September Home Cooking Challenge - Page 2

[Ianthe]

Originally Posted by Keeta

That's about 2 boxes worth - we got ours late this past week (on Monday) and then our regular one today (Friday). So we're a little swamped! A couple of the things are from our garden (kale, collards) and a few are from the farmstand (walla wallas) but yeah, it's a pretty diverse CSA.

Good idea about adding to salads! It's so ironic, we've been getting tons of lettuce...until now. Now we have cukes and tomatoes, and no lettuce. I know from a gardening perspective it makes sense, but from a salad perspective, not so much!

I like to do a pasta salad with chickpeas, tomatoes, cukes, fresh herbs..

Potato salad and "Kohl"-slaw would be good too!

[Zamber]

Subbing to get some ideas since we have a screaming tight food budget, and cooking at home really helps.

One thing I like to make is vegan sloppy joes in the crock pot (using lentils instead of beef). Super cheap, easy, and provides a lot of meals. I plan on making some this weekend and freezing into several portions.

I am going to pull out some meat from the freezer and marinade/defrost for DH to eat for dinner. I also have some potatoes I need to use before I forget about them (don't want them going bad). I plan to slice some up tonight to bake some yummy seasoned fries .

[caiesmommy]

Ok so were not doing well AT ALL this weekend BUT BUT BUT Its not September yet!

I knew this weekend was going to be rough since dh and I are barely home b/c of working multiple jobs this weekend(SIGH) and the dc arent home at all so that makes getting take out seemingly not so bad LOL

[Nutter]

Put together my September menu yesterday:

13 vegetarian meals; 5 meals with meat as a feature; 6 meals with only a small amt of meat; 3 meals with fish. (we'll be away for a few days when food will be provided for us). I make enough to provide lunch for DH & I the next day as well. The groceries for these meals will be about $160. That doesn't include cereal, fruit, pantry staples, cleaning supplies etc so I imagine by the time the month is done it'll be $250 or so - we'll see. My goal is to keep it under $300

I make most of my own cleaning supplies & our own toothpaste, mouthwash, deodorant, & laundry detergent; use cloth for my own #1 tp, use a diva cup & cloth pads, use cloth hankies instead of tissues.... but spend more than average on good natural shampoo, conditioner, soap, and makeup.
I buy most of my meat (beef, pork, chicken, lamb) yearly from a local near-organic farmer at about $3/lb average.

I buy organic milk which is 2x the cost of regular, and use it for making yogurt, kefir, sour cream, buttermilk etc as needed. So although the milk is pricey, I end up getting organic dairy products for the price of conventional when I make them myself.

Cheese & butter I buy locally made which is about 50% more $ than conventional.

I'm getting some frozen chicken carcasses from a friend today and will boil them down for stock which should last a while.

I make my own bread with organic ww flour, but need to find a cheaper source for the flour (ie a place where I can buy it in larger quantity) and that will bring my cost down to below the cost of conventional bread.

I've never tried my hand at gardening -- but am willing to take whatever my gardening friends & family need to get rid of so I've been doing some canning & freezing (for the first time) this summer.

My big goal for the summer is to buy bushels of tomatoes when they're abundant (which will be any day now!) and can enough to last me the year.

That's the plan for now!

[Alyantavid]

I've got my September meal plan done. I spend alot of time of weekends cooking (freezer stuff, lunch stuff for the week, etc) so I'm working on that now. Hardboiled eggs for the kids, right now I have a turkey carcass cooking that I found in the freezer and I'll use whatever meat is left from that to make a noodle casserole type thing.

My freezers are so full right now but the garden's still producing alot so I've got to get that stuff used up first. Tomorrow I'm attempting stuffed zucchini so I hope it turns out well and we can do it again.

[velochic]

I make home-cooked, from scratch for almost every meal, but I'll be looking in to get more ideas.

I do love to cook, but some days the amount of time I spend in the kitchen seems almost overwhelming.

I don't even know if shortcuts exist for so many things I do, without sacrificing flavor.

For example, I remember that there was a thread a while back about quick meals and chicken quesadillas were mentioned as being quick. I was dropping my jaw! Mine take a LONG time to make. I put a dry rub on the chicken and let it sit. Grill that off and let it rest, then slice it. I put a mixture of sauteed peppers and onions with some spices, and the prep of that takes a little time. Then the tortillas take some time to make. And I make a great spicy sauce for them as well (passed on from my next door neighbor). The guacamole may take the most time to make and a quesadilla isn't the same without the great guacamole.

So, I'm wondering what people do to still cook from scratch, but speed things up in the kitchen.

Any general shortcuts that can be used in the kitchen (other than make ahead, which I do almost religiously as I meal plan and know what's coming up)?

