My Fridge & Menu Planning
Jennifer over at Nutcase 101 challenged her readers last week to show the contents of their fridge. I promised her I would do it, but I am a little nervous about it. No... my fridge is not a scary dirty pit... it is almost the opposite. My fridge is always bare. How can someone who considers themselves to be a good cook have a bare fridge? Well... like all things in life, it stems back to my childhood.
(Mom, I'm going to out you here. I don't mean any disrespect at all and since I know you are you and won't take it personally, I'm writing about this)
I grew up in a house with a full fridge. Yes... we were blessed with great meals, leftovers and lots of food available. The problem with that full fridge was that you never knew how long something had been in there. My mom cooked almost every single night and we had leftovers almost every single night. That results in lots of tupperware containers full of food. Sometimes on fridge cleaning days things would get missed. I'd later open up containers that had been in the fridge to discover some sort of science experiment taking place. Because of that, I have a serious aversion to leftovers. I cannot eat them. Whatever my husband doesn't take to work gets tossed out. If something is even near the expiration date, it gets tossed out. I clean out my fridge on a 2-3 times a week basis...scouring the contents for anything even remotely old. The result?? A very bare fridge for a family of five.
What can you learn about me by viewing the contents of my fridge? Let's find out.
Top shelf: 3 containers of sour cream... I keep buying it because I keep forgetting that I have some at home. Lots of eggs = lots of baking. Amoxicillin - the kids have been sick and are on 2 times a day for 10 days meds.
Next shelf: Turkey & sliced cheese: The kids often have sandwiches for lunch. Pepperoni and pizza sauce - for our once a week pizza creations.
Next shelf: Pork Loin - on the menu for dinner tonight. Yeast - for all the bread baking I do. Light Country Crock - for all the bread we eat! Feta cheese - my favorite salad topper.
Bottom shelf: 2 big jugs of Margaritas...a necessary mommy treat for anyone with small children. Tortillas - an everyday staple in our house. Canned biscuits - for when I want to make Monkey Bread quickly. Bagged salad - my lunch everyday.
Top drawer - Lots of fruits and veggies and some shredded cheese.
Bottom drawer - Diet coke and beer
Door - Look at all that butter (salted and unsalted). Can you tell I like to bake? Salad dressings, condiments, milk, whipping cream, half & half etc. There is a lot more stuff in the door than I usually like to have, but since it is all still quite a ways out from their expiration date, it all gets to stay.
There...that's done! Like Jennifer, I'd love to challenge the rest of you to do this as well. We've shared photos of our kitchens... now let's see what is behind those closed fridge doors!
One last thing before I close today. It is Monday and that means it is time to join the gang over at Organizing Junkie in their Menu Planning Monday event. I usually do a half month menu, but I didn't have a lot of time to plan this weekend so I'm just doing the plan for the week.
Monday - Kirsten's Pork Loin Roast with Sesame Hoisin Sauce
Tuesday - Mom's Spaghetti and Meatballs
Wednesday - Pepper Steak
Thursday - Tuscan Chicken
Friday - Four Minute Spicy Garlic Shrimp
Saturday - Kung Pao Chicken
Sunday - Roast with potatoes, onions and carrots
Kristen
27 Comments
Reader Comments (27)
Thanks for participating and I hope that a lot more people will come out of the fridge!
I am going to check out your Kung Pao now,I love it.
Have a great week!
Sherry
Your fridge looks amazing! so neat & organized!
Love your menu this week. Tuscan Chicken sounds delicious!
As usual, your menu looks fabulous. The Kung Pao Chicken sounds lovely.
I have these...they were a gift. They let you know how long you have had your leftovers.
I loved your comment about the margarita jugs, I feel ya there! Although, I only have one child who is almost 7 years old! LOL!
I am definitely going to join you on the menu planning thing, but I need to work on my organization a bit more so I'll start next week. I don't know if I can plan out an entire week but...I want to at least plan out Monday's meal because things are going to get rather hectic here starting next week! Thanks for this great idea!
(And are you sure you want to see my TINY kitchen?? I gotta reorganize and clean first HAHA!)
Have a great week!
blessings~
Annie
I'm also curious... WHAT is "Monkey Bread"???
My fridge would be pretty empty because I left it that way 2 weeks ago when we left on this trip.
My fridge never looked like yours when I had two boys and a husband at home. You deserve a medal.
And when I look at your menue plan and your fridge, I'm really blown away.
A marvel you are.
Let me know how the pork roast goes over with your family!
Kirsten
Your recipes look wonderful! I learned a technique for stir frying meat that makes for wonderful flavor and is similar to what is listed for the Kung Pao. Instead of coating the meat in just cornstarch, mix together one tablespoon of cornstarch, one tablespoon of flour and two tablespoons of whatever oil you are stir frying with (my fav is peanut oil as sesame tends to burn too quickly). Stir until a thin paste forms then pour it over your meat and toss to coat. Have your pan ready before doing this, then drop the meat in and allow it to sear on one side before stirring. The coating will create a great flavor, add some muscle to help thicken sauces and keeps the meat from getting too dry. I also like to do the veggies first in a stir fry, reserve them, then cook the meat and add the veg to that. It's just a preference but thought I would suggest it.
I also strongly recommend fresh ginger. The flavor is so much better!
Ok....enough blathering from me! Off to photograph my fridge!