Quarantine Menu Planning

Welcome to the stay at home world of COVID-19.  These are strange times we're living in, folks.  We're at the end of our second week mostly at home.  This was spring break, and for my daughter I hope it will go down in history as the most boring spring of her life, because I'd hate to think she'll ever have one more boring than this!  She's basically been home since this all started.  Went on a bike ride with a couple of friends the first week, but other than that she's only seen friends by video chat.  Thank goodness for video chat! 

My hubby's still going to work every day - his company can't close because they manufacture and repair a tech product used by banks and other essential services and he's a repair guy.  I'm mostly at home but, as a fundraiser, still going to work to process donations a few times a week.  It's a ghost town there, though, with just a few people around.  We had our biggest fundraiser of the year scheduled for late April, which we've canceled and are now scrambling to move online.  It's been a whirlwind! 

The first weekend of March, when talk of all this really started ramping up, I did a monthly grocery shop, and picked up some things to have on hand if any of us got sick.  I didn't hoard (couldn't, even at that point, as things were pretty picked over already), and I didn't buy toilet paper, since I'd just gotten a shipment from Amazon.  By then the hand sanitizer was gone but we've done well with what we already had in the house so far.  I'd also recently accidentally gotten two boxes of EveryPlate meals so we still had several meals worth of ingredients from those (by the way, the EveryPlate meals were all delicious, but I won't order from them again for a variety of reasons, including an issue with changing the delivery date that resulted in my receiving two boxes when I only wanted one).

When I got home and put things away, I did an inventory of what we had in the house and came up with 46 dinners we could make.  I told my husband my compulsive grocery shopping habits were finally paying off because our freezers and pantry had become well stocked over time and we could eat well.  In February I got a bee in my bonnet to do a long overdue pantry cleanout, so I knew all the food was good, and I'd done a similar cleanout of the big freezer not long before that.  Since my initial list, I've added other items and have the list up to 60, counting the ones we definitely will eat twice.

I'm still going to the grocery store basically weekly to fill in dairy and fresh produce as needed, but it's not 100% necessary, as plenty of these meals can be made with just pantry and freezer staples, just makes life a little easier.

Here's the list, with links where I have them (Note: if the menu doesn't list a veggie, it doesn't mean we didn't eat one - we do salad or frozen veggies as side dishes a lot but I don't necessarily plan them):

1. Taco Salad
2. Creamy Cajun chicken sausage penne
3. Roasted butternut squash risotto 
4. Vietnamese Steak Bowls
5. Loaded Baked Potato Chowder
6. Cheesy Tuscan Chicken
7. Thai Peanut Chicken Satay (freezer meal)
8. Potstickers and eggrolls (frozen from the store)
9. Roasted turkey tenderloin and mashed potatoes
10. Steak and pepper sandwiches (had enough for two meals of this)
11. Street tacos
12. Pot pies (frozen - we like Marie Callendar's brand)
13. Sheet pan dinner with flank steak, sweet potatoes, and roasted cauliflower
14. Chicken and mushroom casserole (I don't have a recipe for this...yet...)
15. Impossible ham and broccoli pie
16. Kielbasa and cabbage
17. Baked chicken with blackened cabbage and boiled potatoes
18. Corned beef hash (we have enough for two meals of this)
19. Creamed tuna on biscuits
20. Tuna casserole
21. Sausage and potato skillet meal
22. Roasted sausages and Tater Tots
23. "Snacky Dinner" - assorted frozen appetizers like jalapeno poppers, baked potato skins, mac and cheese bites, etc.
24. Homemade chicken noodle soup
25. Picadillo con Papa
26. Pork and Cabbage Stir Fry
27. Broccoli Beef
28. Pan-fried steak and potatoes
29. Ham hocks and white beans
30. Hot dogs or chili dogs and oven fries
31. Sausage and potato soup
32. Baked ziti
33. Spaghetti with meat sauce
34. Oven nachos
35. Chicken taquitos
36. Sweet and sour chicken
37. Pan-fried pork chops and rice pilaf
38. Chicken and black bean burritos
39. Irish Sundaes
40. Ramen eggflower soup
41. "Mayo Chicken" and buttered noodles 
42. Chicken Caesar salad
43. Garlic noodles with chicken
44. Shipwreck (I really need to blog this recipe)
45. Salsa chicken and Mexican Rice
46. Swedish Meatballs and Spaetzle
47. Bean tostadas
48. Cashew Chicken
49. Chili and Cornbread
50. Crazy Crust Pizza
51. Pizza noodles
52. Mini pizzas on naan bread
53. Chicken and Stovetop
54. White Beans with Mushrooms and Marinara
55. Chicken strips and salads (macaroni, potato, coleslaw)
56. Fajitas
57. Meatloaf and mashed potatoes
58. Orange Chicken (frozen from Trader Joe's)

And that's it for the time being!  I'm still adding to the list as I set aside bits of this and that, or find other things in the pantry or freezer that I hadn't noticed or thought about.  If nothing else, we'll eat well for the duration.

How's your quarantine going?  Hope you and yours are staying healthy and well and finding ways to pass the time.