[SaraCate]

I need to join in here, too. With 1st-tri preg. fatigue in May/June, and then a busy (and HOT) summer, I've gotten out of the habit of cooking and baking the way we were used to...and I'm having trouble getting back in that groove! I'm hoping that if the temps/humidex cool off a bit, that will help. (No AC here.)

I also want to get holiday baking started and begin feeding the freezer for after LO#2 arrives! So the grocery budget may not seem to go down much, but I'm hoping to have at least a month's worth of breakfast baking and supper entrees put away, plus the gifts and other baked goods for the holidays...which means(assuming I follow through well...)come late Dec/Jan, we'll really see the $$ results!

[APBTlover]

I SO need this! (I'm on the no-spend challenge, too, with my biggets focus being to eat at home.)

I used to make everything from scratch at home. But, that bandwagon left me in the dust earlier this year. Goodness. It's embarrassing. Basically this entire year/pregnancy I have gone back and forth between homemade-from-scratch-mostly-organic-soaked-grains-etc and eating-out-every-single-meal. Part of it was external circumstances (like the hospitalization of a close family member where my only options for over a week were take-out or cafeteria) and part of it has been, I admit, purely my own fault for failing to plan and prepare.

For September my goal is to dine out only once a week -- this is a special treat for us when we go out of town for prenatals, among other scheduled trips. Otherwise, only homemade.

[Keeta]

I'm really proud of myself - last night we got together with friends for a semi-regular "taco night" - where we usually bring in food from a local mexican restaurant. Well, they are budget crunched and we have like 25 lbs of pinto beans and 5 lbs of rice in our basement - so I decided to make the main parts of the taco stuff and just brought it over! We also had a ton of corn tortillas, so I figured it would get us about 90% there, and then if people wanted to bring in a few meat tacos or condiments, it would be way cheaper. No one even ended up wanting to go out for anything, so it was really a savings! I just couldn't stand the thought of all of us spending way more $$ on the beans and rice than it was worth. It was a pretty successful venture, even with 3 preschoolers eating (who, as we all know, can be very picky about what they will eat).

Of course, we blew the home cooking streak today when we went out for lunch after a long morning of errand running. But hey, one home cooked meal is better than none, right?

I have leftover soaked pintos from yesterday, so I think we'll have another night of tacos here tonight - with more rice and the rest of the tortillas. And some homemade guac from the avocados we picked up at Costco today!

[spatulagirl]

I am in. DS is going on an elimination diet for the month of September so we can't eat out anyway. I have to be inspired. We are vegetarian and will be doing no dairy, oy, gluten, sugar, food dye, eggs, corn or chocolate.

So lots of beans, rice, veggies and fruit for us. And honey. And gluten free flours.

[Attached2Elijah]

Well, I made Sunday dinner last night almost completely from scratch/home grown items.

Roasted Garlic Chicken -- Garlic from my mini-garden and herbs from my garden, Chicken from Sister's mini-farm.

Mashed Potatoes -- Potatoes from my Garden, Milk and Butter from Sister's Goats

Tomato and Goat Cheese Salad -- Tomatoes from my garden, cheese from Sister

Homemade -- unfortunately the only thing not store bought was the eggs, which were also from my sister's mini-farm.

I LOVE having a sister that is as natural minded as we are but that has some land... I looooooove going grocery shopping at her house! LOL! The only cost is a few hours of labor during the summer helping her watch her kids or helping in her garden

Oh and today I made homemade miracle whip with sister's eggs to send sandwiches w/ homemade bread, the chicken, home grown tomatoes and the goat cheese for DS's lunches. I also sent him with some of the infamous apples I canned last week so even his lunches at school are super homemade! I'm really proud of myself for this challenge this week!

[caiesmommy]

August 30-Breakfast-hardboiled eggs/grapes
snack-apples
Lunch-leftovers fromMIL's Bday dinner out
Snack-chips and salsa
Dinner-tofu peanut butter stirfry on rice noodles

August 31-Breakfast-scrambbled eggs/potatoes/grapes
-Snack-stove poped popcorn
-Lunch-hummus/veg/bread
-Snack-apple
-Dinner-I work over dinner-dc at inlaws-sending the leftover tofu and noodles

Sept 1-Breakfast-granola/soy milk/raspberries from the garden
-Snack-apple
-Lunch-peanut butter sandwiches/grapes-I work FIL has the kids over lunch
-Snack-unknown
-Dinner-black bean tacos w tomatillos/tomatoes/corn salsa

[SaraCate]

Tonight - Dinner is salmon patties (already mixed up ), borwn rice, and veg...probably peas and the last of some Greek-style salad in the fridge.

