The Cupboard was Bare or Starting a New Month of Menus

Do you remember the nursery rhyme about Old Mother Hubbard?  One day she went to her cupboard only to find it was bare and she had nothing to give her poor doggie.  Such could be said of my freezer today, in fact, one of my daughters texted me a message about our refrigerator and freezer being so empty that it looked like it does before a vacation!

It's a good thing I was already at the store doing a Once-a-month shopping trip!  This afternoon I sat down to compose a new monthly menu, one that is Weight Watcher friendly and low on carbs.  Here's what I created:

From that menu, I generated a grocery list.

Time spent: 
1 hour creating menu and grocery list, gathering any recipes
2 hours shopping at 2 stores
45 minutes putting away groceries and organizing meats in the freezer, starting a pot roast (Mrs. Ringle's Brisket, see blog) for tomorrow's dinner

I took several steps while putting away the groceries that are a big help towards completing the cooking. 

• The fish simply went into the freezer as I purchased  it pre-seasoned and individually wrapped.  OAM cooking doesn't mean it all has to be from scratch.  :)
• 2 whole chickens: package opened, gizzards and neck removed, chickens repackaged in gallon-sized Ziploc bags.  Put in freezer.  I will add the spices when I cook them.
• Pork tenderloin: separated into two packages.
• Turkey patties and buns simply frozen. Yeah!
• Beef roast:  opened, washed and placed in a crock-pot with a good drizzle of mustard and 1 package of Lipton Onion Soup Mix sprinkled over.  Pot set to cook for 20 hours.  Oh yum!
• Steaks were cut into a total of 14 pieces.  I put 7 in each of two Ziplocs, labeled the bags and put them in the freezer.

The bag of boneless, skinless chicken was put into the freezer until tomorrow, and the ground turkey was put into the refrigerator.  Both replicate the state in which I brought them home.

I also bought a 5-lb bag of Mozzarella cheese.  I divided it into 4 bags and froze them all.  It's not something we use daily, but I like having it on hand to be able to make pizzas for the surprise houseful of teen-agers. 

Now, my freezer is looking a little better.  Tomorrow, I will cook the ground turkey and freeze the meat to add to red sauce and pasta.  Or, if need be, it can be turned into taco meat.  Then I will prepare the 5 dishes using the chicken.

I'm over half-way done with a month full of meals and only about 4 hours of work.  I've also saved money by purchasing in bulk and reduced the temptation to go out at the last minute.