What's in the fridge? January 12, 2014

Tomorrow is grocery shopping day. Here's what I already have in my fridge:

• One green bell pepper (I bought too many for blog night)
• One butternut squash (we were supposed to make it on Christmas, and I think it *might* still be good)
• One large tub of plain yogurt
• Some rapidly going-south basil
• A bag of questionable but potentially saveable spinach
• 3/4 tub of sour cream
• 1/2 jar green olives left over from New Year's Eve
• Parmesan cheese

In the freezer:

• A bag of soup bones
• Two bags of chicken thighs
• A bag of grilled chicken breasts

And in the pantry:

• A bag of tortilla chips
• A package of rice noodles
• Half a bag dried black-eyed peas
• Some potatoes
• A package of gnocchi
• A bag of instant potato soup 
• A can of cream of mushroom soup

This is not everything in my pantry or freezer, because I'm a coupon/sale shopper so I stock up on stuff. This is just the stuff I honed in on this week that I thought I could combine with the perishable items in my fridge. So here's what I've decided to make:

• Monday: Pho bo (soup bones, basil, rice noodles)
• Tuesday: Slow cooker butter chicken and curried potatoes (chicken thighs, yogurt, spinach, potatoes)
• Wednesday: Tipsy chicken with scalloped potatoes (bell pepper, chicken thighs, olives, cream of mushroom, potatoes, sour cream, soup mix)
• Thursday: Gnocchi with butternut squash sauce (Gnocchi, butternut squash, spinach, Parmesan cheese)
• Saturday: Taco salad with black-eyed pea dip (tortilla chips, grilled chicken breasts, black eyed peas, sour cream)

Just a couple of notes: You will notice there is no meal listed for Friday or Sunday. That's because at our house, we always have chili on Fridays, and Sundays are Travel by Stove (blog) nights. So if you want to see what I make on Sundays, pop over there and say hi.

Otherwise, that's the plan for this week. My usual shopping budget is $230 a week (I know yikes! There are six of us so food shopping is a big expense) so the goal is to come in below that, preferably considerably so. I'll let you know.