Surgery Prep - More menus and Baking Day Pics

It's been a few days since I've done anything with my blog.

This week has been busy and full and fun. I've really enjoyed getting to know my in-laws.

I hadn't planned on having a baking day this week. I thought, “well, since I'm going to be having surgery on Friday, I'll just buy some “instant” meals.” You know, I just couldn't do it. Sure, I bought a few things, but I just couldn't bring myself to spend tons of money on things I could make for less money and would taste better.

I went to Wal-Mart and spent around $100 (including the aluminum pans). My groceries plus some raw materials I had at home helped me get over a month's supply of dinners prepared for after the surgery. (It's just bunion repair – nothing huge.)

I decided to peruse my sister's website (www.ChristysClipArt.com) and come up with some recipes to make. I also “cobbled” together a couple of things. Because our family is small, each 3-quart casserole dish should last about two meals, perhaps with leftovers. (Except the lasagna – that will go fairly quickly.)

Here's what's on the menu:

Lasagna (x 4)
Tater Tot Casserole (x 2)
Cheesy Broccoli and Rice (x 2)
Chicken & Veggie mix (x 2)
Cream Cheese Chicken (x 2)
Cheese Enchiladas (store-bought)
Pizza (store-bought)
Taquitos (store-bought)
Sloppy Joes

Raw materials I already had:
4 lbs. Ground turkey ($1.19 each at Aldi, used for Tater Tot Casserole and Sloppy Joes)
4 lbs. Chicken Legs (from Angel Food Ministries www.angelfoodministries.com)
3 lbs. Frozen Veggies (Wal-Mart and Aldi)
8 cans “cream of” soups (.50 each at Aldi)

Altogether I spent about $120 for over a month's worth of dinners for my family. Not too bad.

I started around 4pm and was done with dinner ready for the family by 6:30. (Well, OK... We had a rotisserie chicken - bought that day and included in that $100 spent at Wal-Mart - and some leftover stuffing and potatoes. And green beans. Can't forget the beans. Wednesday we turned the leftover chicken into chicken soup.)

Now for the pictures:

We put the top on the table along with a cloth and plastic cover (got that idea from my grandma). This gave me the extra space I needed to line up the pans to put the ingredients in them.

I also included a picture of our freezer. It's not a very big one - about 5 ft tall. However, it can hold quite a bit. My super-geeky dream: to have two freezers: one for raw materials and one for finished products.

The box labeled "raw beef" is just that. Some steaks, some hamburger, that sort of thing. The meatballs and meatloaf are still there from a previous baking day. I like keeping things in boxes - otherwise things tend to get lost. Does anyone else out there have that problem?

Here are the pics of the BOBs that I finished the other day:

Here's what I started with:

And here's what we ended up with:

Another post I'll go over what's in our "little BOBs".

That's pretty much all I have to offer the world this week. If I get up early enough tomorrow I'll share a keen experience I had on my way home from the mountains today. But right now I have my family (in-laws included) waiting for me to play Uno and then it's off to get ready for tomorrow.