Stay Connected

Thursday, January 1, 2026

Mostly Cheap & Always Cheerful Suppers for the Week After Christmas

"Are not flowers the stars of the earth?" --Clara Lucas Balfour

This was the quote on my tea bag tag today.



Mostly cheap because I did use some frozen prepared foods this week, the Chinese entrees, the egg rolls, the chopped peppers and onions, plus I splurged on broccoli florets instead of broccoli cuts for New Year's Day. Otherwise, everything else used my ordinary ingredients for this time of year.

I feel like we've been eating non-stop since Thanksgiving. I'm looking forward to more humble meals beginning next week. But it's been a great feasting season.

Tuesday's salad -- we're still harvesting kale


Here are our menus for this past week.

Friday
scratch pepperoni pizza
cabbage, turnip green, and carrot slaw
tangerines
leftover cherry pie

Saturday
beef and vegetable soup
leftover dinner rolls from Christmas
tangerines
cookies

Sunday
scrambled eggs with avocado wedges and salsa
frozen broccoli
brown rice
tangerines
cookies

Monday
ground beef stroganoff, using a combo of leftover Greek yogurt, soy milk, cornstarch and lemon juice to stand in for sour cream
leftover brown and white rice
peas and carrots
cabbage slaw
stewed prunes

Tuesday
tuna-avocado melts (a great way to use up aging avocados, as they're hidden beneath the cheese)
canned green beans
kale, dried cranberry and orange salad
gingered pears

Wednesday
frozen Chinese entrees (one beef, one chicken, both with veggies)
leftover egg rolls (from Christmas Eve)
white rice
tangerines

Thursday (Happy New Year!)
beef pot roast with mushroom gravy (using dried mushrooms gift from Christmas 2024)
black-eyed peas with onions and peppers
oven-roasted broccoli florets
oven-roasted sweet potato cubes
spiced apples and cranberries


What was on your menu this past week? Are you back to normal meals, or do you still have more festive foods to use up?


2 comments:

  1. We were at my in-law's house for the past several days, and I tried to keep my eating habits in check, but they serve big meals for both lunch and dinner, so I feel like I've been eating non-stop. I'm looking forward to the new year's reset. Your menu looks perfect for what I'm in the mood for eating.

    ReplyDelete
  2. "Nonstop since Thanksgiving"... It sure feels that way to me too! Still eating leftovers combined with fresh garden sweet potatoes, Swiss chard, and turnips and some dried persimmons from neighbor. I am also looking forward to getting back to normal meals. I love your Chinese meal idea!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for joining the discussion today. Here at creative savv, we strive to maintain a respectful community centered around frugal living. Creative savv would like to continue to be a welcoming and safe place for discussion, and as such reserves the right to remove comments that are inappropriate for the conversation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Be a voice that helps someone else on their frugal living journey

Are you interested in writing for creative savv?
What's your frugal story?

Do you have a favorite frugal recipe, special insight, DIY project, or tips that could make frugal living more do-able for someone else?

Creative savv is seeking new voices.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

share this post