My Pantry/Freezer Challenge menu for January does not include meals beyond Jan 23rd yet because I am not sure where we will be with our move next door. I’d like the chance to re-group if need be and thought only planning until then would let me reassess and re-group if necessary, particularly if we are super busy with the move.
My goals for the pantry challenge:
1. Try new from scratch baking recipes (pita bread & corn tortillas)
2. Use meat from the freezer (especially beef soup bones)
3. Use up some of the frozen Okra I have in my freezer
4. Try at least one new recipe each week (bacon pizza, taquitos, beef & barley soup, grapefruit salad)
Jan 4 – Pork Roast, glazed carrots, homemade bread, salad
Jan 5 – Rotisserie chicken, cous-cous, steamed veggies
Jan 6 – Chicken tostadas, beans & guacamole
Jan 7 – Homemade bacon pizza, Avocado, grapefruit & tomato salad
Jan 8 – Homemade chicken & rice soup, crusty bread
Jan 9 – Chicken pot pie, fried okra
Jan 10 – leftovers or dinner out
Jan 11 – Crockpot chicken with black beans & salsa over rice (Thanks Robin!)
Jan 12 – Bean burritos, guacamole & chips
Jan 13 – Beef & barley soup, crusty bread
Jan 14 – Pizza night, Chi-Chi salad
Jan 15 – BBQ pork, homemade buns, pasta salad
Jan 16 – leftovers or dinner out
Jan 17 – Spinach Parmesan meatloaf from the freezer, mashed potatoes & gravy, sautéed broccoli
Jan 18 – Pot roast with carrots, onions & potatoes, crusty bread
Jan 19 – Homemade beef taquitos made with left over roast, rice & beans
Jan 20 – Eggs & sausage, homemade biscuits
Jan 21 – Pizza night, salad
Jan 22 – Grilled steak, okra, garlic oven fries
Jan 23 – Greek salad, hummus & homemade pita bread
Is there anything here that you might like to see the recipe for? Let me know and I’ll see what I can do!
About Michelle
Welcome! I'm Michelle and I'm glad you're here. Simplify, Live, Love is a blog about simple life in rural Iowa. We are a self-employed, frugal, green, mostly homeschooling family of 6 working to go off the grid on a modern day homestead in Eastern Iowa. Please subscribe for gardening tips, green living hints, recipes, fun giveaways, and frugal ideas. Thanks for stopping by.
Here's my new plan: I got a meal planner notebook where I can plan two weeks of meals per page, plus it has a separate (but attached) shopping list pad. So I plan 5 meals per week, with one easy idea for the weekends (e.g. spaghetti, Dutch pancakes) and one open day (leftovers, meal out, whatever). So I planned 4 weeks for January (20 different meals). I want to do more for February (new recipes, plus some favorites) and March, but after that I want to be able to pick a week, then I have my shopping list already ready and I should be able to hit the store once a week (plus maybe our local farm for veggies once later in the week). I'm aiming to have at least two vegetarian meals per week and to balance red/white meat and fish, and to have easy meals for days when karate and scouts run late (because those, of course, are helpfully scheduled between 6-8pm)…
So here's our January menu:
1/3 – zucchini pie and salad
1/4 – roasted tomato & goat cheese pasta
1/5 – salmon & dill quiche and salad
1/6 – tuna casserole
1/7 – broccoli cheese soup & homemade bread
1/10 – beef bourgignon
1/11 – spinach pie
1/12 – tuna patties & quinoa with veg.
1/13 – chicken pot pie and salad
1/14 – cheesy cauliflower soup & homemade bread
1/17 – tacos
1/18 – lemon herb chicken ring and salad
1/19 – baked potato and salad
1/20 – pulled pork
1/21 – spinach-stuffed mushrooms, zucchini parmesan sticks and rice
1/24 – spinach & tortellini soup & homemade bread
1/25 – easy cheesy meatloaf and salad
1/26 – A's birthday – out to eat?
1/27 – salmon en croute and salad
1/28 – honey mustard chicken, rice and veg.
For February, I should do the pantry challenge!
I'd love the recipes for homemade pita, corn tortillas, and biscuits – bring on the carbs!!!
I'd love those pita and tortilla recipes too! I would also LOVE the spinach parmesan meatloaf recipe! that sounds delish! I am mega impressed with your planning, I need to try to plan more, it saves money and we need that!
Okay – I'll try to work those recipes in to my blog! Thanks for the requests!!
The planning is the easy part. Executing it proves more difficult. Last month especially, all my planning fell by the wayside with a baby in the hospital and various other events. I hope to stick to the plan a bit better this month! I'll let you know. Linguabase – love your ideas and so glad you are able to post now!! 
I'm in! I just posted my plan today.
did you freeze the okra?
Kim – yes. My dad grows it in Missouri where they live and they had a bumper crop last year. They brought me a bunch and I froze it! The only way I really like it is fried or oven "fried." I always forget about it…Want to use it up!!
Rachel, I took a peek at your plan but haven't had much time to sit at the computer today! Thanks for sharing!!