Welcome to February. Instead of bitter cold we’ve been having a lovely mild stretch of weather for the last few days that feels more like late March or early May. I’m loving it–I may even take the dog for a walk this afternoon!
Here’s what I’ve got to plan around this week:
1. So far this week (keep your fingers crossed) I only have to head down into town for one day–Wednesday. But that’s going to be a long one as not only will I run my errands but I’m taking my dad to a doctor’s appointment at 4:30. So it will be past supper when I get home. Yankee Bill will be out on Thursday night. The kids will have activities that run right up until dinner time on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, but they are mostly home after that so we don’t have to rush out the door or anything. Wednesday is really the only difficult night as not only won’t I be home but Buddy has only an hour to eat in between Odyssey of the Mind practice and his Boy Scout meeting. Thinking something like soup would be good for that night as it will be ready whenever they are and can just sit there on warm until I get home.
2. The fridge seems to be full of condiments but not much in the way of food/leftovers. Which is good I guess, it means we’ve eaten up the stuff that was in there! I do have some pork cracklings left over from rendering lard, and there is lettuce and a few salad fixings. I also have plenty of eggs.
3. There is plenty of meat and fish in the freezer, I’ve got potatoes in the drawer that I need to use, and I’ve got home and store bought canned veggies of all different kinds. I’ve particularly wanted to use up a big chuck steak from our bulk beef purchase last year that wants to fall out of the freezer on me whenever I open the door.
Taking all that into account here is my game plan:
Monday: Tuna Casserole and Green Salad
I meant to make Tuna Casserole a few weeks back but life got busy and it dropped off the radar. So tonight is the night! Something just sounds very good about having a creamy Tuna Casserole! The tuna is of course from the pantry, as is the “cream of” soup (although if I were out I could just make a like amount of white sauce) and the egg noodles. My recipe calls for peas and carrots added in–I’ll rehydrate some from the pantry as well. This should yield plenty of leftovers for at least one day’s lunches for the kids and Yankee Bill.
This is my fish meal for the week.
Tuesday: Beef Pot Roast with Carrots and Potatoes
I’ll be around on Tuesday, so I will be able to start the pot roast (from that chuck steak) in the late afternoon to have it ready for supper. Because one pot meals make life easy, I’ll toss the potatoes and carrots in part way through to braise along with the meat. Again, I assume that there will be leftover beef after this meal, which can either be used for lunches or, if there is enough, put aside to be worked into a meal next week.
This is my beef meal for the week.
Wednesday: Taco Soup (ground venison) and Sweet Northern Cornbread with Cracklings
It seems like I’ve made a lot of chicken soup lately, so I’ll branch out and make a Taco soup instead–with some of our ground venison. For a side, I’ll add some cracklings to my standard Sweet Northern Cornbread recipe. This soup can just sit and simmer all evening and as folks come and go and need to eat they can just grab a bowl.
This is my soup meal for the week.
Thursday: Ham, Potatoes Au Gratin and Snow Peas
I think I have three hams down in the freezer, so I better use at least one up! I like to warm the ham all day in the slow cooker–it just makes it so easy and I don’t have to worry about an exactly “finish” time. I’ll make Potatoes Au Gratin for a starch and then just warm up some of the frozen snow peas from last year’s garden. There will be leftover ham and of course a lovely ham bone after this meal is done!
This is my pork meal for the week.
Friday: Homemade Pizza
Using the Pizza Hut Crust Clone recipe.
Saturday: Split Pea Soup and Biscuits
I can’t let a good ham bone go to waste–and I just love a nice thick pea soup. This soup can be put together in the morning and just cook away until supper time. I love easy meals like this for the weekend because while we sometimes start out with no plants, it’s amazing how projects and spur of the moment outings can just overwhelm your day and next thing you know it’s supper time!
This is my soup and my meatless meal for the week (there really isn’t much in the way of meat on a ham bone–it’s more about flavoring then bulk. Of course you could also say the pizza is meatless as we usually just make cheese.)
Sunday: BBQ Chicken Leg Quarters, Homemade French Fries and Coleslaw
I have an entire pint jar of sauce left over from my Drunken Meatballs–and it should taste just fine over chicken! This week our local grocery store has chicken leg quarters on sale for $.49 a lb–which is a fantastic price. So I’ll pick up a couple of packages, freeze some and then cook some in the oven with the BBQ sauce. I’ll dig out the deep fryer and cut up some homemade french fries from our stock of potatoes as a starch. The only thing that sounded good to me for a vegetable with those two items was coleslaw. . . so I’ll have to pick up a cabbage and make some. Leftover slaw is good for lunches as well 🙂
Of course Sunday is Superbowl Sunday–so it’s possible we will wind up heading out to someone’s place to watch the game and that could completely change up the meal plans.
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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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