Tomorrow - Breakfast - Maybe egg sandwiches
Lunch - DH will take his coice of leftovers; DS and I will probably have sandwiches (maybe cucumber...) and raw veggies/apple slices

Supper - enchiladas, I think...with the rice from tonight, mexi-seasoned, and some sauteed bell peppers that need to be used up soon.

Snack choices - Fresh fruit/veg, homemade apple/pear bread (used up stuff! Yay!), whole-grain crackers/cheese, hummus, yogurt....

[Zamber]

I just made a very big pot of soup from scratch that i have been eating from all day that should last at least until tomorrow.

Also going to whip up some corn bread soon to snack on for a few days. We are running low on food (used up stock pile due to lack of $), so I am getting creative with what is left until friday (planning a menu right now for the next few weeks to plan shopping trip). I also have the basics to make some plain homemade white bread since I am also running low on that. My goal is to cook 80-90% of our meals this September to pinch pennies like crazy and rebuild stockpile up a bit.

[ltlmrs]

I'm in. This will help me with meal planning too which I never do because I love off the cuff cooking. Unfortunately, that means I often make grocery runs when I shouldn't and end up going way out of the food budget.

Today we had:
B: DH - smoothie
Ladybug & me - toast with butter & honey; milk

Snack: HB egg

L: Ladybug & me - Eggs over easy with kombucha;
DH - leftover chili from last night w/ kombucha

Snack: Trail mix (pantry - originally store bought)

S: Ladybug & me - leftover chili; milk
DH - coconut beans & rice from leftover beans and leftover rice; kombucha

[spatulagirl]

I have to get creative tomorrow. DS is starting an elimination diet (no soy/dairy/gluten/chocolate/eggs/dye/sugar/corn and I haven't had the chance to really go shopping. Our cupboards are bare and the only fruit we have is a little bit of applesauce. I can't run avout and get stuff because DH will have my car.

Breakfast - millet porridge with coconut milk, honey, dates and cinnamon

Snack - pretzels for the girls, applesauce for DS

Lunch - leftover chili, cornbread for me and girls, rice for DS

Snack - tapioca with coconut milk and honey

Dinner - no clue... salad definitely, veggies and hummus, something with sweet potatoes and black beans? Or maybe soup. Soup is easy and gluten free.

[Nutter]

I feel like we got off to a good start this month - yesterday was our 2nd Anniversary and instead of spending $ on a meal out, we made homemade tacos which we both enjoy. I bought soft tortilla wraps and sour cream instead of making them both from scratch as it was HOT here yesterday, but we had beans instead of beef so it was still a very reasonably priced Anniversary meal.

Tonight for supper is Egyptian Lentils & Rice from the More With Less Cookbook -It can be made entirely with ingredients already in my pantry and makes lots of leftovers!

[Alyantavid]

Today's meals:

b-egg sandwich
l-casserole I made over the weekend
d-cabbage and sausage stir fry

My boys normally eat breakfast and lunch at daycare and school. Sometimes ds1 packs his lunch but its either a sandwich or leftovers. They also sometime eat breakfast at home, but that's typically bagels. Dh almost always eats at home.

[Amys1st]

One thing I have that helps with planning is a xeroxed calendar on my fridge. We pencil in a few days in advance what we will eat for dinner. Lunch is usually leftovers from dinners, so that satifies that need.

I also keep the past calendars and leaf thru them every once in a while to get ideas what to make. I have several years worth.

Tonight, for the 1st of the month is leftovers. We seem to have a bunch of leftovers in the fridge from dinners the last few days so there is something everyone likes in there, so we will have that tonight. I do that about ever 3-4 weeks or so.

DH and I start our cleanse the day after Labor Day. No sugar, fruit, alcohol or grains for 14 days, sort of a south beach diet of sorts we do every year. But there is plenty of yummy things we make and its usually all fresh so looking forward to it. I have to tailor my shopping list over the next few days to it.

With the holiday weekend coming up, we have a few obligations to attend so that cuts into the cooking, but it should be very easy to stay home and cook the rest of the month.

[Amys1st]

Originally Posted by Zamber

Subbing to get some ideas since we have a screaming tight food budget, and cooking at home really helps.

One thing I like to make is vegan sloppy joes in the crock pot (using lentils instead of beef). Super cheap, easy, and provides a lot of meals. I plan on making some this weekend and freezing into several portions.

I am going to pull out some meat from the freezer and marinade/defrost for DH to eat for dinner. I also have some potatoes I need to use before I forget about them (don't want them going bad). I plan to slice some up tonight to bake some yummy seasoned fries .

Recipe?