Food This Week 16

I have been enjoying my BEAUTIFUL new chest freezer. It's a smaller model than I had planned on getting (5.1 cubic feet as opposed to 7.2), because the closest store didn't have the first one available. I could have ordered it online and had it shipped to the store, but I saw the smaller one in person and realized that it had plenty of space for our current needs. Given that it would be easier to move, take up less space in the kitchen, and was about $30 less, I thought it was okay to change plans. (Plus the price recently dropped, and because of Sears's Price Protection policy, I got an additional credit when I followed up.)

Produce Box

No box while we were away. We enjoyed fresh local -- VERY local, as in "open the door and take ten steps into the garden" -- figs, raspberries, and strawberries at our B&B, along with eggs from their henhouse. We also brought home two small pumpkins -- mostly for decorating, but I expect these will become food as well.

Menu

Friday: quesadillas, fruit, fried green tomatoes; meatloaf, frozen veggies, baked potatoes / THAW PIZZA DOUGH AND TORTILLAS

Saturday: mac & cheese, apple w/ peanut butter; pizza w/ pesto, mozzarella, fresh tomato, chicken / MAKE PUMPKIN BREAD

Sunday: hamburgers/leftover meatloaf, oven fries, tomatoes, frozen veggies; bean soup, corn muffins / THAW GAME HEN AND SMALL STEAKS / MAKE BEAN SOUP, BREAD, CORN MUFFINS

Monday: bean soup, bread, goat cheese, fruit from work / grilled cheese, fruit; pesto pasta, pumpkin bread / THAW CHILI

Tuesday: chili, corn muffins; game hen, roasted potatoes and carrots / PRODUCE BOX 

Groceries:

• Bob’s Red Mill mixes 20% off plus BOGO coupon
• cottage cheese

Wednesday: [WORK LUNCH] / leftover chili; steaks, baked potatoes, frozen peas / MAKE AND FREEZE SPINACH PESTO

Thursday: leftover lunch or oatmeal & fruit; Halloween party

Freezer

Newly added:

• veggie broth

To initiate the new purchase, we transferred frozen foods that would not suffer greatly from accidental thawing (frozen veggies, grated cheese, tortillas, cooked beans) into the chest freezer and left the more sensitive things like meats and ice cream in the proven top freezer of the fridge. There's a lot more room to rummage now! A couple days later, we took a big chance and went on vacation. Happy to say that everything survived in our absence. A tip I discovered -- for before we get a freezer alarm, anyway -- is to keep a small bag or dish of ice cubes somewhere in the freezer, so that if it ever gets below freezing in there, you'll be able to tell by the melted (and perhaps refrozen) water.