Friday (cost about -- $1.80)
pinto bean and vegetable soup (this was a delicious soup -- I made it early in the day and one daughter and I had it for our lunch, then the whole family had it for dinner. I used saved fat from Wednesday's meatloaf, as well as liquid from rinsing out the meatloaf pan. The flavor of the soup was wonderful. I added cooked pinto beans from the freezer, canned tomatoes, carrots, onion, chili powder, garlic powder, and garden Swiss chard.)
fresh-baked French bread
bread pudding made from the last of the failed batch of muffins earlier in the week, topped with homemade vanilla frozen yogurt
Saturday (cost about -- $1.35)
scrambled eggs with Swiss chard, canned tomatoes, and onions
carrot sticks
hash browned potatoes
Sunday cook-out (cost about -- $1.20)
hot dogs in homemade buns
cole slaw
s'mores
Monday (cost about -- $1.65)
pasta primavera (vegetables and herbs, tossed with cooked pasta, and topped with mozzarella)
focaccia
strawberry-rhubarb sauce
Tuesday (cost about -- $1.70)
bean and vegetable soup (made with ham stock and ham fat, so it had the aroma and flavor of smokey meat)
fresh-baked bread and butter
homemade vanilla frozen yogurt, topped with homemade cocoa mix
Wednesday (cost about -- $2.65)
spaghetti with meat sauce (using 1 pound of the super-discounted ground beef from a couple of months ago to make 6 adult servings --2 of which are for the freezer)
peas
vanilla frozen yogurt topped with homemade jam
Thursday (cost -- free)
We went to a design exhibit for a family friend. There were enough snacks to fill us all up, so no dinner was needed.
It was a busy week, translating into some very simple and last-minute dinners.
We used 1 pound of ground beef and 6 ounces of hot dogs for meat for the entire week.We also used about 1 cup of mozzarella cheese, which is as expensive as meat for us. We had eggs for dinner on 1 night and beans as the primary protein source on 2 nights.
I have to confess something (shhh, my family doesn't know this). I cheated a bit on the flavor of the strawberry-rhubarb sauce on Monday. I did add some frozen strawberries, but not much. To boost the flavor, I added strawberry Kool-aid powder. And yes, it was deliciously strawberry-y.
Breakfasts this week were steel cut oatmeal, homemade granola, homemade donuts, toast, butter, peanut butter, jam, yogurt, and milk. Lunches seemed to feature a lot of lentil sprouts and ramen soup and sometimes lentils in ramen soup. We also had leftover homemade soup, peanut butter sandwiches, eggs, carrots, rhubarb, yogurt, raisins, juice, and milk.
This is the last day of May. Consequently, my fridge is looking a bit bare. June's shopping is just around the corner, though, so that old Mother Hubbard look will soon vanish.
What was on your menu this past week? Do you have any go-to meals that you can whip up from scratch in 20 minutes or so? I expect this next week I'll be making extremely simple meals, as I finish up the preparations for my daughter's graduation shindig.
Have a great weekend!
