I'm learning that in menu planning, having a little bit of flexibility goes a long way in helping me stick to my menus.
Friday night I found out we had a party to go to last minute so I didn't end up making the dinner that I had planned on the menu. So I froze the mushroom stock, because it was a beautiful stock and I still plan to use it.
Tonight I have had a pretty bad migraine, and so we decided to reheat the left over chili from last nights dinner instead of eating the polenta. I've discovered having at least one day in the week that centers around easy to freeze items, or a pantry item like polenta, adds a lot of flexibility for me to not only do something different when I don't feel well, but also allows me to take stock of what I have in my fridge and use it before it goes bad.
Tomorrow night we are going to have Thai curry with red peppers, because I need to either use or throw away the tofu and the red peppers. If I don't use the tofu up it goes from .38 cents a serving to $1.19 a serving because I'm throwing it away, and I'm not getting any real savings out of the deal.
So Tuesday's menu will becomes Thursday's, and Friday's menu from last week will become Friday of this week. The polenta will stay a stock item for an easy start to a week night meal any time down the road.
In other news, I am trying my hand at making fresh sauerkraut. I have to admit the idea of fermenting food myself, or even realizing it's fermented really grosses me out a little bit- but it's cheap, and very nutritious, and very good for digestion. Plus understanding and being able to ferment foods might open up a whole new way to save money by allowing food to ferment instead of throwing it out- or at least to make some hard cider!
I'm learning a lot about budgeting, menu planning. and challeneging myself as a cook. Honestly we have never had this much structure to our meals, and I'm really enjoying it. Plus some of the money we've saved on not always running to the store has aided in buying a few bottles of decent wine that I'm enjoying with my husband tonight! I would call that a win!
Friday night I found out we had a party to go to last minute so I didn't end up making the dinner that I had planned on the menu. So I froze the mushroom stock, because it was a beautiful stock and I still plan to use it.
Tonight I have had a pretty bad migraine, and so we decided to reheat the left over chili from last nights dinner instead of eating the polenta. I've discovered having at least one day in the week that centers around easy to freeze items, or a pantry item like polenta, adds a lot of flexibility for me to not only do something different when I don't feel well, but also allows me to take stock of what I have in my fridge and use it before it goes bad.
Tomorrow night we are going to have Thai curry with red peppers, because I need to either use or throw away the tofu and the red peppers. If I don't use the tofu up it goes from .38 cents a serving to $1.19 a serving because I'm throwing it away, and I'm not getting any real savings out of the deal.
So Tuesday's menu will becomes Thursday's, and Friday's menu from last week will become Friday of this week. The polenta will stay a stock item for an easy start to a week night meal any time down the road.
In other news, I am trying my hand at making fresh sauerkraut. I have to admit the idea of fermenting food myself, or even realizing it's fermented really grosses me out a little bit- but it's cheap, and very nutritious, and very good for digestion. Plus understanding and being able to ferment foods might open up a whole new way to save money by allowing food to ferment instead of throwing it out- or at least to make some hard cider!
I'm learning a lot about budgeting, menu planning. and challeneging myself as a cook. Honestly we have never had this much structure to our meals, and I'm really enjoying it. Plus some of the money we've saved on not always running to the store has aided in buying a few bottles of decent wine that I'm enjoying with my husband tonight! I would call that a win!
2 comments:
I love peppers and when they are on sale I buy a bunch. If we don't eat them soon enough I cut them into strips and freeze about 1 to 1.5 cups. So it saves me the prep when I need to make something fast. I tried to put garlic in with it but I found the garlic tasted funny. I guess nothing beats fresh garlic. So that is my tip.
thanks for the tip Lindy! I buy my peppers at costco and they always go bad before I can use them, but this would be great for stirfry!
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