I’m starting to enjoy planning these weekly menus, but still struggling to execute them…  Often lunch follows from dinner the night before, or I need to remember to prepare something in advance or thaw something.  But if I forget or get interrupted, that can lead to missing the plan several times.

Still, I’m eating much less pre-processed and non-organic food.  And, once winter finally gives up its grip and the farm starts giving us lots of veggies, the variety can start to improve.

Also, this week I’m going to try turning the menu sideways.  That might give a bit more width for the menu items, especially when viewing on a phone.  Lemme know what you think.

Groceries: Kroger – $102.17 (that includes an entire case of the yummy yellow mangoes!)

New from the farm: Asparagus is coming soon!  Maybe by the weekend.

This week, we reach the end of spring break.  So far, I’ve done moderately well sticking to my plans, though with some lapses here and there due to unexpected events and weather (I am, after all, trying to catch up on the farm from my illness, and that is weather dependent).  But, the first week it was new, and last week was spring break.  This third week will be the trial by fire, keeping it going while in school.  May is such an insane month, I’m also trying to stockpile some made-ahead meals to get us through.

The items with an * produce multiple meals, so will add some made-ahead goodness to the freezer for when we really need it.  You might also notice Hamburger Stew is back on the menu from last week.  That was a casualty of those unexpected occurrences, so I haven’t made it yet. So it gets repeat billing this week.

Groceries: Park n’ Shop: $3.99

New from the farm: Still eating lemons (though the tree is leafless – we’re concerned).  Still no asparagus…

It’s spring break!

It won’t be too be much of a break for me, though.  Due to my series of illnesses (see the Why? page), I’m way behind on everything.  So, my “break” will be largely comprised of a mad rush to get caught up on the farm and on the class I was taking towards a masters’ degree (theory and practice of oral history).  That said, I should also be able to work ahead on meals.  Insanity characterizes the months of May and June, so I will work ahead on meals.

The items with an * come from the Taste of Home: Freezer Pleasers Cookbook. They make both the meal we eat and another (or several) to freeze and cook later.  The doc says I can’t have anything processed, but that doesn’t mean I can’t create my own convenience foods!  I’ll probably do a review of the book later, but for what it’s worth, I’m not too impressed.  I’ve had it for a couple of years and not made anything from it because nothing is very inspiring, and many recipes reuse a lot of processed meals (hamburger helper, canned cream of mushroom soup, etc.) and ingredients.  But, it may help me learn strategies to adapt to this change.

The trick to making your own frozen pizza is the crust.  Use any pizza crust recipe you like, but only bake it most of the way: until the yeast has done its work and it has set as bread but not golden brown and crispy.  Let cool, then top, wrap and freeze.  Then you can go right from freezer to oven like a store-bought frozen pizza, only better.

Groceries: Kroger – $107.41, Whole Foods – $72.47 (mostly dairy products from Traders Point Creamery. I really miss living/working near them…)

New from the farm: Not much this week.  Still harvesting lemons.  Kind of surprised we don’t have asparagus yet.

Here’s my first menu plan.  I’m also going to try tracking what I spend at the grocery store (for human food, anyway), just to see  how close we might actually come to being able to fulfill our whole diet from the farm and bartering with other area farmers and gardeners.  We’ll call food from our farm freeish, as we largely eat the things weren’t pretty enough for someone to buy…

Groceries: Kroger – $21.92

New from the farm: Meyer Lemons!