Spring Pantry Challenge

[sau418]

Tuesday Night: Pretzel crusted chicken w/mustard cheese sauce


I would love this recipe...I have a bag of pretzels that need used and chicken that I could clean out of the freezer.

All in all I am doing good, I am so looking forward to a huge shopping trip this Friday, the freezer and pantry are looking bare and I am tired of what we have, so it is time to start planning my next menu I will update once I get that put together.

 

[momto1]

Lunch yesterday was a hodge podge of leftovers but they are all gone to start the week!

We ate supper out for my mom's birhday.

Lunch for me today was soup, pineapple and yogurt. I have no idea what dh is having.

Supper tonight is pork chops, brocoli and baked potatoe.

Lori

 

[tinkarooni]

I am carefully watching what's in the fridge so that I don't end up throwing anything away. That means today I absolutely must finish that sliver of cheesecake that's in there. A girls got to do what a girls got to do!

Breakfast was oatmeal and bananas, same old same old but the kids don't seem to mind.
Lunch: Lunchmeat sandwiches on homemade bread, piece of fruit and some frozen cookies they pulled from the freezer
Dinner: I made a pot of sauce so we will have that tonight. Probably will munch on some baby carrots and dip beforehand and maybe scoops of frozen yogurt for desert.

I really need some ideas to get these kids to take something besides lunchmeat for lunch everyday. This is just killing my budget at about $10. per week. I buy all natural turkey and honestly wish they would just eat something else. They won't take the same things though, one will take home made soup and stuff the other one will take things like homemade tortilla pinwheels. One will eat tuna, the other won't touch it. Maybe I should start putting a little more effort into finding ideas for packable lunches.....anybody have any that work at their house and use up the pantry and freezer staples?

 

[tinkarooni]

Tuesday Night: Pretzel crusted chicken w/mustard cheese sauce

I second the recipe request...sounds interesting, care to share?

 

[Priorityonecb]

It's not the healthiest choice on the planet, but with my second daughter I had to "get over it" and just send her what she will eat for school lunches!! She eats healthy for breakfast and dinner...so that helps. Every single day she takes a bagel (I buy whole grain) with cream cheese. I spend about $3.00 on ingredients for that per week. She also takes a piece of fruit or carrot sticks or cucumber sticks...whatever we have on hand. Her drink, and a baggie of pretzels or goldfish. I would say I spend $4-$5 a week for her lunches.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Tuesday Night: Pretzel crusted chicken w/mustard cheese sauce


I would love this recipe...I have a bag of pretzels that need used and chicken that I could clean out of the freezer.

All in all I am doing good, I am so looking forward to a huge shopping trip this Friday, the freezer and pantry are looking bare and I am tired of what we have, so it is time to start planning my next menu I will update once I get that put together.

Here's the recipe that I use. I fry it in olive oil, but one of these days I think I want to just give it a little spray and bake it so it is better for us. But we "love" it.

Ingredients

1 bag of salted pretzels, any shape
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 eggs
2 small, boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips 1/2-inch thick
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil (I put a full coating on the bottom of the pan)
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
3/4 pound (about 2 1/2 cups) sharp yellow cheddar cheese, shredded
2 heaping tablespoons spicy brown mustard, such as Gulden’s

Prep Work:

Preheat oven to warm
Smash pretzels in a bag transfer to a large plate.
beat the eggs with a little water and place in a large bowl
shred cheese
Take the chicken and salt and pepper both sides (not too heavy on the shake though). Place chicken into egg wash and then into the pretzel crumbs. Place on a rack and let sit for about 10 minutes to set it up.

In the meantime, heat the oil. When ready, fry chicken around 3-5 minutes each side. Place on cookie sheet and put in the oven to keep warm.

In a sauce pan melt butter and then add flour to create a rue. Whisk in milk and let it thicken. Add cheese til melted. When melted, mix in mustard. Serve chicken with cheese sauce on top.

**Note you can keep the chicken breast whole if you want. I would flatten them the best you can though to reduce cooking time and contact with the oil.

 

[charming23]

Well yesterday I was so exhausted from my first day of classes that we ended up not having the baked potatoes with turkey chili. Instead we had tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches and will have the potatoes tonight.

Breakfast was hot chocolate (made at home), homemade granola bar, and banana. Lunch is leftover tomato soup and sandwiches.

