Meal Planning

Time for weekly meal planning.  I got through a lot of my fridge and freezer last week, but I still haven't used my various containers of formerly canned diced tomatoes, and I have two containers of truffled seitans in there as well that I have no idea what to do with.  I have a fair amount of non-perishables in my pantry that I need to work through, so I'm aiming to use up at least some dry pasta this week.  Here is what else I need to use up:  three ripe avocados, a handful of fresh spinach, a head of green leaf lettuce I bought at the farmer's market yesterday, a couple half-empty jars of salsa currently in my fridge, a couple pounds of organic russet potatoes, two tomatoes, a whole mess of grape tomatoes from the farmer's market, and six whole wheat hamburger buns.  Here is what I'm making:

Saag Tofu and Brown Basmati Rice
I keep putting this on the meal plan and then not making it.  I still have all the ingredients since they're all frozen (spinach) or non-perishable (canned tomatoes) or things I purchase every week (cilantro).  I can also throw the handful of leftover fresh spinach in to use it up.

Seitan & Veggie Stir-fry and Brown Rice
I've skipped this one the last couple weeks too.  It will use up at least three containers of pre-chopped vegetables currently taking up space in my freezer.


Chik'n Patty Sandwiches and Minestrone
I have one or two Boca chik'n patties in the freezer, so this will use those up, but I'll also have to buy more.  I also include lettuce, tomato, and mayo on the sandwich, and maybe American cheese.  The minestrone will use up some elbow macaroni (I still have several boxes of the quinoa/cornmeal blend in the pantry since I bought them in bulk), as well as most if not all of the diced tomatoes in the freezer.

Pav Bhaji
This will use up most of the hamburger buns, all of my tomatoes (I'll need to buy more actually), a container of diced red bell pepper currently in my freezer, two of my russet potatoes, and the better part of a red onion that has been in my fridge waiting to be used up since I made burgers last week.

Nachos and Green Salad 
The nachos will use up the avocados in the fridge.  The slow cooker refried beans that I now include as a base layer beneath the cheese on the nachos (adds flavor and makes them less sickeningly fatty) will use up at least one jar of the salsa in the fridge.  The green salad will use up half the green leaf lettuce and about half of the cherry tomatoes.


Baked Potato Skins and Green Salad and [Leftover Vegetable Side]
The baked potato skins will use up any remaining russet potatoes.  I'll just bake them all tomorrow when it's supposed to be cool outside to save time later.  The green salad will use up the rest of the cherry tomatoes and lettuce.  The leftover vegetable side will be leftovers of whatever I've cooked recently, such as the beef-less stew or the minestrone.  I'm doing a lot of recipes that yield a fair amount of leftovers this week.

Beef-less Stew
Because I realized I had even more potatoes than I thought I did and baking all of them left after the pav bhaji would be insane.  This stew will burn through a few of them though.