Hello lovelies!! I hope you’ve all been faring well through this strange and scary time and are able to hunker down at home.
Mark and the kids have ventured out to food shop a few times and we are grateful to be able to get any supplies at all. THANK YOU to those who work in the food industry, grocery store staff and truck drivers who make that even possible! While we are able to grocery shop, like you are probably experiencing too, many of the usual items or brands are not in stock and we are substituting and trying to get creative with whatever we are able to get.
This week we decided everyone in our house is going to pitch in and we’ll all take turns making dinner. Outside of suggestions of what we have to work with and being available as a sous chef if needed, I’m giving up complete control on the nights our kids make dinner, and they have been stepping up to the plate!! I’ve been jotting down ideas of meals and foods we like and various ways we can use chicken, beef or shellfish we buy in bulk, and thought I’d share some ideas with you too.
We’re all in this together, let’s support one another and share whatever we can to lighten one another’s loads and hearts right now! The goal here is to brainstorm various ways you can use large quantities or leftovers of one main food and hit the grocery store less in this unsafe time.
Breaded Chicken
1 | Chicken Parmesan – chicken + red sauce + mozzarella cheese
2 | Pesto Chicken – chicken + basil pesto or spinach pesto + tomato slice
3 | Chicken Alfredo – linguine or ziti pasta + Alfredo sauce + chopped chicken
4 | Chicken with Asparagus Lemon Risotto
5 | Barbecue or Buffalo Chicken Wrap or Sandwich (use grilled chicken for this too)
Grilled Chicken
6 | Chicken Caesar Salad with homemade croutons and Caesar salad dressing
7 | Chopped Salad – iceberg or romaine + chopped chicken + cucumber + tomatoes + avocados + feta or blue cheese + chickpeas
8 | Chicken Quesadillas
9 | Chicken Tacos – taco seasoning + soft tortillas or hard taco shells + chopped chicken + lettuce + tomatoes + shredded Monterey Jack cheese
10 | Chicken Nachos – tortilla chips + chopped chicken + avocado + salsa + shredded cheese
Beef or Turkey Meatballs
11 | Spaghetti & Meatballs with Red Sauce
12 | Zoodles & Meatballs with Red Sauce – zucchini noodles are a delicious alternative to pasta
13 | Baked Ziti With Meatballs
14 | Meatball Sliders – King’s Hawaiian Rolls* sliced in half and layered with sliced meatballs and shredded mozzarella
15 | Meatball Pizza or Calzone
Shrimp
16 | Shrimp Cocktail
17 | Bloody Marys with Shrimp (Mark and I are trying these this weekend!)
18 | Shrimp Scampi – thin spaghetti + tomatoes + garlic + white wine + grilled shrimp
19 | Shrimp Fried Rice
20 | Mediterranean Shrimp and Pasta Salad
Steak
21 | Steak Fajitas – tortillas + sautéed onions and peppers + chopped steak + shredded cheese + sour cream
22 | Fettucine Alfredo With Chopped Steak
23 | Steak & Cheese Subs – thinly sliced leftover steak + American cheese
24 | Burrito Bowls – chopped steak + white or brown rice + beans + salsa + avocado + lettuce + shredded cheese
25 | Beef & Barley Soup – my recipe calls for petite sirloin but this week I made it with top sirloin and it was great, leftover steak is great here too
Ground Chicken or Turkey
26 | Cheddar Jalapeño Chicken Burgers With Guacamole – we love these without a bun for a lighter meal
27 | PF Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps – on weekly rotation in our house
A Few Tips
- Soup is always a wonderful way to use up whatever is getting close to it’s end in your fridge or pantry. Check out this post for 5 soup ideas from my blogging friends.
- Salads are a great way to stretch protein if you can’t find a lot of chicken or beef at the store. Add a bunch of toppings and you could make a vastly different salad every night.
- *King’s Hawaiian Rolls I mentioned are great for making leftovers into sliders. This is the traditional ham and cheese slider but you can also do chicken parm, meatball, steak and cheese, Italian cold cuts – they are hearty and kids/teens love them.
Below is leftover chicken parm. Without breaking the slider rolls apart, cut the entire twelve pack in half, layer sauce, chopped chicken, more sauce and mozzarella, put the top on, wrap in tinfoil and bake until warm and toasty.
These slider rolls came out of the freezer so they don’t look very pretty but trust me, they are delicious. I wish I could resist them!
Need Help Feeding Your Family or Want To Help Others?
So many people are struggling to meet the basic needs of their families right now. In our community food pantries are making deliveries so people don’t have to go out, and the public schools are making sure that kids who eat breakfast and/or lunch at school are not without meals while they are at home. If you need help or want to help, check out Feeding America to find your local food bank.
I hope this list gives you a few new ideas for what to make for yourself and/or your family in between grocery store runs. Wishing good health to you and your loved ones.
xo
Betsy says
Great job Lisa … brainstorming done for me! BTW- let me know if you need help with the shrimp and bloody marys…
Lisa says
I do need your help with those Betsy!! Thanks for offering 🙂