Menu Plan 3/28

What are your meal plans this week?  Here at the Frugal Upstate household we are having an unusually quiet week-which means that I might have time to get a bit fancier with my meals!

So what are the considerations for this week’s menu?

1.  Yankee Bill will be at a meeting one night this week, and if we can find a babysitter, he and I will go out on Friday evening to a local charity fundraiser.

2.  I have one day this week where I am out of town for a meeting for part of the day, that needs to be an easy meal night-crockpot or cook ahead meal.

3.  As always, I try to incorporate one meatless meal, one fish meal, and lately one venison meal into my weekly rotation.

4.  Continuing to clear out my upstairs freezer (soon it will be time to move on to the downstairs freezer!).  I’ve got a 2c portion of already cooked ground beef/TVP mix that should go into something, a couple of frozen chicken breasts that have been in there far too long & probably have some freezer burn, and a half package of frozen Whiting filets.

5.  I have a video post due on how to make an inexpensive meal-I decided to do Asian food.  I need to make the meal, film it and have time to edit the video & post it by the end of the week.

Taking all that into account here is my game plan:

Monday: Bourbon Chicken with Sesame Beans and Rice

This is the meal I’ll be doing a video tutorial on.  Making it at home will be much, much cheaper than buying it out.  I’m buying fresh chicken for this because lets face it-freezer burnt chicken isn’t going to look that hot in a video.

Tuesday: Baked Pheasant and Gravy with Rice, Green Salad and Frozen Broccoli

Yankee Bill went on a canned hunt with some friends this weekend.  He brought home a couple of pheasants (which I cleaned-one of the skills you pick up when your dad is an avid bird hunter).  They need to be used up and since we rarely have pheasant I’m not about to cover up the flavor with any kind of fancy cooking technique.

Wednesday:  Cheese Frittata with Roasted Green Beans and Toast.

This is my meatless meal for the week.

Thursday: Homemade Fish Corn Chowder with Baking Powder Biscuits

Chowder is a great way to use the frozen fish-and since the temperatures refuse to admit that it is spring it will be a nice welcome warm meal.  Biscuits to eat or dip are a classic (and frugal) accompaniment.  This is my fish meal for the week.

Friday: Hamburger Casserole

A one pot meal that can be made ahead, this is perfect to serve to the kiddos on a night that Yankee Bill and I will be out.  Not only that, but it uses up that Beef/TVP mix I had in the fridge AND leaves us with plenty of leftovers for weekend lunches.  I call that a win.

Saturday: Green Chile Chicken Lasagna with Frozen Mixed Vegetables

I haven’t made my Green Chile Chicken Lasagna for quite some time, and it really is a delicous recipe.  This will be a great way to use up the slightly freezer burned chicken breasts-the casserole will help hide the freezer burn.  (Note: freezer burn is safe to eat)

Sunday: Venison Parmigiana with Garlic Noodles and Vegetables

Another recipe I haven’t pulled out for a while, Venison Parmigiana is a different take on the same old venison!  Since it’s an Italian style dish, garlic is a sensible match, as is pasta.  The vegetables are again just frozen mixed.  I’m getting pretty bored with them, but I am not willing to buy more expensive and varied fresh vegetables.  I can’t wait for spring and my own garden produce!  This is my venison meal for the week.

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Are you interested in learning more about menu planning? Check out my post “Why Plan a Weekly Menu” .

For more great menu plan ideas, head on over to Menu Plan Monday at the Organizing Junkie.