Monday, June 8, 2009

Good Intentions Gone Bad (Almost)

Last week at the grocery store I stocked up on fresh vegetables. I had good intentions of using them all during the week for dinners. Unfortunately, my plan didn't work out and all that fresh produce is still in my fridge.
I knew it was 'use it or lose it' by now. I couldn't bear the thought of throwing all that food away; that's just like putting cash in the trash, right? I spent some time in the kitchen Sunday afternoon preserving those veggies.
Now they are safely tucked away in my freezer and I've managed to eliminate one step in the prepping process for future meals. Here's what I've got: 1 zucchini, shredded; 1 green pepper cut into strips with onions for a fajita mix; 1 onion chopped, and a cucumber salad in the fridge which will be great for lunches this week. I'm changing tonight's dinner plan to utilize the large head of green leaf lettuce that was on it's last leg. We'll be having caesar salad. To make it a bit more filling, I'm adding some cooked pasta and the last of the grape tomatoes that need to be used. Monday night I'll be roasting broccoli and mushrooms as a side dish for our dinner.
That should do it. I can say that I made good on my intentions.

8 comments:

CALAMITY JANE said...

wow, you rock! the same thing happens to my poor produce sometimes, too. i need to be better about prepping it right when i come home from the store!

Michelle @ Give a Girl a Fig said...

GREAT idea! Now how come I never thought to freeze something that I knew I wasn't going to use? And a fajita mix? Brilliant!!

Nancy said...

Velvet ~ you are so right. Prepping the produce as soon as I get home from the store would be the best although I'm not usually that organized or motivated after spending an hour in the aisles with a shopping cart.

Nancy said...

Michelle ~ it used to be that I would buy the bag of frozen peppers & onion mix. Finally, I decided I could do this myself.

Anonymous said...

you need chickens! they eat those spoiled veggies : )

Nancy said...

Denise ~ no thanks. I'd rather be the one eating my veggies. My days of raising livestock are over.

katie said...

Hey Good Job! I pretty much only buy certain vegetables frozen since I know without a doubt I won't carry out my intended plan. After many years of throwing it all away I have finally just admitted it to myself.

Anonymous said...

i've been suffering from poor produce planning as well, but with the addition of a rabbit to the family, it is getting much better.

it's funny that it only takes a bit of time to put up all that stuff but i have to talk myself into it.

though i was happy when we had a rushed night the other night and i found the spinach, mushroom, garlic mixture leftover from stuffed shells i had popped in the freezer before the mushrooms went bad.

saved from boring old spaghetti.