Freezer inventory & grocery challenge

Apologies for the flurry of posts this afternoon!

I decided what better thing to do on a 40 deg day but a freezer inventory and re-org! I had to work fast though to avoid everything thawing..

This is what I have in my freezer & the number of portions (after I tossed the unrecognisable or badly freezer-bitten stuff):

Meat

• steak - 14
  
• mince - 10
  
• chicken - 4
• chicken wings - 1
  
• sausages - 10
  
• pork chops - 2
  
• fish - 3
• bacon
• bacon pieces (use for pizzas & flavouring)
• salami (handful - use for flavouring)
• ham
  
• devon
  

Frozen Veges

• celery
• mushrooms
• capsicum
• broccoli
• cauliflower
• peas
• carrots
• chillis
• mashed pumpkin (use for scones / bread)
  

Frozen Fruit

• bagfull of bananas (to make bread or muffins)
• 2 apples (cook for crumble etc)
• tinned pineapple - 3
• tinned fruit salad - 1
• coconut cream - 1
  

Prepared Meals / Sides / Other stuff

• cooked snags - 1
• cooked snag & onion casserole - 1
• pizza dough - 1
• couscous - 1
• tomato soup - 2
• chicken stock - 5
• shortcrust pastry - 3 or 4 sheets
  

There are at least 6 weeks worth of meals there (along with stuff from the pantry), so how's about a challenge?

I'm going to keep shopping to a minimum for the next 6 weeks. I'll try to keep it to fresh fruit & veges, and staples like eggs, milk, cheese, bread etc. Hmm, can I sneak ice-cream into staples??!

So the money I save doesn't just disappear I'll put some figures on it.

Normal grocery shopping budget is $95/week. If I allow $25/week for purchases, that should be $70/week I save - or $420 over the time.

• I have a higher than normal water bill due in a couple of weeks, so $70 will go to that.
• I'll put aside $20/week to go to restock on meat at the end of the 6 weeks - $120.
• That will leave $230 to go into savings.
  

I'll report in each week - Anyone want to join in?

Extreme $21 challenge

"Welcome to the extreme $21 challenge. Watch Kez try to feed her family with $26 for the fortnight!"

Due to a bit of runaway spending on the credit card (I'm only guilty of too many fruit trees!), as well as a client who thinks its ok to pay their invoices whenever they like rather than when we want them paid, we really have to tighten the belt for the next month or so. If you haven't heard of a $21 challenge, the idea is to feed your family for $21 for a week by being creative, and digging into the pantry. I'm extending that - I've raided the coin tin, the console in the car and anywhere else I can think of, and I'm going to try to feed us for the next 2 weeks on $26.

I have to cater for 12 dinners, plus lunches. (we're not home for the other 2 dinners).

In the freezer I have:

* cocktail frankfurts (probably 500g worth)
* 1 lot casserole chuck steak
* 4 lots of mince
* 1 lot of sausages
* 2 lots of sandwich steak

So 9 meals there, more if I can stretch it out. Very "meaty" though so I want to buy some chicken to alternate.

I have 15 eggs so that can do a couple of meals. Pete is very much a "need meat" man so I can't feed him too many non-meat meals, I just have to sneak lower meat in!

Fruit & vege wise - I have a bag of oranges, a couple of apples & tins of fruit so that should be adequate. I have about 10kg of potatoes, frozen peas & cauliflower, a couple of ears of corn, a few carrots & tomatoes, heaps of tins of tomatoes and a tin of corn if I get desperate. So we should be right there.

Here's my shopping list:
* 3L milk
* cheese
* butter
* chicken - will try to get 2 whole chooks, 1 to roast & then use for lunches, and the other to cut up into pieces.
* cream (to make ice-cream)
* yeast (for bread, rolls etc)

Prices have gone up so much lately esp for cheese etc that my price book is way out of date, but hopefully I'll be able to do it.

Stay tuned :)

Menu Plan Monday - 16th June

It's been a couple of weeks since I've done the Menu Plan Monday - we were away one Monday, and the next was a public holiday. It throws me out of routine!!!

To use up this week:
* roast chicken

Menu Plan this week:

Monday - Sausages & caramelised onions on homemade rolls
Tuesday - beef casserole
Wednesday - Spicy chicken burgers
Thursday - Spaghetti bolognaise with fresh pasta
Friday - Pork bami with pak choy
Saturday - out, don't need to plan anything
Sunday - pork chops & veges

For more menu plan ideas, see Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday.



Eating from the garden:
* spinach
* a little bit of lettuce
* pak choy

Planting this week:
* beetroot
* cabbage
* peas / snow peas

Menu Plan Monday - 26th May

Review of Last week's menu -

* The Swiss Steak was nice - Master 5 didn't like it because it had "sauce" all over it - he's not a sauce or gravy fan lol
* Pork Stir Fry was a bit bland to be honest. Don't think I'll bother with this one again.
* Continental Frankfurt bake - this was the surprise of the week - DH liked it! Again Master 5 wasn't fussed because it had sauce! It would also work really well with the spicy sausages that our butcher makes. I served it with this One Hour French Bread recipe I found on another blog - very delish!!

To use up this week:


Menu Plan this week:

(Quite unimaginative this week - trying not to buy meat until next week).

Monday - Eggs of some description - omelette / scrambled eggs
Tuesday - BBQ blade steak & veges
Wednesday - Fish & chips
Thursday - Vietnamese Pork Stirfry and rice (from Mealopedia)
Friday - Swiss Steak (from freezer) & couscous
Saturday/Sunday - don't need to plan for

For more menu plan ideas, see Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday.



Eating from the garden:
* may get a couple of more leaves of spinach
* a little bit of lettuce

Seedlings underway (on the windowsill):
* Lettuce
* Cauliflower
* Silverbeet
* Parsley
* Broccoli
* Pakchoy

Stuff growing in the garden:
* Lettuce
* Cauliflower
* Silverbeet
* Broccoli
* Pakchoy
* Garlic
* Snow Peas
* Peas (greenfeast)
* Roma tomatoes

Planting this week:
* Not planting anything but just ordered a heap of stuff from Diggers so will be doing some planning & prep work

Menu Plan Monday - 21st April

Finally joining in with Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday - to see what everyone else is eating this week, check out her post.

Not very exciting this week in our household.

Monday - Quiche (ham, roast pumpkin, spinach & corn) with salad
Tuesday - Pork chops with balsamic glaze & steamed veges
Wednesday - Beef stir-fry & brown rice
Thursday - Panfried Fish, mashed potato and steamed veges
Friday - Thai chicken curry & rice
Saturday - Spaghetti bolognaise
Sunday - Steak & veges