Food waste...Friday

Boy have I been slacking lately! Sorry about the late (and non existent) posts. I've just been in one of those funks lately...
This week I wasted 1/2 a zuccini, 1/2 a stoffers lasagna--one of the small ones at least, about 4 oz strawberries and about 1 bowl of soup- It was progressos creamy chicken and rice, and it was so gross I couldn't even finish it!
What's not in this pile: the last of the orange pepper! I made chili this week and the recipe called for green pepper. I had used 1/2 an orange pepper earlier this week, and was about to get in my car to buy a green pepper when I realized what I was doing! I switched out the orange pepper and my chili was delicious- plus it made a great lunch today. I was so proud of myself!

Debt Confessions

Yeah, I made a $350 payment on my loan! Of course, it went up $80. That's okay. Only $2730 to go.

Meal Planning Sunday

K, here's the plan this week:
Sunday:
dinner: Chicken cordon bleu pasta (I never ended up making last week, so I'll try again tonight)
Monday:
lunch: pb&j, yogurt, apple
dinner: Ranch burgers and sun chips
Tuesday:
lunch: soup and a pear
dinner: out w/ parents
Wednesday:
lunch: tuna and crackers, fruit cup, yogurt
dinner: cross rib roast, mashed potatoes and corn
Thursday:
lunch: Roast beef sandwich, pear, chips
dinner: dijon pork chops, green salad, rice
Friday:
lunch: steamed chx breast w/ sweet potato
dinner: chili w/ rolls
Saturday:
lunch: work buffet
dinner: out w/ friends

I really want to stick to my plan this week. I've been slacking lately and have noticed this (unfortunately) in my food waste--which I will hopefully post soon.

Meal Planning Sunday

I've written a few posts now about my trouble cooking the meals I've planned, and here I go again. I'd rather plan a dinner I don't end up making, than not planning and end up struggling over what to make for dinner. This week's plan is:
Sunday: Pork chops with honey mustard sauce, mashed potatoes and corn
Monday: Lasagna with cresent rolls and zucchini
Tuesday: dinner w/ mom
Wednesday: BLTs
Thursday: Herb and garlic tilapia with salad and seasoned rice
Friday- Chicken cordon bleu pasta
Saturday- soup in bread bowls

Menu planning

So, last week I made all these grandiose meal plans, and then the week happened. I did make dinner on monday, but Russ made plans to hang out with friends, so I made the sandwich for 1. (It didn't taste very good anyway. Eh, I tried.) For some reason, I forgot that Tuesday was Biggest Loser night with my mom, so I planned a meal I didn't have to. Plus, when I got home, Russ told me that his family reunion is on Friday and Saturday. So, I won't be cooking on those days. Thursday, my mom called and invited Russ and me out to dinner--who could refuse a free meal? So not much cooking in our home this week, but I guess it's better to plan and then be flexible, than not plan at all!

Food Waste Wednesday

My only waste this week was 1/2 an avocado. (Sorry, no picture this week.) I'm super excited about how much I salvaged from ending up in my waste pile. My carrots were getting a little dry, so I just swapped them from the cellophane bag they were in, to a ziplock bag and just added more water, and now they're just fine. I used up the last of my tomato in a sandwich yesterday and stuck the rest of my produce in those Debbie Meyer green bags. Have you ever tried them? They really are great for making your produce last. I got them at Ross for about $6 for a pkg of 20 bags, plus you can rinse off the bags (and make sure they're dried REALLY well) and you can reuse the bags. I'm pretty proud of my progress.

Menu Plans

Menu planning is hard! I want to use up all the produce items so they don't go to waste, but I also don't want the same veggies every night. Plus the microwave at work is busted so last week, I was at a loss at what to have for lunch that didn't need nuking. This led to me buying lunch way too often! I decided the best way to avoid this is to start planning lunch as well. It's taken most of the afternoon, but I finally think I've come up with a (healthy) easy plan I can actually follow.
Monday:
Lunch: Chicken Tuscany soup with carrot sticks
Dinner: grilled veggie sandwich
Tuesday:
Lunch: Chef salad
Dinner: Chicken pineapple kabobs
Wednesday:
Lunch: veggie and cheese bagel sandwich with grapes
Dinner: (I work late)
Thursday:
Lunch: Broccoli and cheese soup with crackers
Dinner: Herb and garlic tilapia with seasoned rice
Friday:
Lunch: green smoothie
Dinner: BBQ pork ribs with potatoes and corn
Saturday:
Lunch: deli plate with apple
Dinner: Bruschetta Chicken and side salad

