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I guess it is “better late than never” this week.    At least it is still Monday for a little bit longer.  I am really getting in the groove of planning my menu based mostly on what I have already in the house, and putting any meals that need extra ingredients I don’t have on hand into the second half of the week, after I have had a chance to do some grocery shopping.

In general my pantry/freezer are looking more full than they have in a while.  I am trying to get better about applying the “stocking up” principle of buying enough of an item when it is at a rock-bottom sale price to get me through until the next rock-bottom sale price.  My general tendency has been to only buy one or two of something when it is on sale.  But with a family of five eager eaters, “one or two” of almost anything does not last for very long (well, at least four of the five are eager.  Calling Erik “eager” to eat would be a bit of an exaggeration these days as he sometimes seems to be eating less than Kai!).

So, instead of buying the 4 frozen containers of juice with one coupon this past week (enough juice to last two weeks, max), I bought 12 containers of juice and used three coupons.  Maybe that will get us through the next 4-6 weeks until I can make another sale/coupon pairing.  A few weeks ago I bought 9 bags of frozen veggies for a total of $3.   There are still a few left, and it has been so great to not worry about running out of peas, corn or green beans.  And you can bet that the next time I see ground beef “reduced for quick sale” at $1.49/lb I won’t just buy one 5 lb package like I did last time (and now I am dying for a sale on ground beef!) but I will buy two or three if the budget will allow.

I also need to take better advantage of the rock bottom produce sale prices on veggies when Aldi offers them.   I got a 5lb bag of potatoes on sale pretty inexpensively this past week at Rainbow, so today I made a batch of Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes.  The next time sweet potatoes are on sale I will buy multiple packages and freeze some mashed sweet potatoes.  If onions and peppers go on sale, I will make Fajita kits to put in the freezer.   Ditto for fruit when it gets to be the time of year where fruit that’s worth freezing (like berries) are on sale.

Here’s what I have planned for this week:

Monday: Tonight we had beef roast (on sale + coupon last week at Super Target), mashed potatoes, and asparagus

Tuesday: Buffalo Chicken Spaghetti (and maybe some non-spicy Spaghetti for the kids if I take pity on their lack of liking to eat spicy food!) and salad or frozen veggies

Wednesday: Pork chops (sale + coupon last week at SuperTarget — still waiting for an awesome sale to use the rest of my stash of pork coupons!) and a rice/veggie side dish from the freezer

Thursday: Creamy Beef and Noodles (similar to Beef Stroganoff, and based on the recipe from crockpot365.blogspot.com). I’ll be trying out using leftover beef from dinner tonight, plus some other leftover cooked beef roast from the freezer…plus a veggie or salad

Friday: Chicken Tortilla Soup and quesidillas

Saturday: Chinese beef and broccoli (recipe held over from last week — we at pizza with friends instead) and cream cheese wontons

Sunday: Either Fajitas or Enchiladas…depending on what deals come my way this week.

For lots more menu inspiration, visit Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com!