Monday, March 30, 2015

Our Menu, as March Turns Into April, plus preliminary Easter dinner plans

I've started planning my menu beginning with Sundays again.  Since Husband takes leftovers to work the next day for lunch, this is just easier somehow.

The black bean burgers with smoked provolone (last week's menu) were really tasty!

While I don't really plan breakfast day to day, I do know that this week, I need to make granola and yogurt - we are low on both.  I think I'll also make some muffins.  We are getting a lot of eggs right now, so I may try to do an egg dish too.

We are starting the week with a few leftovers in the fridge, so I don't think I'll have to make any lunch foods - we will find things on hand and eat those, or else make something simple like a peanut butter sandwich.

Last week's 'southern' supper - ham, blackeye peas, corn bread and green beans.

Suppers are planned as follows:

S - teriyaki beef, rice, sesame spinach, bean sprout salad, kimchee, seasoned nori, macaroni salad, pineapple rings, mochi  (We have had this meal at the time of posting, and it was really good!)

Sunday's supper....
...and mochi for dessert!

M - pulled pork on toasted buns, slaw, strawberries & pineapple

T - chicken enchilada soup, shredded cheese, sour cream, chips with salsa & guacamole

W - lasagna bake, green beans, garlic toast, sliced apples

R - Asian chicken salad w/ chow mein noodles, toasted almonds & mandarin oranges

F - omelets with spinach, cheese and ham, toast, fruit salad

S - leftover clean-up

Easter Dinner - I don't have things completely pinned down, but Husband has requested almond Danish for Easter weekend, and Daughter asked if we can have ham for Easter dinner.  I'd like to have scalloped potatoes....a salad with toasted pecans and thin sliced apples would go nicely with the ham and potatoes...but I will also wait to see what the sales have to offer (I wouldn't mind some asparagus!)  I won't plan a dessert, since we're having the Danish and I suspect there will be a bit of Easter candy.  I could add deviled eggs to the menu too...time will tell.

What's the meal plan at your place this week?

14 comments:

  1. There is nothing like a good Southern meal. Comfort food for sure at our house.

    S-25 degrees when we got up. So, last minute I pulled the last container of chili from the freezer and left it in the sink to thaw for lunch. We added Texas toast as some bread needed to be used and carrot sticks and dip

    M-Sweet hubby says we should go out for Mexican since our friend's son will be tuning the piano late afternoon and we did not want to make him feel rushed by me clattering around in the kitchen. Hubby also says we are going to buy me a few new clothes after dinner since things are getting tough in that dept with the size decrease. :) :)

    T-One Pan Fettuccine Alfredo (some half and half needs to go), salad, garlic bread

    W-meatloaf, mashed red skin potatoes, broccoli, salad

    TR-Grilled smoked sausage, BBQ baked beans from the freezer, coleslaw, grilled garlic bread-hopefully we can eat in the screen porch!

    FR-lemon garlic salmon, potatoes of some kind, broccoli, salad

    ST-kids and their families in town and we are taking everyone to a pizza buffet that is very reasonable and the little grandchildren will be free or very cheap-win, win for me since I will have cooked for Easter on Saturday and be ready to just sit and visit

    Easter-Spiral ham, macaroni and cheese, sweet potato casserole (already prepped and in the freezer), green beans, corn, deviled eggs, strawberry pretzel salad, homemade rolls which I will do early and freeze to reheat, olives and pickles, Bunny cake-a tradition, sweet tea and lemonade

    Suppertime on Easter is just getting out all the leftovers and eating whatever we want and it is okay to eat just ham and cake!

    I am out of granola but I making myself wait to make it and eat up some of the cereal that is here. We have tons of eggs on hand and need to eat some of them up this week. We will not dye eggs since the grands will not arrive until mid Saturday afternoon and we want to take them to the science center since we have free admission tickets.

    I am hopeful that some things I wanted to stock up on this month and have not will be in the new grocery ads this week. Seems the grocery stores are not following the rules!

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    1. We are not big egg eaters. I mean, we eat them, but not heaps, and my hens are laying a lot right now. I am trying to come up with new (hopefully exciting) ways to use them myself. Still, if they keep laying at this rate, I may sell a dozen here and there. Your menu sounds tasty - I hope you have a great week!

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    2. Scratch Angel Food cake is a great way to use up eggs and SO good or you could make the Golden Chiffon cake that is in the red plaid Better Homes and Gardens cook books. These are family favorites here.

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    3. At this altitude, I'm not sure I can make an angel food cake happen...I will have to do a little research on that one! I was thinking I might make some meringues, but that doesn't use tons of eggs (but it uses some!) I was thinking today that I could make some homemade noodles, too...and I requested a book from the library with egg recipes. ALSO (kind of excited!) after I completed my book review, I was clear to request my next book, so I requested one called 'The Perfect Egg' - all egg recipes. :)

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    4. The Golden Chiffon Cake has like a tablespoon of baking powder in it and uses 7 whole eggs. With the baking powder it may work and it is a delicious cake. I am with you that the angel food may not work. I forget you are high up out there!

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  2. Your pictures look very yummy. I agree with Lana that the stores aren't "following the rules"... where are the great savings on eggs right before Easter?! Last year there were coupons available, I had been able to get eggs for close to free. Nothing this year, save some rebates on a couple of apps for *some* people... and those people never seem to be me. I did read that Target is supposed to have their eggs for $0.99 a dozen and there is a store coupon available to print so I hope they won't be out of stock by the time I get there on Wednesday.

