Pre-Thanksgiving Pantry Project Update

Ok, I think I am done buying food for the month of November.  Obviously, I had to go on a slight spree to make sure I had everything needed for our Thanksgiving meal, as well as pick up some other essential items.  Then there should be enough leftovers to take me through the end of the month, considering DH is going out of town for the last two days of the month.  And when he is gone, my motivation to cook for myself vanishes, since there is a 100% chance I will have to wash the dishes after I cook, rather than a 66% chance.

Because of the holiday and the increasing availability of Free-range, hormone-free turkeys, we actually considered getting one for Thanksgiving since my brother, GB, is coming over.  It never materialized however, because ONLY my brother is coming over and the smallest turkey you can usually find is about 12 lbs and I don’t want that much leftover turkey kicking around.  Plus, GB is becoming more appreciative of the benefits of consuming less meat and he is more than happy to show up to a luscious Thanksgiving spread that he doesn’t have to help cook, even if there is no meat.  I had planned on making brussels sprouts sauteed with the free range, hormone free bacon that is currently whispering my name softly in the refrigerator, but DH decided he wanted green bean casserole, and that’s enough green veggie for me.

Some of my Thanksgiving dish ideas have come from the interwebs, so I’ll link to the recipes in case you carnivores are curious:

• Skillet Gardener’s Pie as a main course…modified to be less healthy because no one raised with my father would tolerate ‘fat-free’ mashed potatoes.  Blech. Plus it will have built in gravy.  Gravy 🙂
• A beautiful Persimmon and Pomegranate salad to lead things off.
• The Green Bean casserole that DH found.  This has never been a dish we had at Thanksgiving, so this will be an experiment.
• Stuffing.  From the red box.  Don’t judge me, it’s in the pantry and I want it out.
• Fresh home made, artisan dinner rolls.  Not sure what all is involved, because this is DH’s area of expertise.
• Apple-cranberry sauce.  I used to love the jellied stuff in the can, but not so much any more.
• Classic pumpkin pie with cinnamon whipped cream.

There are lots of other dishes that were classics in my family when I was growing up, but with just three people and me trying to juggle a 7 month old baby, I decided to cut out the sweet potato casserole, creamed corn, carrot salad and pecan pie.  Not to mention that I have pink lady apples, pomegranates, persimmons that need to be used, and I don’t like pecan pie.

Last week I hit up Trader Joe’s for $23.97.  I hit TJ’s again today for $39.79, and Fry’s for $20.24.  I also bought two boxes of granola bars on sale at Target the other day for $4.00.  That brings me to $158.87 so far, and hopefully for the entire month.  That’s not bad for a November, and some of the Fry’s purchase was baking supplies for Christmas baking.

Though my shopping has put some new stuff in the pantry, I’ve cleared out more recently.  We are trying to keep less cereal on hand (five kinds for two people is too much) and fewer cans of certain things.  Of course, this has resulted in me not making as much hummus as usual, because we’re always out of garbano beans.  I have the dried ones, but with LM I can’t always plan 30 hours in advance of when I want hummus.