Menu Plan Monday: How I did on the pantry challenge


I know this isn't the Menu Plan Monday banner (I put that below this time). I just wanted to put something different up, just because, and just for fun. This is my oldest son, being silly this past summer.

True story, rather funny, to tell about him and this past week's menu plan: Last week I planned that the boys were going to have club sandwiches using the left over turkey for dinner on Tuesday. I was going to be out here, enjoying myself, but expected to be able to have a sandwich when I got home, if I wanted one. Knowing we had all the ingredients on hand, I decided I wanted a BLT for breakfast the next morning and was going to gather them all together to make my morning a little less hectic the next day. No bacon to be found in the fridge. None in the freezer. Could they have eaten an entire pound of bacon in one night? Seemed unlikely. Hubby said no, there should be some in the fridge, our oldest had put it in a tupperware container. Checked again, fridge no, freezer no, just in case, pantry no. No bacon.

The next morning I ask him. He checks the fridge. He knows he put it in a container, but where did he put it? Checks the freezer. Next thing you know, there are three of rummaging through the fridge and freezer, where did he put this bacon!

Lightbulb goes off above my head - I checked the tupperware cupboard and voila! Bacon!

No, I did not have a BLT for breakfast that morning. Not with bacon that had been out all night.

So the pantry challenge.... It went pretty well. We had a few hiccups this week, the first being diner on Monday, the beef and broccoli stir fry I made. While the stir fry part was fine, for some reason the rice tasted odd to everyone at the table, and had a subtle, but again odd, texture to it. We ended up not finishing out meal that night and had an "emergency" chip run. But even with the chips added in, I still finished the two weeks with $2 left in my $100 budget.

My second little "bump in the road" didn't happen until Friday, when we did end up having take out for dinner, but it had less to do with the pantry challenge and more to do with my having worked a 12 hour the day before (open to close), followed by opening the next morning, and I was exhausted. This isn't likely to happen again, it was unusual circumstances, but it made me realize I am not as resilient as I used to be.

This week I've decided to continue with the freezer challenge, but had to restock several items in my pantry. I'd run out of canned tomatoes, which are a staple, and my stock of cereal, a very in demand item in this house, was completely depleted. The boys, big and small, could still find something for breakfast with what we had left, but I'm much pickier when it comes to cereal and we had not had anything I considered edible for the entire two weeks. Breakfast has been a bit rough on me, no cereal and no BLT's.

On to the menu!

Sunday: Turkey soup with biscuits (I took pictures and hope to post about this later this week.)

Monday: Chicken Korma with rice. Carry over from last week.

Tuesday: Sheppard's Pie.

Wednesday: Grilled steak with Caesar salad.

Thursday: Lasagna, from the freezer.

Friday: It's birthday time around here today, combination of my oldest son and my mother-in-law, as well as my father-in-law from the day before, so we will be out celebrating with them.


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