This cascading meal plan did not go like I thought it might. TheHub has not been feeling great and the meals I had planned were just not what sounded very good to him. Luckily I could just "shop" from things I have on hand to satisfy his tastes.
Monday Plans: vegetable "crab" cakes, fries, hushpuppies, coleslaw
I booted the fries and hushpuppies. Instead we had the faux crab cakes, coleslaw and dinner rolls. The only things that were cascading was the coleslaw which was processed but left undressed for another meal and about 3/4 of an onion which will move to the chicken casserole
Tuesday Plans: Chicken cheesesteak casserole
TheHub was not feeling well and only wanted cheese toast and ginger ale for dinner. I was not going to cook for just me so I had cheese toast and dill pickles. The casserole will move down the menu.
Wednesday Plans: Out to eat
We had a meeting Wednesday in the early evening, and planned to go out to eat afterward.
Thursday Plans: Chicken cheesesteak casserole, green beans
The chicken that was cooked and frozen last week was thawed for the cheesesteak casserole. I had frozen green beans that were eaten as the side dish. Nothing was left to cascade to another meal.
Friday Plans: Cottage pie, green beans
The coleslaw was dressed and served with cottage pie. Cooked and frozen ground chuck from last week’s bbq cheeseburger waffle was used in the filling. Extra mashed potatoes were made to be used with Sunday night’s meal.
Saturday Plan: Steak or chicken cacciatore
Neither of us wanted to have a steak or chicken cacciatore . TheHub found some of last week’s spaghetti sauce in the freezer, cooked some bucatini and called it a meal. I had a frozen tv dinner with leftover coleslaw. His meal smelled and looked much better than mine.
Sunday Plan: Lunch: Rotisserie chicken, coleslaw
Had to make more coleslaw, dressed enough for lunch and saved the rest for this week’s meal. Removed the chicken from the bones after we had lunch, then simmered the bones for 3 hours. I wound up with about a quart of chicken broth to use in a soup meal
Dinner: Grilled tuna steaks, mashed potatoes or caulimash, and tossed salad.
The only things moving forward are about a cup of both mashed potatoes and caulimash.
Coming this week:
Steak, mashed potatoes, sautéed mushrooms, tossed salad
Corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and carrots
Black and blue salad
Chicken cacciatore, sautéed zucchini, spinach salad.
BBQ chicken, coleslaw, potato or caulitato salad
Soup TBD based on what is left from the meals from the week
Out to eat or sandwiches
Have a great week staying on plan, going off plan, or with no plan at all.
I will not cook if he is not going to eat. I can have anything rather than cooking. He rarely feels off, so no respite from cooking for me. I can see how cascading would not work all the time unless you deliberately made things to make the concept work. Yay for freezers and leftovers.
ReplyDeleteThe whole point of a cascading menu is to plan to deliberately have things that will flow from one meal to the next.
DeleteMy meal plan this week: steak every day plus some duck eggs :-)) my husband eats all the veggies and fruits he wants LOL...I am not a fan of either.
ReplyDeleteI am not a big fruit eater, but I love vegetables.
DeleteI guess cascading works better sometimes than at other times. As long as no one went hungry, that's the important thing. With my daughter home and us celebrating the fact that she's home, we plan on getting more take out than we usually eat. We'll enjoy the leftovers and she'll take some food back with her when she goes back.
ReplyDeleteTheHub did not feel like eating much at all, so we went with the blander things, except for the night he had spaghetti. He was feeling better and I guess he wanted some highly flavored food that night.
DeleteI had to look up bucatini. I don't think I've ever seen that in the stores, but I think i would like that shape.
ReplyDeleteIt is a really nice shape that "holds" the sauce nicely.
DeleteI like bucatini. Hope everyone is doing well in your neck of the woods. Regine
ReplyDeletewww.rsrue.blogspot.com
Bucatini holds sauce well. I like it too but it has become harder and harder to find here.
DeleteHope hubbie feels better soon!
ReplyDeleteHe feels fine now I think it was a combination of overwork, over stress, and a slight cold.
DeleteI had to look up bucatini. I like to have Trader Joe's basic macaroni on hand as it's not really elbow, but has a curviture that's good for sauce. Really good in goulash. I hope your husband is better.
ReplyDelete