Making My Meals & Meal Plans From The Pantry & Freezer In 2025

 

A few months ago I came up with the idea for a better way to make my meals using a lot of the tips and tricks I’ve used and been sharing on my blog for years and years.  To begin with I opened up a worksheet in Excel and I began to brainstorm a bunch of menus simply based on the foods I love to eat.  I made menus for six meals a day with a seventh day for flexibility, either to eat leftovers, go out to dinner with friends or simply have a change of mind.  Before I knew it I had a complete year’s worth of menus drafted.  Apparently I enjoy eating food!

 

I wanted to have a lot of variety in my menu plans, not only to stave off boredom, which is important, but also to allow myself to enjoy a lot of different tastes.  In doing this I’m also able to boost the nutrition in my meals because I’m better able to incorporate a lot of different foods into these meals.  I made Sunday meals more traditional American meals.  Monday – Asian, Tuesday – Mexican, Wednesday – Italian, Thursday – Soup & Salad, Friday – Diner Style (meals I’d like to order if I was going out) and Saturday – FREE (no plan in place so punt!).

 

Since retiring I’ve scaled back to typically making meals for at least two people so I’m going to continue doing this with the idea that I’ll always have a meal to share with someone and if not then I will use it to make a freezer meal.  Once I’ve done this for awhile I be able to fill up the freezer with a lot of different meals to pull out, thaw and reheat for quick and easy dinners when I’m busy or just don’t feel like cooking.

 

Once a week I cook all of my meals now for the week ahead, usually on Saturday or Sunday.  I’ve been practicing this for several weeks and so far it is working out very nicely.  I’m able to easily pull items from the deep freezer and pantry to make everything on the menu plan.  Fresh dairy and produce from the refrigerator completes the meals.  I’m able to easily stick to my shopping lists and budget too.

 

I am finding a lot of bonuses in doing this.  One - I always have a nutritionally complete meal at the ready so I’m less likely to eat poorly or skip a meal when I’m busy or tired from a long day.  That has been a bit of a problem for me at times.  Two – I’m able to eat a lot more of the meals I really enjoy eating and I don’t get stuck in a rut.  Three – I am able to incorporate better quality cuts of meat, more vegetables and far less processed foods.  Four – I am saving a lot of money and a ton of time.  I am spending less time in the kitchen cooking and cleaning up as well as about half the time I used to spend shopping for food.  Five – I’ll be putting away enough meals in my freezer that I’ll be able to take time off from all cooking duties multiple times a year.  My one year of menus may actually be a two year menu plan by the time all is said and done.

 

Boosting my health through good nutrition is very important to me.  Having a good solid plan outlined and easy to execute is going to pay off in volumes for me to achieve my goal.

 

My Tireless Retirement - Week 146

 

This past week seemed to fly by exceptionally fast.  I had all kinds of little projects on this month’s “To Do” list to keep me busy as I tackled a couple of them last week.  I must say, it did feel good to tick the box on the first projects of the year.

 

I worked all day on Friday riding the bus to and from.  It was a really good day and super busy which made it even better.  On the way to the bus station after work I picked up a bottle of wine at Trader Joes along with a bag of their San Marzano mini plum tomatoes to added to my salads.  They are so delicious.  Then over to the bus station to head for home.  As I was getting off the bus it was just beginning to snow after threatening to do so all day.  I absolutely loved my snowy walk home.

 

While getting ready for work on Friday I went through my earrings and pulled a pair I hadn’t worn in well over a year and knew I probably wouldn’t wear this year either.  I tucked them in my pocket to donate to the thrift store when I got to work, which I did.  I also noticed a pair of socks I had been given a year ago, still in their packaging, so I pulled those too and added them to my gift stash.  I plan to re-gift them at some point.

 

Saturday morning I awoke to stiff legs and sore feet.  I had seriously gotten my steps in the day before so I decided it would be in my best interest to take it easy.  I did a lot of writing that day, enjoyed some good food (reheated leftovers) and watched TV.  Of all things, I started watching the old TV series LA Law.  I loved it back then and surprisingly I find it is still quite enjoyable, except I had forgotten about all the sexism and racism that existed in the workplace back then.  Quite appalling, really.

 

Sunday I awoke feeling well rested and my feet felt a lot better so I hit the ground running to make up for lost time.  I quickly got caught up on my housekeeping, did the laundry and changed my sheets and then started working on a project I had been eager to get started on.  I pulled out my sanding block, putty knife and some spackle to repair a little kitty damage where the little buggers had clawed a couple of the walls.  I can’t blame it all on the kitties though as I had done a bit of damage myself gouging the walls as I hauled out my daughter’s old bedroom furniture and did my huge decluttering project in 2023.  After dinner the spackle had dried and I was able to sand it smooth and get it ready for paint.

 

I worked again on Monday, again taking the bus to and from.  Before heading home I stopped into Trader Joes again for mushrooms and feta to add to my salads.  I didn’t work Tuesday or Wednesday.  Tuesday I declared a pajama day, relaxed, finished reading Matthew Perry’s autobiography, watched a little TV and puttered about the house spending quite a bit of time with my animals.  As far as the book, all I can say is it was a hard read for me and I probably won’t be able to watch another episode of Friends quite the same way again.

