Step One

I went to the website kaboose.com before I went to the store yesterday. Don't ask me how I found it, I just stumbled on it while looking up meal planning ideas. I started scrolling through some of their predesigned menu plans, but then decided that I should work with some of the things I already have, after all, if I could use what I have successfully without spending much more money, in the long run wouldn't that help enforce my original Costco theory? So, I entered ingredients that I had in the deep freeze or cabinets and found recipes that needed minimal ingredients from the store to make them possible. This week we are having Fresh Rosemary Chicken, Rotisserie chicken soft tacos, Mango and Shrimp kabobs with wild rice, Rotisserie chicken salad sandwiches, Orange-hoison glazed chicken, Ground Turkey Sloppy Joes, and one night of leftovers.

I had a plan, and felt like the mission had begun. I headed to Sunflower Market to buy most of the items on my list, and tons of produce for us to use to fill in lunches, snacks, and side dishes for dinner. I bought tons of cherries, grapes, nectarines, peaches, yellow squash, green pepper, limes, strawberries, organic celery, organic carrots, organic frozen edamame, organic sweet potato fries, whole wheat pie crusts, fresh chicken sausages, some spices, and a few other things and only spent $40 and some change! I love that place :) There were a few things that they didn't carry or that was just too expensive there, so I went to King Soopers to round out my list and spent $50. I felt great! However, I'm a bit nervous that I already spent $90 worth of stuff to add to food that I already have...how in the world am I going to be able to do this with just $160 left in the budget? Time will tell, I guess.

First thing I did when I got home from the market was to get the things out of the deep freeze I would need for my first meal this week, then I washed and stored all of the newly purchased produce properly. I saw this on the Rachel Ray show once and have always thought it was a great idea, I just didn't like to take the time to do the prep work. I also got out the Green Bags my mom bought me a while back. Hey, if I'm going to have all this fresh produce washed up and ready to use, I need it to last as long as possible, right? Doesn't hurt to see if the Green Bag magic really works.

Then I decided that I would go ahead and make the breakfast quiche that I thought would be a good quick fix for us each morning this week. I know I don't like repetition in my menu, but this is new territory for all of us, so anything I can do to stretch the food and stretch a buck is worth a shot. I found a recipe for a summer squash and chicken sausage quiche and I made it using the whole wheat pie crusts...it was AMAZING! As soon as I figure out how to link recipes to this site, I am so adding it :) Once it was made I cut it into 8 pieces and stored in tupperwares for my hubby to take to work each morning and for the baby and me to share each morning.

Next, I packed the hubby's food for the next day. He has been following the P90X fitness plan, so he needs a lot of food to eat during the day to keep his energy-burning, machine of a body going. So, I packed him quiche, cottage cheese with blueberries, strawberries, pistachios, grapes, carrots (I bought bunches of carrots and cut them into stix...so much cheaper), hummus, and an Amy's natural meal for the day so that he can graze healthily all day long.

So, I had a piece of quiche for breakfast today (my 14 month old son and I split it), a pb&j on whole wheat for lunch with a bunch of cherries on the side, and a piece of cheese for a snack today. Things were going so well and we were well on our way to making this menu work this week, that is until they announced after my softball game that the team was going to Freddy's frozen custard after the game...so much for my planned rotisserie chicken tacos. Oh well, that just gives us one less day of leftovers, right?

More tomorrow from taco land!