It’s meal plan time here at Frugal Upstate! This week is a combination “getting projects done” and “taking a trip” week for me–so I’ve got a weird combination of time to leisurely cook and no time at all.
So this is what I’m working with this week:
1. It’s winter break, so the kids are home. I’ve got to leave Wednesday night for a trip and will be back late late late on Friday. So Yankee Bill and grandma have to take care of feeding the kiddos Thursday and Friday (although I’ll make sure dinner is ready before I leave on Wednesday)
2. It’s cold now (20’s) but the weather is supposed to warm up at the end of the week to the 40’s before dropping back down. So warm comfort food is still mostly the order of the day! Another planning factor–the kids are home for lunch all week, so leftovers are likely to get eaten up as lunches rather than being used to prepare another meal with.
3. I’ve got homemade yogurt and bread, hard boiled eggs, a nice lettuce mix and carrots in the fridge. In the freezer there is plenty of pork and venison. There are home canned veggies, dehydrated veggies and store bought veggies in the pantry. I still have a HUGE bag of potatoes from our buddy’s father’s farm.
4. Yankee Bill has a meeting on Tuesday and will be home late. I will be leaving Wednesday but will make something for dinner that Yankee Bill can serve up to the kids easily. Thursday Grandma will be making supper for the kids, and Friday Yankee Bill will take care of things. So that makes it a pretty short week for me on the meal front.
5. As always my goal is to have one venison meal, one fish meal, one pork meal, one bean meal, one meatless meal and one soup meal per week. When it’s a short week like this I have a hard time meeting all these goals.
Taking all that into account here is my game plan:
Monday: Pasta and Salad
We had a simple spaghetti meal with a green salad and bread.
Tuesday: Swedish Meatballs over Noodles with Green Beans
I had Buddy pick out the dinner for tonight from a big folder of “recipes I really need to try”–and this is what looked good to him. He will help me actually make the meal–I think that learning to cook is a very important life skill. Plus, to be quite frank, it would make my life a lot easier on busy days if I could have the kids start dinner. Especially in the spring and summer when I’m frequently very busy out in the garden till all hours.
The meatballs will be made with Venison instead of beef because, hey–that’s what we have on hand! If I get ahead of the game we might use the pasta maker and make fresh pasta–but otherwise we’ll just use store bought. I know how the days get away from me sometimes so I’m not going to lock myself in! The green beans are home canned and will be cooked with just a bit of bacon because, well, bacon!
This is my venison meal for the week.
Wednesday: Macaroni and Cheese with Green Salad
I’ll make a big pan of mac ‘n cheese that the family can eat on Wednesday after I head to the airport along with a green salad. There *should* be leftovers that they can have for lunch on Thursday.
This is my meatless meal for the week.
Thursday: Dinner at Grandma’s
I’ll be out of town so Grandma will take care of dinner on Thursday.
Friday: Takeout Pizza
Yankee Bill will most likely order pizza on Friday night. I won’t be home till almost midnight.
Saturday: Baked Fish, Lentil Rice Pilaf and Carrots
I have frozen fish filets in the freezer, I’ll bake them with a bit of lemon butter. Pretty plain but serviceable. I’ll make lentil rice pilaf as a side and sautee or steam some carrots for color (otherwise it’s a pretty boring looking plate).
This is my fish and my bean meal for the week.
Sunday: Italian Sauerkraut Porkchops, Stewed Greens and Dinner Rolls
The pork chop dish is done in the slow cooker, which is nice as I rarely know what our full schedule on a Sunday is going to wind up being. The greens are canned from this summer and the dinner rolls will be homemade (although I’ve made myself a bagged “mix” so that it will be easy to pop in the breadmaker)
This is my pork 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” .
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