I’ve recently been menu planning on Sunday nights instead of Tuesday nights (or, um, really pretty much any day except Tuesday, from the looks of my last months of menu planning). That’s because the amount of produce we’ve been getting from our farmshare over the winter months is drastically less than what we got during summer/autumn (maybe 1/4 to 1/3?), and I can pretty much plan our menus without worrying about needing to use everything up before it goes bad. I’d bet that the baskets will start to get bulkier pretty soon, but for now, it’s usually a few potatoes, a leek, some greens (salad or stir-fry or both), carrots and possibly something else like cabbage or green onions. I hadn’t really planned on the major vegetable quantity difference with our food budget – I just divided the total amount over 12 months and take out the same amount towards the farmshare every month. Consequently, we’ve been over-budget pretty much every month for the last three or so. Thankfully, that’s okay, and we did just get our yearly check from Costco (we use their American Express card) that will go toward the grocery budget.
Speaking of budgets, hunger awareness week is this week. Seattle’s King County United Way is doing a Hunger Challenge, asking participants to feed themselves for $7 a day for a single person or, for our household of four people, $22 a day (this is the maximum food stamp benefit in Washington). I found this interesting because our monthly food budget is $325 for groceries (food only) and $10 for eating out, which is right at $11 a day. Granted, two of the members of our family are children, so maybe we should compare with a family of three, which is $18 a day. Also, we often eat dinner with family once a week, and I have to be very careful about what we buy in order to stick to that number. However, I do buy some organic produce, grass-fed butter and other higher-priced but better-for-you items. If I really needed to reduce our food budget, I certainly could, though I would sacrifice quality.
But the main thing I think is this – I have the equipment, knowledge and time to make almost everything we eat at home. For families where both parents are working to make ends meet, this is most definitely not the case. I can’t really imagine feeding ourselves on $18 a day if both my husband and I were working full-time, especially if either of us had more than one job. And many people don’t know how to make beans or bread or lots of other things from scratch (or even realize that you can, in some cases) that end up saving a lot of money. So this week as we are eating our homemade, fresh and tasty meals, we will thank God for not only the ability to buy the food we’re eating but also for the knowledge and time to prepare it, and we will be thinking of and praying for those who don’t.
(For reference, L is for lunch and D is for dinner. Links are to the recipes we’ll be using.)
Monday
L: leftover chicken noodle soup, roasted squash “fries”
D: goat cheese and asparagus pasta, simple salad
Tuesday
L: ham and cheese sandwiches or leftovers, fruit
D: steak and greens stir fry, brown rice
Wednesday
L: leftover goat cheese and asparagus pasta
D: potato leek soup, salad
Thursday
L: leftovers
D: dinner out with a gift certificate
Friday
L: spinach and cheese quesadillas
D: leftover soup and simple salad
Saturday
L: leftovers
D: whole wheat pasta with jarred marinara sauce and liver (I hope this works out okay!)
Sunday
L: ham and cheese sandwiches, fruit
D: leftover pasta with marinara sauce
Breakfast options for the week: cold cereal with milk or yogurt, oatmeal with peanut butter and raisins
We eat on about $400/month, but that includes food and household necessitites. I do, however, have a half-of-a lamb as well as turkey and frozen items in the freezer that often can serve as a meal. The last month, we were over budget about $200 (ack!), though I am blaming that on A’s elimination diet. I sort of like menu planning on a budget, it feels like a game to me – though I am certain it would be less fun if I was forced to do it.
I have recently started making my own butter from organic whipping cream. I can buy the whipping cream if/when it goes on sale, and freeze the portions of butter that we won’t use right away. It is so easy, but it feels a bit special.
I have a couple of ideas for you about the beef liver. These suggestions all come from a self-professed beef-liver-HATER — they are things that I would try if I found myself on a tight budget with pounds of beef liver. And, perhaps most important, they are all ways to use the liver without making it the focal point of the meal (or even noticable).
1. When in doubt, go meatball. I was thinking to grind up SOME liver and add it to ground beef or turkey, along with many other seasonings and making meatballs. These could be served in sandwiches with marinara sauce or atop pasta.
2. Same idea — but for meatloaf.
3. Suffed cabbage rolls in tomato sauce, with a mixture of ground beef (or turkey) and some ground liver.
4. Same idea, but for stuffed peppers.
5. Soup – the sky is the limit here. If I had a pound of beef liver, one way I’d deal with it is to cook it up and grind it up, and then freeze it in, say, 1/2 cup portions. Then I’d throw it into soups — you wouldn’t even know it was there.
I hope this helps you. I am a bit ashamed to admit that your beef liver problem has been on my mind since you first mentioned it months ago (insert bashful face here). BUT – I would honestly try all of these if I were in your shoes, and I really (really) dislike the taste of liver. For me, using it up would be about mixing it in so that I couldn’t tell it was there. And the kids never need to know! And, for that matter, neither does the husband!
Best,
Betsy
Maybe you could try and go all crazy on that liver and make some beef liver ice cream. Or, perhaps a beef liver smoothie? You know how they sometimes add spinach to smoothies on the Vita-Mix commercials and you never even know it’s in there? Maybe the same would work for liver. I don’t know, I’m just saying . . .