Welp my brain is a little melted from all-day training session, which continues tomorrow. And Wednesday.
What are you eating this week? Anything besides bourbon, whisky, and beer?
I’m going to make an asparagus salad with mint and some other stuff. Shallot, maybe peas? Probably some quinoa too? I don’t know, I don’t have it all figured out.
I’m a food planner when planning, but generally in the past when it comes to food execution I’ve been a lazy ass food buyer who goes out to grab dinner.
Lately, I’ve tried to avoid that trap (why I’ve lost 2.5 kg over a month.)
I know what I had tonight, having tomorrow and Wed.
Then it’s probably sausages with saurkraut (and some Knorr pre made sidedish for carbs) for Thurs and Fri. When the holiday Sat hits then I’m not sure what the hell I’ll be eating.
I usually have some raw veggies to go accompany the meal.
I’m pretty much use what’s in the fridge or freezer but have my go to things each week. Looks like this week will be Greek Chicken & Greek Mahi for my pescatarian daughter.
I had big plans to make a cabbage roll casserole tonight, but nobody could be arsed to do dishes and, well, I ain’t doing the cleaning AND the cooking. So, maybe tomorrow we’ll have a casserole. Tonight is cold sandwiches. Mine was turkey, havarti, and pickle on sourdough.
I’m not really good at meal planning… it’s more like, what do I feel like eating today? I’ve tried planning, but I never manage to stick to it.
BabySmacks just came in, eating half an avocado out of the “shell” with some salt. Blech. All his.
I dunno about the rest of the week… maybe pork neckbones one night, and then I’ll make stock from the bones and make ramen. That sounds good. Maybe a vegetarian chili? I’ve got a whole bunch of canned tomatoes and canned beans. I’ll just have to see what I feel like making!
Heading into the weekend I look at what is in the house and what I feel like eating and figure something out to cook. Misfits Market delivery this week so I knew I had to use up some vegetables. I made a huge pot of vegetable curry Sunday, served over cauliflower rice, that, alternating with salads, should get me through the week. I usually use a curry paste and coconut milk or stewed tomato when I make curry but a couple of weeks ago I bought a curry packet and it is a game changer. Ottogi spicy curry mix. It’s probably terrible for you but it was so good and super easy.
Oh my goodness, the golden curry mix (and the spicy variety) are great when you want to eat well but don’t have much time or money.
Beer. And whiskey.
I used to walk to the grocery store every day or so. I never meal planned for more than three days until the pandemic hit. Now I shop once a week by car. I plan the week’s meals on Saturday night, then shop at 6am Sunday. The trick is to use up the fresh produce early in the week and finish on leftovers and quesadillas by the end of the week.
This week is arugula pesto pasta, chicken Caesar salad, Vietnamese caramelized pork, and slow cooked beef tacos.
I made spinach rice casserole and buttermilk brownies. When my niece comes to town we’ll be having lobster.
I finally caved and got DashPass over the weekend so we’ll probably be getting some more delivery this week. Pre-pandemic, I was in the bad habit of getting takeout way too often. Cooking all the time has saved us so much money, if not time. So I think I’m going to try to keep myself to 1-2 takeout meals a week. The only restaurants around our new place that deliver themselves are just a couple of pizza places, so if we want delivery, the options are DoorDash or GrubHub. There’s a Thai restaurant that looks good, so I definitely want to try it soon.
I made quesadillas tonight. Probably will be doing some low effort pasta-and-veggie nights, maybe some tacos.
I used to plan a LOT more, but since I started working for the school district, and especially now that I work at the grocery store, I tend to play a lot more “fast & loose” now with cooking…
When I first started working for the school district, the site i was at was *directly* across from the discount supermarket. They buy close-dated and odds & ends lots from the various local grocery store chains, AND the stuff my chain’s corporate warehouse knows won’t sell by the dates, and you can get some GREAT things at amazing prices, *if* you aren’t too picky about what you’re getting & when.
For a while they had 3# bags of frozen close-dated sirloin tips for $10/bag. Other times, you can get the fancy (5.99 and up!) packages of cherry & grape tomatoes for $1.00/pkg.
With the Tomatoes (and produce in general there!), you NEED to go through the package the night you buy it. Because there WILL be a few bad ones in any package…. but the little bit of time it takes and throwing out a tomato or two (or blueberry, blackberry, strawberry, raspberry, etc.) is 100% worth it, when it costs you a dollar or less😉
Shopping there in the time after I moved in with my previous (townhouse-owner) roommmate got me MUCH more into just flying by the seat of my pants when I cook. I hadn’t done much cooking in the previous few years, between being in school AND the fact that when I’d lived at the house before that one, there was just so much chaos (AND that homeowner-roommate’s dachshunds were CONSTANTLY underfoot in the kitchen AND constantly peeing on the FLOOR in the kitchen–so cooking was a maaaaassive hassle there!).
And now that I’m *working* at a grocery store–and especially since the pandemic–i don’t Plan-plan, as much as I build around whatever cheap/on sale/on clearance meat-wise that week.
A couple weeks ago it was sirloin steaks, because we had packages of 6 steaks for $7-9.00… and when I worked on Monday last week, the meat guys had marked down a BUNCH of stuff that was close-dated, so I caught some chuck-eye steaks for just about $1.00 each, after the $2.00 off coupons😉
This weekend, the meat guys marked down the Hormel Cure 81 hams to $1.99/lb, so I bought one of those, a 3# bag of frozen chicken breasts ($2.99, and that sale will run through July!), and a package that had 8 thick-cut pork loin chops for less than $8…
So yesterday I diced the ham & froze 3/4 of it, tonight I made the pork chops, and tomorrow or Weds, I’ll season, bake, then dice & refreeze the chicken–so that I can just grab that & toss it in *whatever* (rice bowls, salads, eggs, etc).
The pork chops were a meal for all of us here tonight–but I’ll have enough left over for lunches most of the rest of the week–and either the ham or chicken will be my protein the *other* weekdays.
It’s not too planned, but it IS tasty, and with the sales we’ve been having at the store (a couple weeks ago, it was Corned beef at $3-8.00 for the WHOLE roast!), it’s inexpensive, but RANDOM!😉
We had neighbors over last night. Did poke & stuffed mushrooms for apps, kalbi chicken & yakisoba for main dishes, with namul bean sprouts, Kim chee sides & creme brûlée cheesecake for dessert with way too much wine. So great to hang out with people again!
My health insurance has a version of weight watchers that is free and they sent me all sorts of free stuff – a food scale, a blender, and a scale etc. I’ve been using the app and trying to be more mindful, but not taking it to extremes. I lost 3 lbs in 6 weeks, which isn’t super exciting but better than nothin’!
I’m really getting into smoothies and Costco (yes, even tho I live alone I go to Costco…) has organic frozen fruit and veggies that are easy peasy.
I can’t get into smoothies. When I bought a ninja my friend was ooh you can make smoothies. no. It’s a texture thing, a yogurt thing [yuck].
I tell you what though, it makes a heck of a frozen daiquiri!
i know what most definitely is not on the menu
thats right…..apparently sausage rolls are a pizza topping now
my supermarket has started selling these…..things
who came up with that idea?…and why havent they been shot?…umm..i mean fired…at