 

[sau418]

So my DH told me last night to go shopping... We are down to 4Turkey Chili, 1 ham and hashbrown bake, and 1 sheppard's pie.

We had one of the two ham and hashbrown bakes last night, one of the five turkey chili's over the weekend, and the sheppard's pie will be tomorrow. There is also some hot sausage that I will save and use Sunday for the Super bowl. I can finally say that I NEED to shop. I threw the last of the chicken in the crockpot this morning with some BBQ sauce, will use a can of baked beans with that and a veggie. There is also one package of ground beef and I will use that Friday night or Saturday night whichever night we do not go out for dinner.

The girls and I went to the farm this morning and got a ton of good looking fruits and veggies. The prices are better there than the grocery store. While the girls are at school on Friday I will head to the grocery store and do the big trip. The flier comes in today's mail so I will work on the list based on that.

 

[tinkarooni]

It's not the healthiest choice on the planet, but with my second daughter I had to "get over it" and just send her what she will eat for school lunches!! She eats healthy for breakfast and dinner...so that helps. Every single day she takes a bagel (I buy whole grain) with cream cheese. I spend about $3.00 on ingredients for that per week. She also takes a piece of fruit or carrot sticks or cucumber sticks...whatever we have on hand. Her drink, and a baggie of pretzels or goldfish. I would say I spend $4-$5 a week for her lunches.

Maybe "getting over it" is the way to go here. I have to find a more reasonably priced option here that they will eat. The lunchmeat alone is putting a dent in my budget and I really don't want them eating it every day. I'm open to ideas.

 

[momx2]

Maybe "getting over it" is the way to go here. I have to find a more reasonably priced option here that they will eat. The lunchmeat alone is putting a dent in my budget and I really don't want them eating it every day. I'm open to ideas.

I think you should just "get over it", but I mean to just let them take it. If it's $10 per week, that's $5 per child if they are the only ones eating it and if it is only being ate at lunch. For me, I can buy at least 1.5 lbs. of turkey for $10 and I know it would make more than 10 sandwiches per week for my 2 girls. Plus, you're buying the natural turkey which is so much better for them than other types of lunch meats and so much better for them than school lunch.

Sometimes good food choices have to outweigh the bad, especially if it's only a few dollars more. I bet you are still spending less total than to buy them both school lunches everyday???

 

[50sjayne]

I am very excited to relate I was able to fit 2 tubs of icecream in one of the freezers easily yesterday! Work had some amazing coupons on spaghetti sauce and Breyers ice cream-- I got 2 gallon tubs of ice cream and 2 jars of Ragu spaghetti sauce for $4 total. Mgr tempted me with more coupons but I said no. We had potato soup last night with the last of the honeybaked ham and it was sooo good....took a Turkey out to cook this weekend (awesome)

 

[wdwfan16]

Maybe "getting over it" is the way to go here. I have to find a more reasonably priced option here that they will eat. The lunchmeat alone is putting a dent in my budget and I really don't want them eating it every day. I'm open to ideas.

I like to roast my own turkey breast and then make sandwiches with the meat.

 

[tinkmom2]

Today was my shopping day and I went back to my normal store thankfully! It's been a pretty good week. I got a call today that I won 4 tickets to Disney Princesses on Ice for tomorrow. My daughter is thrilled....

So back to the topic at hand. I spent a few dollars more than my norm and had about 5 bucks in coupons. My total for the week was $116.00./feeding 4 people and one cat I can only attribute my overage to my DH being with me lol!

So far this week we had:
Cream cheese and herb stuffed chicken breasts with noodles

tonight is Breakfast for dinner. I am craving a Denver omelet (mushrooms, onions, green peppers and ham) and my Mom is over. Kids go crazy for breakfast for dinner!

Chicken masala and jasmine rice

French onion soup (homemade) I still have a ton of onions left

Steak I splurged!

We had one eat out meal this week and it was Pizza Hut. They have $10.00 any size pizza still.

For Super Bowl Sunday I bought chicken wings (making bourbon wings) barbecue cocktail weenies, tater skins(homemade)

Lunches I still have a freezer full of Weight Watchers meals I got on sale a few weeks ago.

Have a great rest of your week all!

