Weekly Menu

Menu time again.

Stock Up

I want to start by talking about stock items. These are items that you pick up every week at the store. With these on hand, you will have a good start to many different meals. If there is a time, and we all have them, where I am unsure of what to make I know I can always pull some of these items out and whip something up pretty quick. Other times, what you had planned on your menu was just not your mood or you need to get out the door quick, worked late, not feeling well, etc, these basics can help you . Here are my top 10 stock items:

1. Diced tomatoes
2. Chicken broth
3. Pasta (any kind, but spaghetti and fettuccine are tops for us)
4. Cream of mushroom/cream of chicken
5. Milk
6. Fresh garlic
7. Eggs
8. Shredded cheese (cheddar & mozzarella are regular visitors in our house)
9. Rice
10. Butter

These are the things that are always in my kitchen. I have many more, of course, but these are my top 10. Your stock items may be different but just keep in mind what it is you use on a regular basis and make it a habit of checking for these things before you leave for your grocery shop each week to replenish any of your items that are dwindling or gone. Start off by adding them to your list and you may find that after a while it will become second nature just to pick them up during your shop. Try to buy more when they are on sale. Butter & cheese can be frozen. I hear milk can too but my freezer does not have that much room so we just go week to week on that one.

Part of the beauty of the menu & stock shopping is putting your brain on auto pilot. There are so many important things in your life going on that grocery shopping is probably not at the top of your priority list. So, getting your brain trained to pick up just what you need, and having these items when you need them, already bought, and ready for you in your home, is a step in the direction of simplifying your life.

Here's my menu for the week:

Sunday: Carnitas and refried beans

Monday: Pork Schnitzel & German Potato Salad

Tuesday: Blackened chicken Po Boys and dirty Rice

Wednesday: Chicken noodle soup with garlic bread made with leftover bread from Po Boys

Thursday: Chicken Alfredo with leftover blackened chicken and red leaf Caesar salad

Friday: out to dinner

Saturday: out of town for Camp Tyler (jump rope camp for the girls. Go Bobcat Ropers!)

And yes, I do realize we are having chicken 3 days in a row but the family really wanted the chicken noodle soup & we all decided it was fine since they were all 3 very different dishes.

**Tip** Get to know the people that work at your regular store or stores. You don't have to ask about their life story but say hi, smile, and be friendly. I noticed this at Kroger & again today at Target that the regular workers will point out deals when they recognize you are a regular customer. The regular produce guy at Kroger always points me in the direction of the "good stuff". Last week he showed me some cool Cara Cara pink navel oranges marked to $1 for a bag of 4. He knew that my girls liked to try different types of fruit and thought they might like them. He once brought me 2 pounds of bananas marked to 10 cents when I told him I was making a huge batch of banana bread. Today at Target, I got 2 packages of salmon for 1.99/lb plus each package contained a 50 cent coupon, regularly marked 9.99/lb. The catch (get it catch, salmon, OK that was lame) is these items are usually about to expire. If no one buys them, they cannot sell them so even selling them this much lower is better than throwing them out. In our case, fruit gets inhaled at our house so it doesn't get thrown out. With the meat or fish, either use it the same day or freeze it. You may want to buy freezer bags to make sure the food is stored properly, and if anything ever smells 'off', chunk it. Otherwise, you can save a lot of money this way. I have never gotten sick on meat or fish from a store (knockin on wood) and I buy the marked down stuff pretty regularly, especially when it saves me 8.99 per pound.