Grocery Shop Once, Have Yummy Meals All Week Long (Guest post, Recipes)

Hi All:

I was lamenting to my friend and former co-worker Margo, Mutitasking Mom, about how difficult it can be as a single parent to get great meals on the table without feeling like you are in the grocery store every five minutes…leave it up to Margo to solve that dilemma!  In this delicious guest post, Margo shares how to go to the grocery store once to get a full week’s worth of meals – and how to turn a leftovers into completely new meals!

She also has her cookbook available on her site – so check it out!

- Swati

*******************************

Yummy Meals All Week Long

Since I started my new job (and my new commute) I don’t have much time during the week to go to the grocery store.  So, each week (usually on Sunday morning, or earlier in the week if I’m on my game… which isn’t often) I try to think up recipes and put together a new grocery list so that I can make meals for the entire week.  I even enter them on my calendar at work so I know what is coming up.

However, quite often I find on Sunday I’ve got a refrigerator and freezer full of groceries, and leftovers, and I can’t cook a single meal from any of it.  I have hamburger, no buns.  I have spaghetti, no sauce.  So, I trudge to the store anyway.

How can you make a great recipe, and not be left with … well, leftovers?  There are only so many times I can eat the same old last-night’s-dinner for lunch at work without getting a tad bored.

Even with my husband and son in my house to help to eat what I make, I find that I have leftovers galore… and I hate to waste.  So many recipes are for 4 or 6 servings, and often it’s difficult to halve the recipe if it calls for a can of this or a jar of that.  So I tried to set a goal for myself… to put together a meal plan for a week that would actually USE what I bought.  Here’s a great list that can serve 2-3 people.

Sun – Roasted Chicken and Crash Hot Potatoes

• Chicken – whole, 4 lbs
• Paprika, salt, onion powder, dried thyme, white pepper, cayenne pepper, black pepper, garlic powder (these I have on hand)
• 3 onions
• 4 heads garlic
• 1 lemon
• 1 can low-sodium broth
• 4 whole new potatoes
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Rosemary – fresh

Mon – Margo’s Tostadas (uses the leftover chicken from Sunday)

• corn tortillas
• fat free refried beans
• taco seasoning
• reduced fat shredded Mexican blend cheese
• light sour cream
• lettuce
• 1 tomato
• 1 onion
• 1 avocado

Tues – Udon Soup (use half the steak here and then use the rest in the salad on Wednesday)

• soy sauce
• sugar
• 3 c beef broth
• 6 oz udon noodles
• 4 oz steak  (buy 8-12 oz, cut in half and save for tomorrow’s recipe)
• 1 bunch spinach
• green onions

Wed – Marinated Steak Salad

• soy sauce (already bought for prior recipe)
• 4-6 oz steak (already bought for prior recipe)
• A-1 Sauce
• Worcestershire sauce
• Ground ginger
• Garlic powder (already bought for prior recipe)

Thurs – Spaghetti, Ground Turkey, Marinara

There’s no recipe really for this one – besides cooking the turkey with the garlic powder and fennel and then adding the marinara to it, then putting it all on top of your favorite pasta!

• Spaghetti
• Ground turkey
• Marinara sauce
• Parmesan cheese
• Italian seasoning, garlic powder (already bought for prior recipe), fennel seed

Fri – Fish Sticks and Marinara – steamed veggie (use leftover marinara)

• Buttermilk (low fat)
• ½ lb tilapia or cod (or other whitefish)
• Parmesan cheese (already bought for prior recipe)
• Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• Kosher salt
• Extra virgin olive oil (already bought for prior recipe)
• Marinara sauce (already bought for prior recipe)
• Bag of frozen steam-in-the-bad cauliflower

Sat – Mom can’t cook all the time!  Order pizza and rent a movie!  :-)

Beef Udon Soup
adapted from Midwest Living, Oct. 2002

servings: 2
WW pts per serving: 7

3 ½ c beef broth
2 tbsp soy sauce (I use Bragg’s Liquid Aminos)
½  tbsp sugar – yes, for once I do not cut the sugar in this recipe
2 qts cold water
4 oz dried udon noodles, or fettucine (I only had 8 oz, so I made it with that)
4 oz boneless beef sirloin, very thinly sliced across the grain into bite-sized strips
½ c firmly packed, small fresh spinach leaves
2 green onions, thinly sliced ( ¼ cup)

For the soup broth:
In a large saucepan, combine the broth, soy sauce, and sugar. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Set aside; keep warm.

For the noodles:
In a Dutch oven or large pot, bring water to boiling. Add noodles, a little at a time, so the water does not stop boiling. Cook according to package directions, then transfer to 4-6 small soup bowls.

Return broth to boiling. Add the beef and spinach. Cook, covered, 2 to 3 minutes or until beef is desired doneness. Ladle the hot soup mixture over the noodles in the soup bowls. Top with green onion.

Enjoy!

~M

Tags: Grocery shop, meals, recipes