It is hot this week! Not as hot as you poor souls under the heat dome, but pretty warm here. So this week, I am trying to serve us foods that need as little cooking as possible, with the exception of a pork roast in the crockpot, but I put it outside to cook so that it isn't adding heat to the house. I do that quite a bit in summer since we don't have air conditioning and it can get ridiculously hot in here. One thing I am looking forward to is that our local grocery store is running a special on chicken dinners- 8 pieces, 2 sides, 4 rolls and a 2 liter of pop for $12. That works out to $3 a person for a family of four, and I don't even have to cook it! I am planning on picking that up on my way home from work one night and I am so excited!
Trips to the store this week have been a little depressing. Prices have gone up, no great sales listed in the flier and our dollar store is practically empty. I stopped in there today for some dish soap and couldn't believe what I saw.
I asked the store clerk about it and she said that they just unload the trucks that come and they had all been small recently. I was shocked! It hadn't looked this bad a couple of weeks ago when I was in there.
High prices and shortages seem to be the order of the day right now, which means using our food dollars and SNAP benefits as wisely as possible. For us, that means eating less variety when it comes to protein as it is the most expensive part of our menu. Last week it was plenty of chicken, this week we are going to be using a pork loin I bought. The pork loin seemed like a lot of money out lay at first as it was pretty big, but I will be using it in different ways over the week, just like I have been doing chicken. I brought it home and cut it into 5 pieces. I plan to use two this week and two next week and keep the fifth piece in the freezer for a treat some other time.
I am lucky to have a freezer I can fit this roast into, if I didn't, there are still a couple of ways to try to take advantage of bulk meat on sale. One way is to go in with a friend. A pork loin is super easy to share with a friend, just bring it home and cut in half, each person paying half the price. It is a little trouble, but if you don't have the space for the whole thing, or don't have a freezer at all, this is a big help. The other thing you can do is to buy it the day you plan to eat some, so a portion is used immediately, then cook the rest in a few days when you have time, thereby increasing the time you can hold it in your fridge. Already cooked up meat takes up less space in the fridge, especially if you shred it. Then you can use it in lots of different ways to try to keep some variety. Just don't wait too long!
I hope you all are able to find ways to get cool this week, this summer has been brutal. This is one reason I love that our local library is open late a couple of nights a week! We can go in there and cool off for a little while and be entertained, all for free. Have a great week!
Monday-
- Breakfast- Cereal, 1/2 banana
- Lunch- Homemade microwave burritos, chips and salsa
- Dinner- Pork loin roast in crockpot cooked with onions, potatoes and carrots (Making a sauce of honey, apple cider vinegar, garlic powder, salt, pepper and a squirt of ketchup)
Tuesday-
- Breakfast- Cereal, 1/2 banana
- Lunch- Pepperoni and cream cheese tortilla roll ups, crackers, carrots and celery
- Dinner- Pork fried rice using up leftover roast, leftover vegetables
Wednesday-
- Breakfast- Cereal, 1/2 banana
- Lunch- Sandwiches, pretzels, cucumbers
- Dinner- Turkey and cheese roll ups, crackers, watermelon
Thursday-
- Breakfast- Cereal, 1/2 banana
- Lunch- Sandwiches, pretzels, watermelon
- Dinner- Shredded pork tacos, cole slaw
Friday-
- Breakfast- peanut butter toast, banana
- Lunch- Leftover shredded pork nachos, carrots and celery
- Dinner- Chicken dinner from the grocery store
Saturday-
- Breakfast- Frozen waffles, Orange juice
- Lunch- Canned chicken salad sandwiches, fruit salad, pretzels
- Dinner- Chef Salad, crackers
Sunday-
- Breakfast- Egg and fried bologna sandwiches, fried potatoes and onions
- Lunch- Ramen noodles cooked in microwave, veggies and dip
- Dinner- Tuna pasta salad with pasta cooked in the microwave, deviled eggs
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