 

Wednesday I spent a full day in my kitchen baking bread and rolls, preparing a salad bar, cooking up two pots of soup and making two pudding desserts.  I had a dinner party that evening with some of my coworkers and we had a great time visiting, eating and we laughed a lot.  At one point I was even in tears I laughed so hard.  Excellent evening!  Thursday I was back to work in the afternoon for a few hours and again I rode the bus to and from brining the week to a close.  It was a very good week!

 

My Weekly Challenge – Plan and execute a dinner party with my co-workers. 

How Did I Do?  Completed!  It went very well and we had a really nice time. 

 

FYI - My retirement week runs Friday through Thursday

Making Amazing Meals From The Pantry - #1

 

With all of the holiday baking, cooking and entertaining I had done throughout the holiday season I began the month of January with A LOT of leftovers.  Because people brought things over and didn’t take them back home with them plus what I had made there were loads of odds and ends of things I had squirreled away in the refrigerator and freezer compartment.  There was also still quite a bit of produce and dairy items nearing their end dates.  I knew that I wanted to concentrate on using these things up and get them out of here as soon as possible so nothing ended up getting wasted.  Fortunately the BFF was here to lend me a hand.

 

New Years Day was another holiday meal and we were left with plenty of leftover items to finish off the week.  First up was to make a batch of chocolate pudding on Saturday to use up milk that was nearing its best buy date along with a partial can of evaporated milk leftover from making fudge.  I also had a partial can of whipped cream to top these desserts with.  The two of us polished this deliciousness off in nothing flat and we didn’t feel guilty about it at all.  Done!

 

By Sunday I was ready to get really serious about tackling all of this extra food.  I went through the refrigerator and freezer compartment, took an inventory and pulled out some items I wanted to use up.  I pulled out the end of a loaf of homemade whole wheat bread, a couple eggs, some milk and an open jar of Costco peaches to make French toast for Sunday brunch.  The last of a jar of pear butter was used to top the French Toast.

 

I still had chicken and cranberry sauce left from Thanksgiving and a bunch of open partial bags of vegetables so I did a sheet pan meal.  A partial container of chicken stock in the refrigerator was used to make some gravy.  Since the oven was going I went ahead and added a frozen apple crisp I had put away in the freezer last Fall.  Sunday dinner was a hit and we also used some more of the whipped cream on the crisp.

 

In my ongoing endeavor to remove processed foods from my everyday diet I found four hotdogs and four store bought buns in the freezer.  We decided to eliminate them right away by having them for supper on Monday.  I made a salad with homemade dressing to go along with that meal so we could feel better about eating the hotdogs.  We finished the apple crisp that evening too.

 

Next I used up an open bottle of green salsa, an open container of sour cream beyond its best buy date, some leftover grated cheese  plus more I had pulled from the freeze, and some corn tortillas to make an enchilada casserole, of sorts.  The remainder of the week was spent eating up the leftovers that had accumulated in the refrigerator from the three meals I had made.

For quick brunch type items we polished off the last of the Christmas cinnamon rolls and pumpkin bread along with the citrus and the jar of Costco peaches.  Then I made a loaf of zucchini bread using a packet of grated zucchini and carrot I had put away in the freezer.  It was perfect.

 

The following week I was on my own once again and cooking for only one so I focused on what was in the freezer.  I pulled out a pasta dinner, some beef barley soup and biscuits and a couple beef and bean burritos.  I also ate some leftover enchilada casserole from the week before.

 

Food Waste – From the refrigerator I tossed two partial bottles of store bought salad dressing that had been hanging around way too long into the trash.  I also added a bunch of green onions that had gone slimy as well as a forgotten tomato with a mold spot on it and a few less than stellar mandarin oranges.  After that we really concentrated on eating the fresh produce before we lost anymore.  From the pantry I pulled out the last of the ultra processed food I had in there and although it pained me to get rid of it, it pained me even more to look at the ingredient lists and realize what utter crap I had been storing.  That made it much easier to pull out marinades, barbecue sauces and more salad dressings and a few cans of soup.  Since they were all past their best buy dates I couldn’t donate these items.  I should have done this sooner.

 

Without realizing it I had done an impromptu pantry challenge, but after those two weeks I feel like I have a really good handle on what is going on in my kitchen.  Once all was said and done, I did an inventory and made a solid list of items to buy at the grocery store moving forward.

 

 

Tour of My LTFS

 

Recently I did a little bit of moving and reorganizing of my long term food storage (LTFS) as little Miss Bunny Foo Foo was running under my feet and one of us was destined to get hurt.  If it was her I’d be absolutely devastated so I got busy one day and moved out the LTFS shelf from one side of the room so I could give her a large area in the downstairs bedroom with an enclosure to keep us both safe and consolidated everything in a smaller area.  I can now easily access what I need and she pretty much has the run of the majority of the room.  Win-win for both of us!

 

Once I had moved the shelves over I reorganized everything into categories.  I prefer to organize like with like so this just made sense to me.  I have it set up with extra baking items, condiments and spices, fruits and vegetables, meats, home canned soups (I no longer buy commercially produced soup products), tomato products, home canned beans, rice, pasta, dried legumes, and milk products.

