This week I did not do as well managing the freezer surplus as I had hoped. I blame ThePig and Aldi.
I went to ThePig Tuesday afternoon with a short list of things I needed, to spend just enough to qualify for the free jar of Prego sauce. While I was walking down the meat aisle, I noticed some of their reduced stickers on some items, so naturally I had to swing by and take a look. I was able to resist until I spied the country style ribs marked down to .99 a pound. Yeah, I bought some brought them home, stuck them in the fridge to freeze later in the day, then promptly forgot about them. By Thursday morning, when I remembered them I had to cook them immediately. One rib apiece became our dinner and the others were packaged and put in the freezer for later.
The same thing happened at Aldi. I went to get 5 packs of mushrooms to dehydrate for winter soups and stews, when two packs of WahlBurgers (game day meal) hopped into my buggy. Of course some Cuban style potato chips might have jumped in there too.
And speaking of game day
Yes, it is that time of year again!
This is what I thought might happen for the month.
1. Spaghetti with meat sauce, tossed salad (frozen meat sauce)
2. Hamburgers with fixings, corn, cream cheese and jalapeño side dish (frozen patties, frozen veggies)
3. Bbq ribs, caulitato salad, baked beans (Labor Day meal will buy the ribs already cooked)
4. Veggie meal, cornbread TBD based on produce stand and garden availability
5. Veggie meal, cornbread TBD based on produce stand and garden availability
6. Hamburgers with fixings (frozen patties)
7. Taco salad (frozen taco seasoned ground chuck)
8. Taco salad (frozen taco seasoned ground chuck)
9. Chopped salad with chicken (frozen cooked and seasoned chicken)
10. Pizza, tossed salad (frozen mini pizza crusts, frozen pepperoni)
11. Grilled chicken, brussels sprouts, garlic bread (frozen boneless, skinless chicken thighs)
12. Stuffed bell peppers, hash browns, coleslaw, green beans (frozen uncooked ground chuck)
13. Fajita baked chicken (thanks Belinda) (frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts)
14. Grilled steak, baked potato, tossed salad, (frozen steak)
15. Garden salad, grilled cheese sandwich (lots of cheeses in the fridge)
16. Buffalo chicken, celery sticks, crudités with dip, fruit (frozen chicken tenders)
17. Butter chicken, rice, green vegetable (frozen boneless skinless thighs)
18. Peruvian chicken, mashed potatoes, green vegetable (Frozen boneless skinless thighs)
19. Cedar planked salmon, mashed potatoes, some green veggie (frozen salmon)
20. BLT, cucumber onion and tomato salad (frozen cooked bacon)
21. Grilled lamb chops, rice pilaf, green beans, side salad ( frozen rack of lamb)
22. Lamb leftovers
23. Corned beef, cabbage, potatoes (frozen corned beef)
24. Corned beef leftovers
25. Philly cheesesteak casserole, salad (frozen browned ground chuck)
26. Philly cheesesteak casserole leftovers
27. Soup and cornbread (frozen chicken broth)
What we really and truly ate this week
Monday: I had everything on hand for a quick veggie dinner.
Crowder peas, corn on the cob, tomato cucumber onion salad
Tuesday: We are still harvesting bell peppers. Lots and lots of bell peppers. Though I have cut many into strips to freeze there are still many that need to be used.
Stuffed bell peppers, hash browns, green beans
Wednesday: Back to using stuff from the freezer. BTW the free Prego at the pig this week, makes a great pizza sauce.
Pizza, pear and romaine salad
Thursday: When I went to The Pig, I found some country style ribs deeply discounted. They needed to be cooked right then and since I was going to have to cook them I figured I might as well use a couple of them for dinner.
Country style ribs covered in Asian chili sauce, tossed salad
Friday: Instead of going out to eat this week, TheHub wanted steamed shrimp. That was perfectly fine with me since I had salad in the fridge from the night before. Snapper Grabber to the rescue. Dinner was done.
Steamed shrimp, tossed salad, rolls
Saturday: Instead of having dinner we ate a late lunch while watching the ball game. Roll Tide!
Hamburgers with all the fixings, slow cooker corn jalapeño dish, chips, cookies
Sunday: We messed around the house all day but then I had to go move some stuff from Mom's house. When I got home, TheHub was ready to watch Notre Dame vs. FSU, so I needed to make something really fast.
