Eating from the pantry

When I did my grocery shopping last week, I forgot to figure in the fact that we would be out of town on my regular shopping day and that there was very little time before the next shopping day to get to the store. That meant that we have been making do with what is in the house for several days now, and while things are getting a little slim, I think we'll make it. (Plus, I made a quick run for some fresh produce this afternoon, which helps a lot.) I'm always so pleased with myself when I can come up with meals out of what is on hand.

Since I'm not the only who ever runs into this problem, I thought I would share what we've been eating this week. First, I found a frozen ham bone and had some split peas in the pantry which makes split pea soup. (It also helped that I had some carrots and celery still in the refrigerator, but we could have done without it.) I also had some French bread dough in the refrigerator, so I made a couple loaves of that as well. Yesterday, HG was cooking, and she always runs to the store to get her supplies that day, so I won't count that meal. That leaves us with today, tomorrow, and Thursday. Tonight we'll be having a casserole with ground beef (in the freezer... it's stocked again for the year), egg noodles, frozen corn, and a cream sauce base with croutons on top. Easy and flexible, but I did need some lettuce to make a salad. Had it been summer, B. grew enough that I could have gone out and picked some. Tomorrow we are going to celebrate the last night of Chanukkah and I'm going to make potato latkes. The potatoes were also a part of the food run today, and I think I could have come up with another meal if I didn't want to do something special. For Thursday, I rummaged around in my freezer and discovered I had enough makings for pot pies. Everyone will be thrilled because I don't make these very often, but it's a great use of leftovers. Breakfast and lunch will be a stretch, but I'm hoping for leftovers and there is always oatmeal, ramen, and other noodles. Plus, I am fully stocked with baking supplies, so I can always bake something.

It does make me wish I had more dried and frozen vegetables on hand. The lack of fresh produce is what made coming up with meals a little tricky. I'll have to remember that for next summer when the produce is cheap and I have time.

Maybe by tomorrow I'll be back in the writing game and actually have something to say. A girl can hope...