Sunday, April 15, 2012

FRUGAL EATING FROM THE PANTRY



This is the second week that we have been focusing on eating from the pantry, freezer and also from what is on sale at the store. I'm not too good at posting my menus in advance, but thought it would be good to show what we ate during the past week.

Meal One: Chicken pot pie and noodles.

Everything in the recipe was in my pantry and freezer. The results are a creamy white meat chicken with veggies covered by a lightly browned crust. I had split chicken breasts in the freezer bought when they were on sale. The egg noodles were cooked in the broth made when I boiled the chicken for the pot pie.

We ate from these dishes for 2 days, as well as taking my mother a plate when she was in the hospital.



Meal Two: Lasagna and salad

I thawed a small package of ground beef and put together the lasagna last Sunday afternoon, but waited to bake it after getting home from work on Monday.

We had some lettuce in the fridge and so I boiled a couple of eggs and gathered together things that would be good in salad, such as grated cheese, onion, canned peach slices, and dressing.

We also ate from this for 2 days and hubby took some for lunch 2 days.



Meal Three: Baked Potato Bar

I had plenty of potatoes, so I baked 4 medium ones in the microwave and assembled assorted toppings such as bacon bits, grated cheeses, sour cream and butter.

I had some broccoli in the freezer, so I cooked a small amount and melted cheese on top of it for broccoli and cheese baked potatoes.

It was nice to have such an easy meal and hubby took one of the potatoes with broccoli and cheese for lunch the following day.



Meal Four: Clam Chowder with crackers

We had a cold snap this week, so we took advantage of it by eating clam chowder for what will probably be the last time until fall.

I did need to pick up a small can of clams and another can of clam chowder, to which I added milk and diced boiled potatoes. We had crackers in the pantry.

Hubby was able to take a bowl for lunch the following day.

Meal Five: Pork Chops and salad

I went to the grocery store on Friday and found a small package of boneless pork chops for about $5.00. We pan fried half of these in olive oil and froze the rest for a future meal. I also bought a bag of salad that was on sale for $2.00, less a $1.00 coupon that I had. There is enough salad in the bag for several meals this coming week.

We've already started eating from the pantry, freezer and what's on sale this week and let me tell you today's food was wonderful! A little hint, it was just like Mama used to make. I plan to post what we ate this week next Monday.

7 comments:

Honeysuckle Haven Cottage said...

very thrifty. Sounds good too!!

Anonymous said...

Hi Debbie,
Great Post. This is what we have been doing. I just posted this weeks menu plan using mostly what I had on hand. I can see my food bill going down.
I loved seeing what you had this week. Dave takes leftovers to work too.
hugs,
Elizabeth

Marty@A Stroll Thru Life said...

Oh I do this all the time. I shop really big about once a month and the pantry is always full of tons of basics. I never buy any meat/chicken or fish that isn't on sale. Then I make sure that I repackage it into meal size portions and then freeze it. I am very careful to rotate my freezer also. About every 3 months I make sure that I use up most everything in the freezer so I can start fresh with everything. Saves tons of money and I always have plenty that I can cook without having to run to the store. Your menu sounds soooooo good. I would love it. Hugs, Marty

Rhonda said...

you do have a lot of potatoes! I like your pantry pull out drawers and pretty baskets.

I try to do one big shop a month and that is working pretty good. I am not sure it is cheaper but it works for us.

Little Penpen said...

I love every bit of that....clam chowder is one of my fav's. Bake potato bar sounds good and I love anything 'chicken'!! Ok, it tasted as good as mom's....can't wait to find out!

Auntie M said...

Cannot wait to see what you cooked today! That was a good week of menus. I made a roasted chicken last most of the week with some tweaking!! We had a steak dinner tonight with boneless new york strip that I got on sale and had in the freezer. It was good, and we each saved some for later.

The strawberries looked so good when you showed them earlier in the week. Kudos to your hubby.

Have a great week.

RaNae @EweCreekCottage said...

Hi Debbie we have kinda been doing the same thing this past 3 weeks eating off of meals I put up in the freezer and pantry fixins just picking up small amounts of staples feels like spring cleaning lol
RaNae

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