This week is going to be mostly shopping from my freezer and pantry. My plan last week went out the window a bit. I cooked for the family but did other stuff with what I had. I have found myself with lots of food leftover so we need to work through that.

1. Steamed vegetables with mash and gravy: have lots of frozen vegetables so it is a good use of them. I also have a 25kg sack of potatoes. I will need to get some more gravy though as I think my vegan one is running low. I guess it is time to explore my options. Yes, I do know how to make gravy from scratch but I don’t enjoy doing it. Buying stuff means I can have my husband make the gravy.

2. Cheezy Chips. I know it will have homemade chips and my nacho cheezy sauce but still working through the rest. Refried beans could be a good addition or maybe some Vivera Schwarma. I am thinking sriracha will be involved. Other ideas would be baked beans or maybe some poutine like with a cheeze and gravy. So many options. The great part is that it feels like junk food but it is not actually junky.

3. Vegetable Soup with Barley. I had this in the rota last week and I really enjoyed it. I didn’t do your usual chunky soup with barley in it but made a pureed soup and served it over cooked barley. I love the nutty chewiness of barley and it made for a good texture contrast.

4. Baked Potato and baked beans. I am planning a day out on Saturday and don’t want to worry about food. I have this down as the plan but the teens will likely order pizza / eat at work so it is likely a moot point. I would have the baked potato happily but I expect I will not be home until late in the evening so we will likely get something out as well. We will see. If our plans get cancelled than baked potato it is.

5. Chickpea and butternut squash curry with rice. This will likely be Sunday dinner as it is the one with the most effort involved but that isn’t saying much. This will just be chickpeas, butternut squash, onions, maybe a pepper, curry spices, coconut milk, and maybe some Garam masala. It early is an easy make. I am not claiming the curry making skills of an Indian mother but my simple option hits the spot.

6. Country potatoes and cabbage. Because….potato! I can make this on the cooktop or in the oven which is likely the plan. I will need to get a big cabbage to cook up as a side (a really big side) but I have everything else.

7. Sandwiches. Actually this is probably leftover night as I have a few tubs of leftovers in the fridge and Emily is making more practice recipes for more lunch ideas….watch this space. At very least it will be soup and sandwiches and probably on my shopping day of Thursday. This will really help clear out the fridge.

For all of this I should only need to buy some fresh vegetables and a few staple items like tinned beans, coconut milk and more sriracha. Other than that I will need to get more cereal as my kids are cereal fanatics lately and some more oats for Alan. This should help have a lower budget week s last week was a bit high for me.

The other great thing with doing weeks like this shopping from my freezer and pantry is that it helps combat food waste. I know I tend to build up stocks of stuff that I will allow to be pushed to the back of the freezer or shelves. For instance, I found that I have many tins of chickpeas as ell as dried ones so the obvious solution to me was to throw them in a curry and maybe roast some up as well. In the freezer I found bread so sandwiches are a quick and easy option. Bags of frozen vegetables? Steamed veg and mash as well as vegetable soup. I also have frozen meat left so I will likely be feeding the meat eaters some of that this week as well as I really don’t want to keep it and throwing it away would be a double insult to the animals it came from. I don’t have to eat it.

When was the last time you shopped from your cupboards and freezer? Did you come up with any nice meals from it? Share in comments so we can all learn. Healthy food and healthy wallets….don’t get that combo often enough.