Sunday, March 1, 2009

Cooking the pantry plan

Here's the plan:

Sunday: Make sweet potato stew in slow cooker for later this week and for lunches. Make rice. That will use coconut milks, tomato paste, some celery, some peas and rice. For dinner tonight we'll have the lasagna which has been languishing in the freezer since before I had surgery. If I remember to take it out to thaw, that is. We'll have a little salad on the side. There will be leftover lasagna for lunch, which I'll take in to feed the office tomorrow. If I remember.

Monday: Pantry posole. I'll use more tomato paste, hominy, some chicken broth, and I think I'll use some of my frozen spinach in it. I'll also use two onions and some celery.

Tuesday: Roasted shrimp and baked potatoes. I'll use mainly my cocktail sauce with this. It's a splurge to buy shrimp, but leftover can be thrown in my sweet potato stew for lunch, etc.

Wednesday: Breakfast of oatmeal with dried fruit compote. Will make potato bread with the dried potato buds. Lunch with kids will be fresh bread, cheese, sliced carrots, and fruit. For dinner, Greek style pork chops (from the freezer) and lemon pepper noodles. Fruit on the side.

Thursday: Sweet potato stew with rice. Fresh pineapple on the side.

Friday: Salmon cakes. Will use up some eggs in the fridge, plus the chopped spinach. I'll also make breadcrumbs from the half a loaf I have leftover from last week and use them as filler. We'll have the salmon cakes over a bed of dilled peas, with a sauce made from Greek yogurt, dill, and mustard. I think any leftover pineapple will be quite tasty, too.

Snacks are going to be homemade bagel chips (with the leftover bagels) and popcorn. So, here's my pantry list with strikeouts for what I'm going to be using up:

1 can hominy

1 can salmon
1 bottle cocktail sauce
Popcorn galore
Coconut milk, light and regular
1 small can tomato paste
1 large can green tomatoes
1/2 box dried potato buds
1 can grits
Oatmeal
1 package lemon pepper noodles
Lots of orzo
Big bag of rice
Pig in the freezer
Frozen homemade chicken stock, supply getting low
1 pan frozen lasagna
1/2 celery heart
4 onions
1 cantaloupe
Bananas
Assortment of dried fruit
My usual array of 5,474 misc. condiments
Bag frozen peas
Bag frozen chopped spinach
1/2 loaf leftover bread
4 leftover bagels

That's not bad! Next week I think I'll do a pork roast with some of my pig and the can of green tomatoes. I can use that as a hash over rice, and for tacos, and to throw in some enchiladas for the freezer.

At the grocery I don't need much, mostly fresh fruit, fresh veges, frozen corn, half a chicken breast, some cheese, shrimp, and some flour (have been baking a lot of bread lately).

Of course, if the pantry is empty that means next week is going to be a BITCH at the grocery! Hello, Trader Joe?


1 comment:

  1. I will have a list of my pantry and freezer items to you in a Jiffy. Then you can tell me what I am cooking this week. What a great service!

    ReplyDelete

ShareThis