 

Zombie apocalypse foods

Meats

Vacuum sealed packages of pasta, rice & legumes + water
(ignore the binders on top of the boxes, those got moved 😂)

You will notice I have gaps on the shelves.  This is a working pantry, not a hoarding situation, so this is to be expected.  I am going to be working this year to keep those gaps to a minimum but also make sure what I have on hand is getting used on a regular basis.  I make it a regular practice to rotate my stock and use what I am storing so nothing goes to waste.

 

Home canned soups & broths

Home canned tomato based products

Beans & milk products
I plan to do up more beans soon as I use them often

The only exception is the top shelf where I keep my freeze dried and dehydrated foods.  Just in case there is a zombie apocalypse I’ve that covered.  Seriously though, I do keep a small stock of these items, just in case.  I recognize that I have limited control over most things, especially weather events, power outages, etc.  You just never know what might happen in the future.

 

Vegetables & baking products

Fruit & condiments

Home canned fruits, pickles, relish & olives

Since I am a lone household of one I currently have my LTFS set up to feed two people for a year with only items I enjoy eating.  This allows me to feed others and share what I have on hand whenever I choose to do so.  I hope you enjoyed the tour!

 

 

Soup, Salad & Bread

 

One of my most favorite meals is simply a bowl of soup, a green salad and a nice homemade roll or piece of bread.  It is a beautiful way to nourish our souls and our bodies, especially regardless of what they weather has in store for us.  This meal, in my opinion, is perfect all year.

Soup, salad and bread pretty much covers all of the basic food groups.  I make all of my soups and breads from scratch so the nutrition is optimal and there are no ultra processed foods or odd ingredients and additives to worry about.  I like knowing what I’m putting into my body and there is no room for chemicals or preservatives that I can’t pronounce.

 

Adding a couple soup based meals to my menu plan each week not only nourishes me but it also is a great way for me to use up items before they can go to waste.  Little bits of this and that lying around or any leftovers are gathered up and used to make a variety of soups.  If I get carried away and make more than I can consume in the week I can also place the extra into a container and freeze it to enjoy later down the line.  Now that to me is some delicious fast food.

 

Click here to see some of my favorite soup recipes.

Click here for my favorite homemade dinner rolls and biscuits.

Click here for one of my favorite bread recipes and here for another one.

Need some salad inspiration?  Click here, here and here.

 

When we are able to stretch our resources, use up leftovers and avoid food waste we can save a lot of money too.  The money savings is a bonus I’m quite happy with.  Enjoy some tasty and budget friendly soup meals!  Bon appétit!

 

 

My Tireless Retirement - Week 145

 

My first full week of 2025 was pretty darn good.  I worked all day Friday riding the bus to and from work despite it being a rainy day.  I managed to only get sprinkled on a little bit walking from work to the bus station and then got home just in time for it to start really start raining.  I totally lucked out.

 

Saturday was a quiet day spent working on some paperwork, finalizing some grocery shopping plans and backing up the last of the files I wanted to put on a thumb drive.  Later that day I worked a jigsaw puzzle and did a little paper crafting making it a perfect day.  Sunday was more of the same, although I did manage to scrub the holidays out of my oven so it is now shiny and clean once again.

 

A basic working pantry

Monday I awoke to a gloriously foggy morning.  I truly love a good fog.  I worked a few hours on Monday and then was off work the remainder of the week.  On Tuesday I spent some time in the kitchen going through the refrigerator and freezer compartment as well as my pantry.  I cleaned and organized the refrigerator pulling out two partial bottles of salad dressing no one was eating and tossed them into the trash.  Next I went through the pantry and pulled out everything that was ultra processed and still in there.  Out it went as well.  After wiping and reorganizing the shelves I shopped my LTFS and restocked as needed.  I am really pleased with the final results.

 

A small haul this week

2025 food preservation has officially begun!

Wednesday was the day I had decided to run my errands.  I went to the library and then to Cash & Carry which I hadn’t been to in ages.  After picking up a few items there I topped up the fuel tank on the truck, stopped by the bank and then headed back home.  I had picked up two large bags of frozen vegetables so once I got home I got out my vacuum sealer and divided the vegetables into smaller packages.  I kept out two and then placed the rest of the packets into my deep freezer.

 

I am really happy with how the journal turned out

Thursday I spent the entire day paper crafting!  I made up a complete journal to add to my gift stash and then went through all of the greeting cards I had made in the past couple of years and made up a couple of note card sets to also give as gifts.  I have plans to do this again very soon too.  My gift stash shelf is totally bare, I had given everything away, so my goal now is to replenish it with handmade and useful gifts to hand out throughout the year.

 

My Weekly Challenge – Collect two books from the library, one fiction, one nonfiction, and start reading. 

How Did I Do?  I picked up the books and have now begun reading at night before I go to sleep!

 

I made enchiladas

and zucchini bread

I hope you all enjoyed a lovely week.  Ready for another one?

 

 

FYI - My retirement week runs Friday through Thursday