August Menus and the Almost No Groceries Challenge

  Well after a good look at what was in the deep freezer, the refrigerator freezer, the fridge, the pantry shelves AND the budget I have come to a conclusion: we are going to have a Use What We've Got (UWWG) month. Grocery shopping will be bare bones: Oatmeal, spaghetti, elbow macaroni, juice, light sour cream, eggs, & sugar from Aldi.  One or two trips to the Farmer's Market for fresh produce (mostly salad ingredients, fruit for snacks, sweet potatoes) spread out over the month and that will be that. My goal is to keep the TOTAL expenditure to $125.
With this goal in mind I sat down and put together 30 dinner menus. I won't need all of those as we have some upcoming events: We will be going to a local county fair next Saturday, the following Saturday is a grad/18th birthday party as well as on the same day a 21st birthday party for a couple of family members, the day after that we plan on going to see my mother-in-law in PA for three days (GF said he'll pay for gas & hotel & expenses I can pay back half the total when I return to work), the Saturday after we return from our mini trip we have plans to attend the Feast of the Assumption festival in Cleveland's Little Italy (a yearly tradition for my Italian GF), and finally on the 25th my newest grandson is going to be baptized.  I wanted to give myself a nice pool of ideas to pick and choose from though. All of these dinner menus are based on items I have on hand already or the additional eggs, spaghetti, fresh produce I will be buying. After realizing I had a lot of what I think of as "big" cuts of meat (a whole bone in ham, a turkey, etc.) I also based quite a few of the menus on new dishes made from planned overs. Recipes using planned overs are in bold print, original ones with the big cut of meat are underlined, ones using items on hand have an *. As you will see most of these recipes combine at least two of these elements.   I don't plan on trying anything new this month but sticking with the tried and true stuff instead, turning to a couple of great resources: Pampered Chef's Main Dishes cookbook which has an entire 'cook it once, serve it twice' chapter, and The Plan Ahead Cookbook: 365 Delectable Ways to use leftovers as well as family favorites from my recipe box .
Here is what I have come up with:
Baked Brown Sugar Glazed Ham*,  au gratin potatoes*, applesauce*
Austrian Ham and Noodle Casserole*, sliced tomatoes*, butter beans*
Hot Ham & Cheese On buns*, Homemade potato chips*, peaches*
Ham & Cheese Quiche*, salad
Scalloped Potatoes & Ham*, garlicky green beans*,mini corn muffins*
Roast Turkey*, White & Wild Rice*, Capri blend veggies*
Open Faced Turkey & Gravy sandwiches*, mashed potatoes*, cranberry sauce*
Turkey & Stuffing Casserole*, corn*
Fettucine alfredo with turkey*, salad
Turkey burritos*, Spanish rice*
Mandarin Turkey salad with homemade dressing*, from scratch Fly-Off-The-Plate-Rolls*
Beer Can Chicken*, grilled rosemary potato packets*, Brussels sprouts*
Arroz Con Pollo (chicken & rice)*, green salad,  homemade green goddess dressing*
Texas Beef brisket* on buns*, Oven fries*, pickles*
Beef & Noodles*, Candied carrots*
Caribbean Pork Roast*, sweet potatoes, green beans*
Pork Pitas with Mango Salsa*, sweet potato fries
Pork & Gravy over rice*, cucumber salad
Pork Schnitzel*, Mom's knuffles (German drop dumplings) & cabbage*, homemade sauerkraut*
Pan fried Whiting*, Rice pilaf*, coleslaw
Lemon Pepper Grilled Tilapia*, baked potatoes*, broccoli*
Masala Salmon fillets*, Basmati rice*, capri veggies*
Grilled Ratatouille*, homemade honey whole wheat rolls*
Pasta with grilled veggies* (uses planned over ratatouille), homemade garlic parmesan puffs*
Spaghetti with mushroom marinara*, salad,  homemade dressing*
Balsamic butter Penne with broccoli*, garlic toast*
Pasta Carbonara Florentine*, salad, homemade dressing*
Grilled Chicken Provencal*, cauliflower puree*, peas
Family steak*, butter crumb noodles*, Harvard beets*
Mediterranean Steak salad, homemade Herb rolls*

An additional note on the big cuts of meat. I will also use some of this for lunches (ham sandwiches, turkey salad sandwiches), and make stocks from the carcasses of the turkey and chicken and the bone from the ham for the freezer.

Update: We won't be taking our mini trip after all. After reviewing budgets and factoring in the pay cut GF unexpectedly received this week this will not be do-able at all until the fall. Spoke with MIL and she was ok with that. This gives us time to save up for the trip to be taken over a weekend some time in October. Good thing I made a few extra meal plans!