Meal Plan 3/26

False summer seems to be over, at least for a little while, here in upstate NY.  We are back to a much more typical March temperatures with the highs in the 50’s instead of the 70’s!  Despite the colder weather I’ve been a busy little bee!  I was out of the house most of the day Monday, most of the day today (Tuesday) and I’ll be out most of the day tomorrow as well.  That’s NOT typical for me!

So despite the hectic beginning to my week I’m glad to report that I did pull together an edible and inexpensive meal for the first two days of the week-even planless-and I am determined to be back on track for the rest of the week.  Let’s see what I’ve got to plan around.

1.  As I mentioned above, the weather is much cooler this week.  Suddenly soups and casseroles are sounding good again.

2.  I’ve got 2 dozen eggs in the fridge that I should use up soon.  I’ve got some carrots still in the garden and the Tat Soi that I left in the garden to see what would happen bolted in the heat last week-if I cut it now I could have enough to add to a stirfry or something.

3.  We’ve got everyone running around to scouts on Wednesday which makes it a hectic evening.  Yankee Bill has a dinner meeting on Friday and on Sunday we are going to be out all afternoon.  So those all need to be easy to prepare meal nights.

4. My goals are always to incorporate 1 venison, 1 fish, 1 meatless, 1 bean and 1 soup meal into each week’s menu.

Taking all that into account here is my game plan:

Monday: Escalloped Potatoes with Venison Sausage and Greens

The escalloped potatoes were made with the potatoes I dehydrated a month or so back.  I just added the browned venison sausage (from an emergency spaghetti meal this weekend) and poured milk mixed with flour, salt & pepper over the top.  I defrosted a package of New Zealand Spinach from the freezer for the side.

This is my venison meal for the week.

Tuesday: BBQ Pork, Buttered Rice, Asparagus & Zuchinni

The BBQ pork was cooked and stored in the freezer from last fall, the rice was from the bulk rice I buy at the Asian food store (mixed with some brown rice I bought at the Mennonite food store) and cooked in the rice cooker.  The Asparagus had been in the freezer way too long (from Aldi) and they tasted much more like canned asparagus than I like (my fault totally for letting them get freezer burned).  The Zuchinni I cooked in the microwave, drained & tossed with some vinegarette.  To be honest I don’t actually like frozen squash all that much, the texture is just off, but I hated to throw it away at the end of the year.  This year I’ll dehydrate it instead.

Wednesday: Fish Pie & Homemade Bread

I froze an 8×8 brownie pan full of the Fish Pie I made a week or so back-I had defrosted way too much fish so made a double batch that day.  Anyway, I’m defrosting it in the fridge right now and should be able to heat and eat this evening.

This is my fish meal for the week.

Thursday: Breakfast for Dinner

Yankee Bill won’t be home, so I’ll make his least favorite dinner (which the kiddos happen to love). Pancakes and bacon!

I count this as a meatless meal because let’s face it-2 slices of bacon each is more a flavoring/condiment!

Friday: Homemade Pizza

Made with the Pizza Hut Crust Clone recipe of course!

Saturday: Pork Stirfry over Rice

I’ll make a pork stirfry (from the lovely organic pork in the freezer) and mix it with the Tat Soi & carrots from the garden.  I might even throw in some wild mustard and dandelion from the yard, along with any leftover veggies from the week and some sauteed onions.

Sunday: Venison Chili with Cornbread

I can have the Wanna Be Wendy’s Chili cooking all day while we are gone and just whip up some Sweet Northern Cornbread to go with it at the last minute.

This is my bean 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” .