Happy Friday to all of you!
Freezer Challenge Update
So, I’ve been plugging away on my freezer challenge this week.
I:
- made overnight french toast to use bread
- made paninis to use up bread
- made tacos to use up tortillas
- made smoothies to use up frozen fruit
- made stir-fried cauliflower to use up frozen ginger
The bacon, pizza dough, and marinara are all going to be used up tonight when I make pizza.
So, mainly what I have left are some bread odds and ends. Zoe asked for more overnight French toast, so maybe I’ll do that and some croutons/bread crumbs.
What I Spent
I did not do a lot of grocery shopping this week…just $74.83.
And I got my produce box for $33.
April Spending
Week 1: $248
Week 2: $108
What We Ate
Monday
I had a pound of ground beef in my small freezer, so I thawed that and grilled some burgers.
Here’s the recipe I use for juicy well-done hamburgers. Luckily, it calls for bread, so I used some from my freezer stash.
We also had the stir-fried cauliflower that I mentioned yesterday.
Tuesday
I made easy grilled chicken tacos (salt and pepper chicken breasts, grill, slice, and toss with chipotle sour cream.)
I’ve mentioned that chipotles are basically manna from heaven, right? SO GOOD.
We had applesauce from the freezer, and of course, I made guacamole to go on the tacos.
(Guacamole is also manna from heaven, FYI.)
Oh, and we ate watermelon from the produce box. So out of season, but so yummy.
Wednesday
I grilled some bratwurst, stir-fried some broccoli, and we also ate cucumber slices and fresh pineapple.
Pineapples are ridiculously affordable at Aldi ($1.49 this week!), which means we almost always have a pineapple in the house. I love that.
Thursday
On Wednesday, I salted a beef roast from my chest freezer and then on Thursday, I slow-roasted it, using a recipe from Cook’s Illustrated.
(Are we surprised? No, no, we are not.)
I had some potatoes from my produce box that needed to be used up, so I made mashed potatoes to go with the beef, and I also sauteed some green beans.
I’m a little bit proud of myself for promptly using up the cauliflower, broccoli, AND green beans from my produce box.
I was a veritable veggie-preparing champion this week. 😉
Friday
I’m making pizza, which will use up the frozen pizza dough, marinara sauce, and bacon.
I’m going to keep working on my freezer odds and ends this coming week, so there will be another freezer challenge up date added onto next week’s menu/grocery post.
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Carmen
Tuesday 19th of April 2016
Kristen - you made me laugh with your veg box comment. I was raised where multiple vegetables were a normal part of a meal, so we eat lots of veg with every meal; my plate is typically 50-100% veg.
Yesterday/Monday: spit chicken with broccoli & feta salad, edamame bean & pea salad, pasta & pine nut salad.
Sunday: chicken enchilada (I had fish) with stir fry veg.
Saturday: pork, noodles with shredded veg, pak choi.
Friday: salmon with spinach, broccoli, asparagus and sweet potato
Thursday: oven roasted butternut squash & tomatoes served on top of cous cous (with courgette & feta), topped with sliced avocado and salsa.
Wednesday: ratatouille on rice (or spinach), corn on the cob
Tuesday: spicy chicken with tons of green veg, roast new potatoes
No freezer challenge here; I barely have anything in it. I work hard to keep ice, peas, fruit for smoothies, ice cream and the occasional few bagels/muffins in there.
Paula
Monday 18th of April 2016
Thank you for blogging about the cauliflower dish from Cook's. You gave me incentive to try it today for a potluck. It was outside the box for these friends and they ended up loving it. Of course following your frugal ways I had to make adjustments to avoid a store run...carrots instead of cauliflower, green curry instead of red and lemon instead of lime. a real keeper recipe even with the changes. Thank you for taking time to share your life with us. You are a very generous blogger.
lisa
Sunday 17th of April 2016
I did a freezer challenge the last 2 weeks..Mostly because I found great sales on organic meats and had to make room for it before I could purchase it. the challenge went well and I've got a turkey thawing. DH will smoke it on Tuesday. For the past week, here's what we had: M-Crockpot ham & bean soup T- pizza W- baked chicken w/mushrooms TH- leftover bean soup F- DH bought a fritatta box mix. I made a fritatta a few months ago and he refused to try it. Go figure. Sat- Attempted 40 garlic clove chicken & potatoes with chicken thighs in the crockpot. I wasn't impressed although DH and DS ate the whole pot. DS gave it a "8" rating. Sun- making BBQ chicken pizza from the leftover chicken thighs.
Bobi
Sunday 17th of April 2016
At one point, I thought you were mentioning your weekend meals as well. I'm just curious, are you still doing the brinner (breakfast for dinner) thing on Sundays?
Karen
Saturday 16th of April 2016
I would love the recipe for the stir fried cauliflower.
Kristen
Saturday 16th of April 2016
Okee-doke! I'll work on that.