Grilled chicken with salsa verde, new potatoes, green beans, tomato slices
And what was used from the freezer: August 30- September 5
1 pack uncooked ground chuck
2 hash brown patties
1 pack (2020 garden frozen) green beans
Pack mini pizza crusts
pepperoni
dinner rolls
pack of whole kernel corn
4 frozen jalapeños (I bulk buy them, cut them in half the freeze on a cookie sheet. After they are frozen I put them in a ziplock freezer bag.)
1 pack boneless, skinless, chicken thighs
Not as much as I had hoped, but at least it is a start!
What got put into the freezer ?
4 peaches that were about to become too ripe (Cobbler during the winter?)
Cooked country style ribs
Small pack of bell pepper strips
I'd say you did very well! I can't pass up great buys at the grocery store either.
ReplyDeleteI just can't walk by really good buys, even if I don't really need them at the moment.
DeleteIf the price is really good, I see no reason to leave it at the store. I didn't see free Prego online, in the paper ad, or in person. I need to check into this.
ReplyDeleteI get their notifications on my Piggly Wiggly app.
DeleteWinter cobbler sounds GOOD.
ReplyDeleteYay for a good start, and some excellent meals too.
The meals were not really excellent, but they were fine and we did not go hungry.
DeleteI think if you look at the balance of things, you're slightly ahead in emptying out the freezer. :)
ReplyDeleteTrust me I counted. 9 items out vs. 3 in!
DeleteGreat deal on the ribs!
ReplyDeleteWe don't have a Pig around here, but I remember shopping at Piggly Wiggly with my Mom when I was little. Glad to know they are still around.
Your meals sound good, and I think you are off to a good start with the freezer foods.
The Pig is about a mile from my house on backroads no less. It has a great butcher department and I buy almost all of our meat form the,
DeleteThat is a fantastic deal on the country style ribs! They are delicious cooked in bbq sauce.
ReplyDeleteI would have cooked them in bbq sauce but knew we would be having bbq baby back ribs for Labor Day.
DeleteWish you were nearby, I'd be sharing as many jalapenos as you would take! :-) We can grow them *almost* year round (probably 10 months) given the sunshine
ReplyDeleteI love jalapeños and we have grown them but this year we switched to cayenne peppers and banana peppers. I am covered up with banana peppers and they show no signs of slowing down.
DeleteWe're still weighing pros and cons of buying a chest freezer. You make having one sound tempting! (Then again, that's presuming there are any to be found.)
ReplyDeleteI love having a freezer, and only fill it when things are on sale, but right now with all the green beans form the garden my freezer space is maxed out.
DeleteI think you did very well with using stuff from the freezer and that's a great bargain on the ribs! I need to start eating from the freezer, myself! There might be some zucchini taking up some valuable space in the freezer! :D
ReplyDeleteI imagine you do have a pack of zucchini, maybe two!!!
DeleteYou are so efficient. I have literally no idea about the contents of my freezer. In fact, it would be a fun game to pull things out of there and make me guess what they are, or name an item and make me guess if it's in my freezer.
ReplyDeleteMy freezer is at maximum capacity and I need to use stuff in it so I can buy more stuff and refill it!
DeleteI learned my lesson about labeling food when I accidentally ate some of the food I had made and frozen for the dog. Turns out ground chicken organs are not one of my favorite foods.
I SO NEED TO CLEAN OUT THE INSIDE FREEZER IT IS SUCH A MESS. NOw I feel guilty.
ReplyDeleteThis is a guilt free blog! I just have to regain some room so I can buy more stuff. Turkey season is just around the corner
DeleteCountry style ribs are great -- I can never resist them. Haven't had Cuban-style potato chips -- need to look for those. :-)
ReplyDeleteThe Cuban style chips are at Aldi. They are somewhat like Zapp's Voodoo chips but not quite as salty.
DeleteYour meals always sound delicious.
ReplyDeleteSometimes they are good and sometimes they are just fodder, but we eat everyday, and for that I am grateful.
DeleteWhy do other peoples plans sound so much better than mine?
ReplyDeleteThe same reason others sound so much better to me than mine do!
Delete