 

[Priorityonecb]

I can't believe it's February and I am still going strong! I know it will mean one big stock up shopping trip eventually, but I am determined to empty out that freezer!

Last night was a meal made completely with leftovers, and about .50 of fresh ingredents. Chicken and dumplings.

Tonight is another good one! I am using up a bagged salad and some leftover salmon for salmon ceasar salad. I am making .25 cornbread muffins I got on sale to go along with those.

I have been averaging under $50 a week in groceries which was my goal in this challenge.

 

[charming23]

Well we are 2 days into the new semester and I already have a cold/flu like thing. So I have stuck with tea and toast. I might try some chicken noodle soup later.

My mom is having leftovers.

 

[lisam427]

I can't believe it's February and I am still going strong! I know it will mean one big stock up shopping trip eventually, but I am determined to empty out that freezer!

Last night was a meal made completely with leftovers, and about .50 of fresh ingredents. Chicken and dumplings.

Tonight is another good one! I am using up a bagged salad and some leftover salmon for salmon ceasar salad. I am making .25 cornbread muffins I got on sale to go along with those.

I have been averaging under $50 a week in groceries which was my goal in this challenge.

that is wonderful!! keep up the great work!!!!

 

[lisam427]

tonight i soooo wanted to order out. i worked 10 hours today. the last thing i wanted 2 do was cook. i started cooking and bribed dd to finish cooking. last night we had bratwurst, mac n cheese, broccoli. tonight we are having chicken parm.

i have to go shopping at aldis tommorrow. we need fruit, bread, rice, stuffing, onions, cold cuts,and a few other odds n ends. the freezer is still more than packed. i dont planon going nuts shopping this month because of it.

ill be looking tonight to see what i can throw in the crockpot tomorrow as i probably will be working overtime again and willl be in the same situation i am in tonight (dont want to cook).

 

[tinkarooni]

I think you should just "get over it", but I mean to just let them take it. If it's $10 per week, that's $5 per child if they are the only ones eating it and if it is only being ate at lunch. For me, I can buy at least 1.5 lbs. of turkey for $10 and I know it would make more than 10 sandwiches per week for my 2 girls. Plus, you're buying the natural turkey which is so much better for them than other types of lunch meats and so much better for them than school lunch.

Sometimes good food choices have to outweigh the bad, especially if it's only a few dollars more. I bet you are still spending less total than to buy them both school lunches everyday???

Yes, buying the school lunches isn't really an option for us. My good friend works in the school cafeteria....so I know too much about what goes on there.. . Honestly though the lunches just aren't that great, and for my DS11 if he ever does buy it's not enough food. A lot of fillers and not much lean protein or whole grains which is what it takes to fill him up.

Maybe I'll try switching out the lunchmeat sometimes for things they do like. I buy about 1 1/4 lb of meat and we're not getting through the week with it.

Sorry, we got a little OT there.

For dinner we had Ham Fritattas which is just a fancy way of saying ham and eggs scrambled together and flat. We had steamed carrots with it, home made home fries with some of my garden potatoes still....amazing they are lasting so long and storing so well. I made sweet potato biscuits and they had slices of apples from my storage.

Tomorrow we will have maple mustard pork chops, spinach from my cold frame in the garden, slow cooker cinnamon apples and probably brown rice or baked potatoes. This is a pork chop meal I made ahead and froze when I did some Once a Month Cooking. Love these nights.

 

[smiller]

Tonight's dinner was pork chops, roesti (Swiss hash browns), gravy, green beans almondine, and leftover minestrone soup. It all turned out pretty good!

Our fridge is filling up with leftovers - I need to stop cooking soon so we can eat up what's in there and not let it go to waste! Hopefully we'll eat it all for the next few lunches. DBIL will probably snack on the pork chop!

DSis cooked up some Polish sausages for DBIL's snacks and roasted a chicken we'll use for tomorrow night's chicken pot pie.

 

[charming23]

So this first week of classes is over and I think I did pretty good. I have been making my own drinks at home instead of buying them at the coffee shop and taking breakfast with me to eat on the way there. I also have not caved in and bought any takeout.

Brekafast today was just tea since I am still feeling a little sick. Lunch was a can of chicken soup. Dinner tonight is going to be the leftover homemade tomato soup with gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches (Fresh mozzarella and basil).