Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Let the Games Begin!

It's Wednesday, which means that grocery ads are out. In preparation for our new $40/week goal, I have spent some time scouring the sales. I put all the good deals on food we like on one piece of paper. I even repeated some of the same sales at different stores, in case we can stop by one more conviently than the other. Next up, I need to plan our menu for the week and make the big list.

It turned out to be a good week to start this little project-- there are some great deals in Austin on produce! Asparagus for $1.25/lb, a 10 lb. sack of potatoes for $2.50, brown rice for $.69/lb, and apples at $.39/lb. It's pear and squash season, so we'll have plenty of goodies to eat. Onions are also on sale, so I might buy quite a few to help add some flavor to everything.

Spaghetti and butternut squash are on sale, and I'm wondering if I want to try my hand at butternut squash soup, and if we are too tired of spaghetti from this week. I suppose I could try a different recipe with the spaghetti squash. Maybe use some of my homemade pesto and dash of white wine?

We have a decently stocked kitchen to begin with. In terms of protein, we have frozen chicken, salmon and octopus in the freezer, and a few cans of beans, some lentils and dried beans in the pantry. We also have rice (long- and medium- grain white and jasmine), some plain couscous, and some pasta. We are short on canned tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. I just got a pound of white flour last night and we have some wheat flour yet. We have a bit of olive oil hanging around, and some sesame oil. We have condiments galore, and about every time of vinegar you could think of, and a good smattering of spices. We also have lots of block cheese, mozzerella and cheddar, that I bought on sale two weeks ago. I think we have about 10 eggs left. And we have plenty of cereal, and plain oatmeal. So I think our main focus will be produce this week, plus some milk.

Any ideas are welcome! Post recipes, make suggestions!

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