 4 pizzas in the freezer and I'm willing to let all 4 be consumed). TIP: You know my freezers are overflowing so I don't have room for FOUR pizza boxes ... I take them out of the boxes and right the temp and time to cook on the backside of the pizza (where the cardboard insert is, on the plastic). Saves quite a bit of room!
Friday - I almost want to say FEND FOR YOURSELF but that would not make a lot of people happy, you know? Sandwiches, folks. Simple and do it yourself. May need to buy more turkey lunch meat, not sure yet. Bread, fixins in the fridge/pantry ... I will also get some chips (party food) to portion out. Serving 6. I will probably make a last minute run to the store either tonight or Thursday.
Saturday - Party night. 6:30 to 11 is the time we put on the invitations. We normally do not put an ending time, however, years past have led to 3am shutting of the garage door and I really don't want to do that this year. PLUS, we have some first time attendees this year, which is pretty exciting. Will have lasagna (store bought), macaroni and cheese (store bought), dinner rolls (freezer), cheese platter (Costco), with crackers (pantry), spicy meatballs (Costco meatballs and pantry ingredients), chicken wings (freezer), snausages (freezer), spinach (cold) dip, onion dip, olive tray, veggie tray, fruit bowl, deviled eggs, caprese bites, and oh, so much more. I will make a batch of cookies and a cake (since I didn't make any for the 2 birthdays) ... we anticipate about 40 people this year and will do the majority of the cooking ourselves ... I will employ the kids skills this year! I realize that there are some recipes here I need to do a post and link!
What are YOU planning this week? Make sure you check Organized Junkie's Menu Plan Monday party ... tons of others link up if you are in a rut!
Yes, I'm feeling a little pressure ... We got the Boy's birthday out of the way on Friday last week (22 years old!) and I ended up stopping at Whole Foods and picking up some New York Strips and grilling them ... along with sweet potato fries. The girlfriend made margaritas and a cake and the Princess made a salad. Nice ...
This week, we have the Princess birthday to get out of the way on Monday (chicken piccata, her favorite) ... but I think the Boy is working that night so he's going to miss out (no loss on his part, he'd say, he doesn't do chicken willingly!
We also have the boat parade party on Saturday so the week ahead is going to be super busy. We have 3/4 of the lights done outside, will buy the Christmas tree today, and I need to get crackin on the decorating of the inside of house. I also have my list of foods going but it's not complete so I really need to work on that ...
There was a stop at Costco on Saturday ... for the party and other stuff ... spent WAY TOO MUCH and have resigned myself to the fact that I must make that a cash only store from here on out. 2015 Resolution! I will be posting that trip later today or tomorrow ...
UPS and the mail man have been stopping at the house pretty frequently this past week with Christmas deliveries ... thank you Amazon for making my life so much easier ... I've been buying all my small stocking stuffers and gifts using the gift cards earned through Swagbucks. If you are one those who don't know yet (!!??) 450 swagbucks gets you a $5 Amazon giftcard ... sweet! AND if you shop through Swagbucks to Amazon, you can earn up to 5 points for each dollar spent in certain departments ... sweet!
Ok, ok, I know, you are here for the weekly Menu Plan ... so continue on!
Sunday -
Monday - Birthday girl, Princess is 24! She has requested Chicken Piccata. I need to get capers and pasta ... chicken in freezer, lemons in fridge (Costco) and balance of ingredients in pantry. Serving 4.
Tuesday - Taco Tuesday ... beef in freezer, fixins in fridge ... will make a batch of salsa probably. Feeding 4.
Wednesday - Time to get crackin on the food prep for Saturday ... clean out the fridge night: leftovers, soup and sandwich, salad UNLESS the kids want to hop to and make something for ME without cluttering up the main kitchen. ;-) Yeah right? Feeding 6.
Thursday - frozen pizzas from the freezer (DiGiornos, picked up for $3 each, sweet deal!) ... need to really get crackin on the food prep this evening! Will offer up a side of salad if desired. Feeding 6 (we have 4 pizzas in the freezer and I'm willing to let all 4 be consumed). TIP: You know my freezers are overflowing so I don't have room for FOUR pizza boxes ... I take them out of the boxes and right the temp and time to cook on the backside of the pizza (where the cardboard insert is, on the plastic). Saves quite a bit of room!
Friday - I almost want to say FEND FOR YOURSELF but that would not make a lot of people happy, you know? Sandwiches, folks. Simple and do it yourself. May need to buy more turkey lunch meat, not sure yet. Bread, fixins in the fridge/pantry ... I will also get some chips (party food) to portion out. Serving 6. I will probably make a last minute run to the store either tonight or Thursday.
Saturday - Party night. 6:30 to 11 is the time we put on the invitations. We normally do not put an ending time, however, years past have led to 3am shutting of the garage door and I really don't want to do that this year. PLUS, we have some first time attendees this year, which is pretty exciting. Will have lasagna (store bought), macaroni and cheese (store bought), dinner rolls (freezer), cheese platter (Costco), with crackers (pantry), spicy meatballs (Costco meatballs and pantry ingredients), chicken wings (freezer), snausages (freezer), spinach (cold) dip, onion dip, olive tray, veggie tray, fruit bowl, deviled eggs, caprese bites, and oh, so much more. I will make a batch of cookies and a cake (since I didn't make any for the 2 birthdays) ... we anticipate about 40 people this year and will do the majority of the cooking ourselves ... I will employ the kids skills this year! I realize that there are some recipes here I need to do a post and link!
What are YOU planning this week? Make sure you check Organized Junkie's Menu Plan Monday party ... tons of others link up if you are in a rut!
love this!! budgets are SUPER important to me too :) awesome idea on the wrapped frozen pizzas- brilliant!!! thanks for stopping by my blog too :)
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