Hopefully by this time next year, my husband will finally be done with his more than 10 year stint of college and graduate school – Hallelujah! He will be adding a PhD to his two bachelors’ and master’s degrees.
Since we only have about a year left in our current apartment, I want to make sure I start utilizing all the food in our pantry because I don’t like having to waste things when we move. No matter how hard I try to stay on top of things, it always seems like there are items in our pantry that were purchased, then never used and now they have long been forgotten.
In order to avoid having to throw these things away, every week I am going to base at least one of my meals on a food item I need to use up. This week the item is from the fridge, Feta Cheese. I recently rediscovered this fun pasta salad that requires Feta Cheese. It is really quite tasty.
Monday: Feta Cheese and Chicken Pasta Salad and fruit
Tuesday: Sweet and Sour Meatballs, rice and veggies
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Chili Mac Skillet and Fruit
Friday: Clean out the fridge day
Saturday: Santa Fe Chicken Salad and fruit
Sunday: My day off
For more dinner ideas, especially for the days when at 5:00 in the evening you still have no idea what to make, please visit Laura of I’m An Organizing Junkie.
27 Comments
November 11, 2007 at 4:46 PM
Yay for only one more year!
November 11, 2007 at 5:05 PM
Wow, I always admire women who manage to make it work…well…through many years of their hubby’s schooling. I just don’t think I could have done it well. Maybe that’s why I married an old man.
November 11, 2007 at 6:36 PM
I often find that after I fully stock a certain item that my family stops eating it. Like condensed cream soups. I was always using them for gravy, dips, casseroles, etc. So I bought a LOT of them. Then I started avoiding processed foods and so we aren’t using them. They just sit there. Maybe I will donate them to a food bank.
Enjoy your feta. Mmmmmm, feta.
November 11, 2007 at 7:53 PM
Oh i was wondering if you would like to take a trip to Utah, I have a couple of confused pantries. They were never told that you were supposed to give up some of the stores and use them. They just hoard all the stuff until i throw it out, but never never organize. Great job. and here’s to the greatest next year.
November 11, 2007 at 10:43 PM
Your menu looks great. Especially the Feta Cheese and Chicken Pasta Salad.
Have a lovley week.
Stacy
November 11, 2007 at 10:46 PM
The Santa Fe Chicken salad looks so tasty,as does the Feta Cheese and Chicken Pasta salad. Great choices for your meal plan!
Have a great week!
November 11, 2007 at 10:48 PM
I can totally relate on cleaning out the pantry. We just moved in March. Amazingly, we already stocked it way up again and I am working on using what I have just to not be so wasteful with money.
November 11, 2007 at 10:53 PM
wow, what a beautiful meal plan this week!! Have a wonderful Monday.
November 11, 2007 at 11:07 PM
I will be trying that feta chicken salad sometime soon. Yum!
November 12, 2007 at 4:22 AM
Sounds like a good plan to use up what’s on hand. I’m looking forward seeing to what recipes you’ll come up with for some of those pantry lurkers!
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November 12, 2007 at 4:24 AM
Wonderful menu planning! Have a great week!
-Heather
November 12, 2007 at 5:38 AM
Ah the Pantry… I need to do someting similar. Thanks for sharing your plan!
MJ
November 12, 2007 at 6:01 AM
Your week sounds great! Have a great Monday!
Lisa
November 12, 2007 at 7:11 AM
You’re truly an organized woman.
Happy Veteran’s Day!
November 12, 2007 at 7:37 AM
The feta pasta salad sounds great! I love the way you’re using everything in your pantry!
November 12, 2007 at 7:48 AM
[...] visit some of my favorite Menu Plan Monday participants like Kerri, Karen, And Miles to Go Before, An Ordinary Mom, Anne, and Book of [...]
November 12, 2007 at 8:03 AM
wow that feta chicken salad looks great, the whole menu looks great this week. Have a wonderful week.
November 12, 2007 at 8:03 AM
Ha! I once spent about $10 for ingredients to make a dish so I could use a 50 cent can of garbanzo beans that had worn out its welcome in the pantry!
November 12, 2007 at 8:23 AM
Yay! We’ll hopefully be done for a while as well! My husband is almost done with his master’s degree!!!
November 12, 2007 at 8:34 AM
Great menu! Everything sounds yumm!
November 12, 2007 at 9:01 AM
I like you Sweet & Sour Meatballs recipe! I have meatballs in the freezer so I may try that one sometime.
I posted the Sticky Sesame Chicken link on my page if you want to look at it:)
Have a great week!
November 12, 2007 at 9:07 AM
Way to go to your husband… and you for being there to support the school craziness! One more year will FLY by!
Your menu sounds yummy this week… and it’s great that you’re cleaning out the pantry. Mine never gets stocked THAT much… one day maybe, but for now it’s only got the essentials that get used pretty regularly!
November 12, 2007 at 9:48 AM
I’m tearing through my pantry today, organizing, identifying needs and making list after list. For me, it’s time to start canning homemade chili, spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, stew and chicken noodle soup. This is what I do during the winter and spring, when it’s not hot outside and not harvest season.
I think I’ll do what you’re doing, try to cook this week with what’s in my pantry and refrigerator.
November 12, 2007 at 10:17 AM
That’s a good idea use what’s in the pantry…I am linking the feta cheese and chicken pasta salad.that sounds so good.Have a great day!!!
November 12, 2007 at 6:40 PM
Hello! Im a little new to this… I have made one menu before but that was weeks ago!
The feta chicken pasta sounds so good! I am on a low calorie diet right now…. so no pasta for a few weeks. I wonder how this would taste with spaghetti squash. I might have to try it!
Great menu!
Lisa
November 12, 2007 at 7:13 PM
Great menu!
December 5, 2007 at 1:56 PM
[...] in the lives of her children Menu Planning From The Pantry Hopefully by this time next year, my husband will finally be done with his more than 10 year stint [...]