Inventory and Meal Planning

As many of you know, I read the Dave Ramsey forums as often as I can.  I try to follow his way of paying off bills and saving for college, paying off the house and being debt free (Baby Steps 1-7). 

Anyway, in the forums, they say in order to save some money on grocery shopping, you should do a pantry/freezer inventory.  See what you have and what you can use and meal plan so as not to spend as much at the grocery store.  I took up the challenge for one month (at least).  I did this because our grocery bills are sort of out of control.  With five people in the house (three of them being men) and myself eating only organic foods and a very fussy daughter, I have been watching the grocery bill climb higher and higher each week/month.  (Please realize that hubby does most of the shopping and he tends to bulk shop and accumulate things and then he forgets what he bought - however I do appreciate the fact that he does the shopping!). 

I made the inventory last night!  It took quite a while. (five notebook pages) You honestly don't know what you have until you write it all down.  I have an upstairs freezer, a downstairs freezer, a cold room, a closet in the cold room for health and beauty aides and then cupboards in the kitchen full of food.  And I didn't even inventory the refrigerator. 

How many of you have 20 lbs. of all different types of pasta?  I do!  How many of you have seven boxes of unopened cold cereal, three boxes of opened cold cereal, two boxes of hot oatmeal cereal and three canisters of regular oatmeal?  I do!  Needless to say, we don't need pasta and cereal for quite some time!! :)  (I would be embarassed if I told you how much of other things I have....Think coffee) OMG!

So, the next part of this procedure is to meal plan using what I have in stock (by the way, 7 quarts of chicken stock and 1 beef stock frozen).  I have the meal plan for this whole week all set. 

I think we can get away with buying just milk, fruit, some veggies for salad, dish detergent and some cheese this week.  We do NOT need meat! 

I'm hoping to use everything I have in the house by the end of the year.  And then we can restock fresh beef (another 1/6th of a cow) and more chickens in January.  Then we will also re-stock the cold room and pantry shelves.

Wish me luck!

A new blog to visit

My friend Catie (a great cook!) has started her own blog What happens in the Kitchen

Please visit her as she has some great recipes and since her and I use the same CSA,  I'm lucky to be able to follow those recipes....I'll be the taste tester!

 

Three Bean Chicken Chili

I made chili for the first time in my life last week.  I didn't grow up with it and it was never something that I really ate because of the meat...

But I found a recipe that I just love and the whole family loves it too.  As a matter of fact - the next time, I have to double the recipe.  As I have said before, I am not good with measurements.  I am a cook who "eyes" everything so I apologize in advance for not having all the proper measurements - but I do have the correct ingredients that I used!!

Olive Oil
2 onions, chopped

4 Tablespoons garlic, chopped
2 peppers, chopped - I used one red and one green

1 Can Black Beans, drained
1 Can Pinto Beans, drained
1 Can Kidney Beans, drained (or white beans or whatever you have)
2-3 cups of cooked chicken (I had cooked a whole organic chicken and picked it clean)
2-3 Tablespoons of tomato paste (or chunky tomatoes - use what you like or what you have)
Water
chili powder
garlic salt
red pepper flakes
hot sauce

Saute the onions and garlic in the olive oil until soft and the onions are almost translucent.  Add the chopped peppers and cook them for about five minutes.  Add the three cans of beans and the chicken.  Stir until combined and add water (maybe two cups) and the tomato paste.  Stir it up and cook on low to medium.  I usually keep stirring and add water if I think it is needed.  Cook for about 15 minutes adding water as needed.  The chicken breaks apart nicely (almost like a pulled pork).

Add seasoning to taste.  I only add a little because I don't like spicy chili and the kids add in more on their plates when they eat.  Cook in the flavors for about 5-10 more minutes and dinner is served.  It only takes about 40 minutes or so.

One of my favorite times of the year...

Girl Scout Cookie Time!

I was a brownie/girl scout/cadette for more years than you can imagine!  I sold tons of boxes as a kid and when I get the opportunity to buy cookies, I do.  Seven boxes, this year.  And if I see the little girls selling in front of the local grocery/dept. store, I will probably buy more! 

I love traditions (and Thin Mints!).

Game Dinner

My husband and assorted friends and family went to a game dinner this past weekend and hubby was very good to me and brought me lots of stuff that I'll eat:

Bear Shepherd's Pie
Venison Stir Fry (Awesome)
Venison Meatballs (a little too peppery for me)
Macaroni with Venison Sauce (My daughter ate all of this!)
Quail

There was also bear and deer sausage at the game dinner, but that all went at the dinner so I didn't get to taste it.

I have enough food to last all week!

Last of the CSA

This week we used the last of our CSA that we had in the cold room.

I used two butternut squash for roasted squash (I make them like roasted potatoes with olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary).

And with this big baby pictured here, I made mashed squash.  (Just like mashed potatoes).

I took a picture of it next to 1/2 gallon of OJ for reference.  It was pretty big and fed all five of us.

I still have four quarts of cooked pumpkin/squash in the freezer to make muffins or cookies.  Plus other assorted veggies that I froze, but this was the last of the fresh veggies.  New CSA starts in a few months.  I've already signed up....and I just ordered my first 1/6 of beef.  I'll take lots of pictures when that comes in!!!!

Macaroni Dinner

Hubby decided to experiment yesterday.  We have decided to use up what is in the cold room and freezer this month.  There was leftover plain penne pasta in the fridge (nothing on it), leftover marinara sauce from Tuesday night (not a lot though), a small bag of collard greens in the freezer, 1/2 jar of marinated red bell peppers, some of my dad's marinated eggplant, 1/2 can of chick peas.....Sounds like a mess, but it was delicious.  He sauteed garlic (of course) in oil, added the rest of the ingredients one at a time to heat, added the sauce and then macaroni last and stirred it up....Dinner last night and lunch today!


We have so much stuff in the freezer and cold room because my husband likes to have a stocked pantry.  He only buys what is on sale, but I think he goes a little over board sometimes!  And , we just got the ShopRite Can-Can sale flyer yesterday, too......that can only mean one thing...I need to clear a shelf!!!! :)

Almond Milk

Have you tried this product?  It is a new staple in my family's fridge.  It is delicious (albeit pricey - thank you, Mom, for the coupons!).  My daughter is lactose intolerant - neither she nor I loved the flavor of lactose free milk, but Almond milk is a whole 'nother story!  Hope likes the vanilla and I like the original (we haven't even tried the chocolate yet!).  It is great with cereal or with dinner or in a smoothie. 

If you try it, let me know what you think....

PS: Samantha, stay AWAY from our fridge please....(she is allergic to almonds!).

PPS: Nonni is still in the hospital.  She has an internal infection.  She is a trooper though!!!