Provisions Prep Day: The Master Plan (for tomorrow)

One of my goals for this year is to provide you with even more tips on meal planning and using what you already have on hand.  I want to arm you with tools to be creative and keep you out of the grocery store. This will be the first in a new series of monthly posts that will share with you what I am doing to use what I have on hand.  Or to make use of the items I got on sale.

I will start by sharing with you what I planned to do, the day before the Provisions Prep Day. I will do this each month. Now, in full disclosure, I had part of my prep day last week because some of these ingredients wouldn’t have lasted this long.  So, I turned it into 2 separate prep days. But I am going to layout last weeks plan for you here and then unveil a new smaller plan tomorrow!

So, in preparing for this weeks meal plan I first started by making a list. Imagine that, me and lists! (laughing as I type!)

List of Ingredients
First I did was take a quick inventory (make a list) of what was perishable in my fridge.  I picked out produce and meats that needed to be used up soon. Here is the list of what I had to work with:

• Leftover turkey meat from Christmas (remember I did that last week, it was still good!)
• Whole Smoked Chicken
• 3 packages of sliced mushrooms (used raincheck at Publix)
• 2 dozen eggs (Free at Publix with Sargento Cheese purchases)
• Sliced ham
• Bag of fresh Spinach
• 3-lb ground beef roll

Recipe List
Next I thought through what I could make with what I had on hand.  What were our favorites? Did I have most of the ingredients to make it without a grocery trip? Here is what I came up with and why.  I will be sharing these detailed recipes with you through the week.  But this will get you started.

• Chicken/Turkey Tetrazzini – I decided to make it as Turkey Tetrazzini. My mom made it all the time growing up and it is great to freeze.  I know I will be needing a few freezer meals for new babies this month! I needed to use the turkey and mushrooms, and I had noodles, cream of mushroom soup and the velveeta on hand. The recipe will be coming tomorrow!
• Homemade Spaghetti Sauce – The main ingredient I usually need for this is the fresh mushrooms, but I decided to thaw the 3-lb ground beef. The recipe only calls for 1 lb so I used the other two in plans below.  This freezes well, and I can make my Spinach Cream Cheese Lasagna from it too.
• Crockpot Chicken Stroganoff – This used my last package of fresh mushrooms. I precooked the spaghetti noodles and extra bowtie pasta for the stroganoff and the Smoked Chicken Pasta.
• Smoked Chicken and Spinach Pasta – I totally made this one up! I do this a lot with pasta.  I have a lemon butter sauce I like and depending on what meats and vegetables I have on hand that is what it becomes. So, I used most of the spinach, the smoked chicken and the precooked pasta.  (I undercook pasta that I precook so it doesn’t get mushy.)
• Ham & Cheese Quiche – I need to use the eggs and ham.  I have tons of cheese on hand, and a few pastry crusts in the freezer from triples in November.
• Hawaiian Pizza – We love this and it was a great way to use of the fresh ham!
• Tacos – I precooked the ground beef and froze it for tacos for a later Meal Plan edition!
• Chili – Again, I precooked the ground beef and froze it to use for chili this weekend when we have our community group over. Great meal for a big group.  I will also use some of the precooked noodles, to pour chili over. Stretches chili out for a big group.

Most of the prep work for the meals above was done last week, so tomorrow I am going to focus on the following recipes.  Tomorrow I will also layout how I got everything accomplished while in the kitchen.

Tomorrow’s Plan

• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
• Hot Chocolate Mix (more for Christmas presents, Ainsley got the flu and didn’t get to school!)
• Breakfast Burrito’s (to freeze)
• Ham & Cheese Quiche

Are you going to join me tomorrow?  What are your plans?  Need any inspiration? Leave a comment and feel free to answer others questions.  Let’s help each other out in the kitchen!