Welcome to Frugal Workshop where every Monday I share the simple strategies used to save money over the past week, along with the meals that made it to our dinner table. You'll find practical tips on how we saved money on food hopefully to inspire your own meal planning using the foods you have in your own pantry.
My Frugal Week
In inventorying my pantry, I realize that I have a lot of canned chicken on hand, which is something I need to think about when planning meals in the upcoming weeks.
I try to use the fresh or frozen chicken I have on hand before turning to the canned chicken, just in case of a power failure, which could result in losing the frozen chicken.
I’ve also been cleaning out my pantry and freezer and using up the food that I tend to ignore when planning meals. Lately I’ve used up several of those often overlooked items.
For lunches this week we had leftover salmon patties, homemade pizza, vegetable bean soup, a bowl of leftover vegetables from dinner the night before, along with other various items I found to use up.
Use It Up Items Of The Week
I had one filet minion in my freezer, that someone gave me, that has been there for a few months as I rarely cook steak. I finally used it this week putting it into my slow cooker until it was tender, which worked and I finally have that item out of my freezer.
I also had two packages of Pepperidge Farms dressing that I bought for 50 cents each on markdown that I used this week. Once on Saturday when I made a meatloaf using the dressing as one of the ingredients, and then again on Sunday when I made chicken and dressing for dinner.
What’s for Dinner
Monday ~ Rotisserie Chicken with P. F. Chang's Teriyaki Sauce, Bean Salad.
I placed a marked down rotisserie chicken in the fridge on Sunday to thaw. On Monday I pulled the meat from the bones adding the PF Chang's teriyaki sauce, and fresh ginger, pineapple, and some onions. I served this with the bean salad that I made the day before.
Tuesday ~ Leftovers
Wednesday ~ Beefy Baked Beans, Butternut Squash.
This is a tried and true family favorite recipe that I made for dinner using up two cans of pork and beans in the process. I've used a lot of canned food out of my pantry this week, which is a good thing.
Thursday & Friday ~ BBQ Pork Sandwiches, Bean Salad.
I had a glass container of pork with BBQ sauce in the freezer, which I thawed and chopped up to make BBQ sandwiches. It's great to use up the pork and get my glass container back into service in my kitchen.
On Friday evening I opened up a canned of peaches that I had chilled in the refrigerator to add to dinner, They were a sweet and refreshing addition to the BBQ.
Saturday ~ Meatloaf with Dressing, Mexican Vegetables.
This was a new to me recipe, which you can find here:
Bailey really liked this recipe, and I did too except I prefer my own meatloaf recipe as I find it has much more flavor. The Mexican vegetables included a mixture of red peppers, corn, and broccoli that I served as the side dish.
Sunday & Monday ~ Chicken & Dressing, and Green Peas.
I used a bag of already cooked and diced chicken along with a container of dressing, two containers of broth, butter, and celery that all came out of the freezer. Which opened up space in that freezer.
I also used up the last container of Pepperidge Farm dressing. I served this with a side dish of green peas. I used up the last of my sage in this dish, so I added it to my grocery list. I'll check Ollie's the next time I go as they have spices regularly priced inexpensively.
What’s been on the menu in your home this past week?
Belinda
Homemaker at Heart
No comments:
Post a Comment
I’m so glad you’re here, taking time out of your day to comment on my blog.
Frugal Workshop is designed to be a source of information, encouragement and inspiration.
Comments are moderated manually, and may take a few hours for them to appear. Thank you for understanding.