Menu Plan 5/21 - Frugal Upstate

What are you eating this week? You don’t know? Well you should! Menu planning makes a HUGE difference in both the amount of money you spend on meals AND the amount of chaos in your kitchen each night.

This week is pretty chaotic-which makes menu planning even more important than usual!

1. As usual, Tuesday is dance lessons, Wednesday is scouts for both kids and hubs at pool. Thursday I’ve got two doctor’s appointments (including fasting bloodwork. Ick), Yankee Bill has one and we both have to meet with the accountant. Friday the kids are off from school, Saturday we’ve got a BBQ at my lovely Mother in Law’s house, and Sunday Yankee Bill is at a Car Show with one of the antiques all day.

2. Because it’s a four day weekend I need to think ahead to the holiday and Monday (Memorial Day) Yankee Bill, Buddy and Princess are all in the parade, then we have the ceremony at the cemetery, Buddy goes hiking with his boyscout troop and we are hosting a BBQ at our house in the afternoon.

3. Tuesday is our anniversary, so Yankee Bill took the day off from work for us to spend it together. I’m so excited! We’ll be having fun all day so I won’t want to come home and cook. . . crockpot meal!

4. I’ve got to make a side dish for the BBQ on Saturday at my MIL’s, and then I have to be thinking ahead to the food for Monday.

5. I’ve got a whole bag full of peeled & sliced apples in the fridge left over from an apple cake I baked this weekend. I’ve got a couple of tomatoes that are going soft and need to be used up. I’ve also got some frozen cabbage and greens that need to be used from the freezer to make way for my eventual summer produce.

6. I purchased an organic chicken from a local farm to try. Better use that soon!

7. As always my goal is to have one venison meal, one fish meal, one bean meal, one meatless meal and one soup meal per week.

Taking all that into account here is my game plan:

Monday: Rice & This and That Curry

Tonight I mixed about a pound of pork, chopped & browned, added those tomatoes going icky (with icky spots cut off of course), peppers, onions, frozen & thawed cabbage cooked it up, added some curry cubes and served it over rice. Yum

Tuesday: Venison & Gravy over Rice with Green Beans

Since Yankee Bill and I will be out for the day and have lunch out-I won’t want to come home and cook. So I’ll do venison steaks in the crockpot with gravy mix, serve it over the leftover rice from tonight with some of the green beans I canned last fall on the side.

This is my venison meal for the week.

Wednesday: Pancakes and Quick Applesauce

Yankee Bill will be at pool and we’ve got a busy night of scouts, so I’ll go with pancakes (which the kiddos LOVE for dinner). Since I’ve got those apples already sliced & peeled in the fridge (and although dipped in lemon water they are still getting a bit brown) I’ll just add a bit of water and sugar and stew them on the stove till they turn into a quick and chunky applesauce to serve on the side.

This is my meatless meal for the week.

Thursday: Roasted Chicken, Gravy, Potatoes and Carrots

I’ll roast the chicken in the oven with the potatoes and then use the drippings for gravy. The carrots will be canned from last year. I may marinated them to give them some zip. The chicken carcass will be saved for soup next week 🙂

Friday: Homemade Pizza

Homemade Pizza is a favorite for Fridays! Not only do I love the Pizza Hut Crust Clone recipe-but every one of my friends who has tried it LOVES it. And since this is a day off with the kids I’ll let them help me make it.

Saturday: Family BBQ

We’ll be going to my Mother in Law’s for dinner. I’m bringing German Potato Salad and I’ll most likely make deviled eggs as well :0

Sunday: Spaghetti, Tuna and Capers with Salad

Spaghetti Tuna and Capers is a quick and easy meal that uses canned tuna. (I substitute green olives for the capers). I’ll add a green salad to use up the end of the artisan lettuce I bought at ALDI last week.

This is my fish meal for the week.

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Hmm. I didn’t get an beans or soup into the menu this week. I guess I could add some beans to the spaghetti, tuna and capers, or make a hummus to take to the family BBQ to make my bean quota. I’ll have to wait till next week for the soup.