Grocery Shopping day

Grocery shopping day!
Roasting pan (set of 2) 1.47
2 gala apples .59
2lbs green grapes 2.04
Blue Bunny Sedona Ice cream bars 4.49-2.00Q
Fiber one yogurt (4 pack) 2.00-1.00Q
Yoplait Delights 2.00-1.00Q
6 yoplait yogurts .50 ea -.50Q
Sour cream .82
2 progresso soups 1.50 ea -.50Q
Larabar 1.25 -.40Q
Betty Crocker mashed potato pouch .68-.55Q
tortillas 1.58
2 Mr Clean Magic Erasers 1.96 ea -B1G1Q
Crystal Light Rasp Lemonade 2.50
Tyson grilled chicken strips 2.50 -.50Q
Pumpkin (not pictured) 3.98
Grand total of $28.60
Savings (approx) of: $10.58

Food Waste Wednesday

LOOK! Look how small my pile is today! Ok, it's still waste but I've come a long way and I'm proud. In this picture is:
1 Grands biscuit I didn't want to eat after I finished off my freezer jam
1/4 (less than that even) yellow onion
and the worst part: about 3/4 taco blend cheese. Which was sad because I had planned to use this for dinner, but when I opened the package there were little green flecks all over. Not so good.
But I've seen much improvement and soon, I will have a no waste week, I know it!
I've paid much more attention to what needs to be eaten and I've bought so much less! The less stuff you buy, the less you have to worry about spoiling!

Dinner Tonight

Tonight I did make dinner and it was Parmesan-garlic Chicken I got off the Kraft recipes site. I had planned to eat with my mom today, but I decided to have dinner with Russ today and then I went over to my mom's for dessert. (We watch The Biggest Loser together every Tuesday). I was going to make the Farmhouse chicken I couldn't bring myself to make yesterday, but honestly, I couldn't bring myself to make it! So I found this recipe which was handy because I had all the ingredients on hand, there's only 4. The chicken was $2 and I 'breaded' it with 1/4 c Parmesan and 1/2 envelope Italian dressing and a pinch of garlic salt. I served it with yummy Rhodes garlic rolls I got for $1 and the other half of the zucchini so it didn't end up in the food waste list tomorrow! Yeah! I'm not as exact as Erin over there at $5 Dinners, but I'm pretty sure this came to about $4 which makes me happy!

Meal Planning Conundrum

So I try and plan meals for the week and then when it comes down to it, I don't want to cook/eat what I've planned. Like last night, I got home from work at 6:00 and just didn't want to use any of the energy I had left cooking. I usually try to plan around this, but I guess I had more hope for Monday. I ended up making Top ramen and Russ has a bagel. but hey, it was cheap. Today I did make Parmesan Garlic chicken which was super easy and everything was right on hand. (I ended up eating before I went to my mom's and we had dessert together.) So that wasn't the plan either. Do you just make a plan and stick to it, no matter if you don't want to eat that today? I'm really bad about that. I need to make my master menu plan, but I also need to make a list of quick and easy recipes that I can switch out in a pinch. Tomorrow, I had planned to make chili but now I think I'm going to cook Enchilada bake. But we'll see what really happens tomorrow!

Menu Plans

So last week, I didn't quite have a menu plan and I am sure how important a plan is. Russ and I ate out twice this week! Luckily, we had discounts and coupons, but it was still pretty unhealthy and chaotic. So this week:

Sunday: dinner with my parents
Monday: Farmhouse chicken with zucchini
Tuesday: dinner with mom. (every tues my mom and I get together and watch the biggest loser!)
Wednesday: Chile con carne
Thursday: glazed pineapple chops
Friday:Frozen pizza (I work till 9:30, so I'm pretty sure I'm not going to want to cook a huge meal)
Saturday: Golden chicken with noodles