Menu Monday 1/18

Last week I had done four days of juicing and felt so good.  I went as long as the budget would allow.  Actually, it put us a little in arrears-makes me sad I did not win (or play) the lottery. I would have loved to went the whole 28 days.  All of the juices were good, but there were a couple that were super good.  Ah, but that is in the past, and we must now remain in the present with a slight glimpse into the future.

I did an inventory of all the food we have in the deep freezer, pantry and refrigerator freezer at the beginning of the year.  Thanks to Zaycon, previous bulk buys and sales over the last couple of months, things are looking fairly good. And, as usual, it is a good thing.  With our "after Christmas-let's get serious this year" budget, once again, the grocery envelope is quite thin. 

I have to admit that I have not baked like I should have lately, buying bread, buns, etc.  I did make muffins (sarcastic whoppee). This trend has to stop and I need to get back on the baking bus,especially with the awesome 20 qt. mixing bowl that my bestest daughter got for me for Christmas! 

I am not making trail mix this week.  I am tired of making it so I am sure they are tired of eating it. Regardless, I have some other things in mind for their lunch snackies. 

This week I only went to one store-Aldi, and spent $37.24.  I do need to go back Wednesday for the meat specials and will probably find something else to pick up if they have any markdowns. 

This week's prepping includes:
Peanut butter crackers.  Snack crackers were $1.49 and we still have bulk peanut butter from Sam's.  I will make up one sleeve at a time and put in about 4 cracker sandwiches per bag. 
Peanut butter sandwiches.  I did get a loaf of bread to make PB&J to put in the freezer for their lunches.  (Personally, I don't like the frozen sandwiches, but the rest of the family does and it sure saves when compared to those frozen, crustless PB&J sandwiches at the grocery store or any other sandwich for that matter.)
Fruit containers.  I have canned peaches and pears to jar up for lunches.
BAKING:  I need to make bread (2 loaves to get back into the swing of things), biscuits to freeze, homemade buns and pizza.  Instead of just making the crusts and freezing them like I usually do, I am going to go ahead and make the sauce and add mozzarella and pepperoni and then freeze ready-to-eat ones that should last a couple of months.  I also need to make some refried beans today to go with supper. 

This week's menu:
Chicken enchilada casserole with Mexicorn, refried beans and a shredded salad.  
Chili soup with PB&J
Beans and cornbread. I found reduced hog jowl a couple of weeks ago at Ingles and thought I would try it in the next batch of beans. Of course, fried taters and onions and spinach to complete the meal.
Bacon-wrapped pepper jack chicken, baked potato, green beans
Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, mixed veggies, homemade buttermilk biscuits
BBQ pork sandwiches, potato salad
Pizza and potatoes.  Just kidding. No potatoes. I just noticed there are a lot of potatoes this week.  Think I need to at least throw in some rice or something different.
(And seed potatoes are out, so it's time for me to get serious about my potato plot!)

It's cold here today and working in the kitchen sounds like a pretty good plan for the day.
No time like the present. 

Have a blessed week!