You can start the week with great intentions. And then life will throw you a loop.This week our family's cupboard challenge was completely derailed by a little thing called Mom Being Sick.
With Mom Being Sick, you don't have the energy for tiffs over toys, let alone expending the energy for a home-cooked meal. With Mom Being Sick, it's hard to keep your head up, let alone safely balance a knife on the cutting board. With Mom Being Sick, about the only thing that's boiling is a temper at times. All of this has, in retrospect, led me to two conclusions.
1) Menu planning might just mean making a freezer meal or two to keep in the rotation.
2) Sometime's it's OK to just open the blue box of mac and cheese.
It doesn't mean we didn't have our successes. My dear husband made homemade marinara sauce for the very first time - without a recipe - and nailed it. (Why he didn't just take some of the sauce in the freezer, I don't know.) We made stirfries and a favorite chicken dish we hadn't made for months. And I can't argue with grilled steak cooked outside on a cold January day (yes my husband has issues).
Sometimes, with Mom Being Sick, you just go with the flow. And that's OK with me.
How are you sticking (or not sticking) to your pantry challenge? Are you making progress? Trying new recipes? Frustrated with your efforts?
Sigh...I'm sick today too. You did better than me--we ordered pizza.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, lunch was a very simple make-everyone-really-happy fruit plate, where we all munched out on apples and bananas and navel oranges and I drank tea. We don't get away with that much, but somehow for my kids that constitutes a "special occasion" lunch, and is probably ten times healthier than the bagel and salami my son always wants to take for school.
I hope you feel better soon!
peace,
Jenn
who thawed the quart of chicken noodle soup from the freezer apparently about 5 days too early, since by the time I got sick and it would have hit the spot, it was long eaten...
I hadn't planned to join this challenge, but happened to anyway. Normal grocery shopping day was scheduled just as all the hype started building about last weeks blizzard so I skipped it instead of facing the masses at the store. Then I was snowed in and didn't get around to shopping until yesterday. As a result, I can open the freezer without an avalanche, I nearly cleared out the canned goods and finished off a couple types of pasta. When I went to the store I had meals planned and only restocked what I knew I would need. I hope to continue on this path with you since it felt great to use things up!
ReplyDeleteJenn, sorry to hear you're doing bad too! And I am hardly perfect. I bought two frozen pizzas yesterday after church just because I didn't want any hassle (I'm on day 5 of this crap.)
ReplyDeleteKristen, where are you at again? Glad you could see a silver lining to all the crazy winter weather we've all had this year.