Weeday Menus

It's been a long time (6+ months?) since I wrote up our weekday menus. I do it really for my own records (to find dinner ideas!), but also in the hopes that others can discover some new frugal menu items. It's also very interesting to become aware of what a homemade meal actually costs.

So, here's what we ate last week:

SUNDAY
roasted tofu and veggies with cous cous

This was really good! I was in the mood for a whole bunch of vegetables, so this fit the bill. I roasted eggplant, zucchini, onions, garlic, and red and green peppers. I also diced up a cake of firm tofu, and of course one half of a preserved lemon, then tossed it all with a little oil, salt, and various herbs (thyme, oregano, basil). I also did a half-sheet of diced potatoes. I roasted it all at 450 for about 45-60 minutes. Served it on top of cous cous and YUM. It really was good. Lots of veggies left over which we'll recycle for tomorrow's dinner. I like roasting vegetables. It's a lot easier to eat all the vegetables you ought to in a day, since they shrink quite a bit!

COST: $5.50

MONDAY
pizza with leftover roasted vegetables for topping

This was just amazing. I don't know what made the crust so perfect but it was. I always use the Frugal Gourmet's focaccia recipe. This time I only had about 15-20 minutes to let it rise (I usually give it an hour). Then I had it mixing in the KitchenAid when I got distracted by something or other. Came back to the kitchen while it was still mixing away and the motor was getting rather hot. I'm sure it had been mixing for a good 15 minutes. The dough did have a lovely texture, though! The tofu and preserved lemon in the veggies was great on the pizza. Some goat cheese would have been a perfect addition, but we lacked any such cheese.

COST: $6.25
(plus another $6.25 for the second pizza that we ate for lunch the next day)

TUESDAY
hamburgers and french fries

Homemade burgers on homemade buns with all the fixings? $0.95/each! ($0.79 for the burger, $0.06 for the bun, $0.10 for the condiments.) I do make small buns (2 ounces) and small patties (2-2/3 ounces AKA 1/6th of a pound). French fries (potatoes, oil, salt, matzo meal) cost about $1.90 for 6 people, so $0.35 per person. We grownups had two burgers each, so the total cost per adult was $2.25. Kid servings = $1.30 each.

COST: $9.70. 25% of the cost of eating out (not even an option here!), and twice as expensive as serving homemade veggie burgers.

WEDNESDAY
omelet w/odds and ends of cheese and vegetables from the fridge
broccoli with Hollandaise sauce (leftover sauce from last week)
oatmeal bread, toasted

COST: $9.80

It's not really very intuitive that a hamburger and french fry dinner should cost less than an omelet dinner. Surprised me! Of course, the cheese I bought was twice as expensive as the meat!

THURSDAY
pancakes
strawberries
eggs

COST: $6.00