    I'm all by myself for most of the week so I didn't bother planning dinners through Thursday. I made a big pot of Spicy Carrot Soup this morning and I'll have that with some leftover Florentine crêpes that I made a couple of days ago to use up mushy mushrooms and spinach from my garden, or a fresh side salad with lettuce that needs to be harvested.

    I didn't cook all the recipes I had planned on cooking this past week, so I put those back on the menu for Friday-Sunday since I have most ingredients already anyway. I posted that menu here: http://imperfectlyfrugally.blogspot.com/2015/03/in-my-fridge-dinner-plans_29.html

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    1. Spicy carrot soup and Florentine crepes sounds pretty delightful! I have mushrooms and spinach right now, and I was thinking omelets, but crepes might be the way to go!

      I am still hopeful that I'll find a good deal on unbleached all purpose flour. I did get some 4lb bags of cane sugar for 1.19, but I only had coupons enough for two of those. Same with butter - I got some for .99/lb, but I'd get more if I had more coupons. I do have 4 more of those coupons now, but it's a sale where you have to buy 10 items (mix/match) to get the better price, and there aren't any other items that I'm very excited about. We'll see what happens, I guess!

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    2. I'd kill (Ok, maybe not!) for $0.99/lb butter! The cheapest I've seen it here has been at Aldi for $1.89. However, Publix is supposed to have their own brand on sale at $2 this week and mine accepts Target store coupons... there is a Market Pantry printable coupon for $1 that brand and some bloggers are saying that their Publix accepts Target brand store coupons for Publix store brand coupons. So I could technically get it for $1. However, in my experience it's been highly dependent on the cashier and some of them can be obnoxious. I'm not a scaredy cat by all means but I also don't want to stress over whether the coupon will be accepted or not... because I WILL stress. I tend to stress over a lot of things, it's in my nature, unfortunately. So I might just skip the deal to manage my blood pressure, lol.

      I mostly get my unbleached AP flour at Target since Aldi doesn't carry it and neither does Save A Lot. The Publix brand is usually more expensive. At my Target, their Market Pantry brand is at $1.92 for 5 lbs. There is a 5% Cartwheel available and also a $1.00 off 3 Market Pantry baking items printable (and also digital but I can't remember which code to text to get it) coupon available... in addition there is a "Get a $10 Target gift card with $50 in Groceries" digital coupon (Text GROCERY to 827-438) that you could use if you end up doing some shopping there.

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    3. Also, there is NO coupon for the Target eggs, I got confused. The bloggers are talking of the Ibotta rebate. I don't use Ibotta so no $0.49/dozen eggs for me.

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    4. From what I understand, you have to have a smartphone for Ibotta...I don't have one. There is another program called Checkout 51 that is supposed to be similar, but you can use it on the computer. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm pondering it. Part of me wants less 'screen time' and more garden time for saving money...though I suppose it would be feasible to do both.

      It's a shame you're not near - my hens are laying a LOT right now!!

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    5. Thank you for the tip about the unbleached flour at Target! I get it at King Sooper (Kroger affiliate) for 1.79 for 5lb. Since we have been getting $25 in store credit at King Sooper for transferring presciptions, I've been getting it 'free' but I still try to stretch that $25 as best I can. Back to Target - my husband just got a $5 gift card from them...I think using credit card points, so that would be a good use for it. Thanks again! I mill all my whole wheats/grains, so we don't use unbleached AP flour super fast, but since I'm baking our bread and muffins, I do use it for part of the flour. :)

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    6. Laura, I do have a smart phone but you are right, you can use Checkout 51 without a smartphone, just their website. You just need to scan the receipts. I don't use most of the products for which they have rebates, but I use the weekly $0.25 off bananas... it all adds up after a while :) These 3 weeks I've also used the $1.00 off 2 cans of Carnation evaporated milk, which made them a money maker for me as they are on sale at Target for $0.99, there is a $0.50/2 target printable coupon and also a $0.55/2 manufacturer printable coupon (on Coupons.com, zip code was 77477, I think). So far I've gotten 6 cans and made $0.12 off the deal each time.
      2 other rebate apps you can use without a smartphone are Snap by Groupon (http://snap.groupon.com/footer/faq) although their offers can go very fast so I started submitting my receipts using their app, right from my car and SavingStar (https://savingstar.com/coupons). Snap and Checkout 51 are awesome because you can use receipts from any store. SavingStar only works in certain stores and you have to upload the offers that you want to your account before going shopping.
      Yes, all of this creates a little bit of work but it's really not that bad and you get some money back :) I also use the SavingStar portal quite a bit for my online shopping, for instance I get 4% back for shopping at Kohls.com, etc.
      I'm glad you found the flour info helpful. Maybe it'll be cheaper for you at your Target (our prices tend to be higher down here in Florida). Good luck!

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  3. If I didn't know better, I would have thought you spent much more on groceries than you do. Your prices are much lower than us, but you have such a variety and the food looks delicious. Cheryl

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    1. Thanks for your kind words, Cheryl. I will say, right now I'm $13 and change over budget this month...not because it wasn't enough money, but because:
      1. I have been stocking up on great deals (those will be shared in a post in early April)
      2. I went out with a friend last week, and for our outing, we did grocery shopping. We just wanted to visit and didn't care what we were doing. However, I put the receipts somewhere different (new wallet, still adjusting) and I just 'found' those today. I was thinking this morning that I didn't remember tallying those, and sure enough, I'm over a bit. I will adjust next month's amount accordingly! :)

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