So far this month, we've only needed perishable staples from the grocery store - onions, garlic, carrots, celery, eggs, milk, and OJ, plus some green veg. I was able to get the veggies from produce stalls at our City Market for <$10.
I took the last 5 pound pork shoulder out of the freezer and adapted a recipe for the crockpot that involved 14 cloves of garlic, maple syrup, malt vinegar, and Matilda (beer), all of which I had lurking around. Cook that all day while at work, alongside a second crockpot full of Christmas lima beans from Rancho Gordo. This was incredibly delicious crisped together in a skillet, and I have tons of leftovers.
Made a batch of lentil soup that's an Amy's brand copycat - enough for both of our lunches this week.
I invited some friends over for dinner tomorrow - will be serving pork chops, mushroom risotto, and roasted brussel sprouts with sweet potato.
Filled in with adhoc meals using what we had on hand - red curry chicken, pasta with roasted broccoli and chickpeas, one of the 6 frozen pizzas, even did hot dogs with (pouch) lentil chili while watching the super bowl.
Next on the agenda, I will defrost, spatchcock, and roast the whole turkey lurking in the bottom of the chest freezer, make some dinners out of it, and make stock and soup from it. After that, lasagna with ground turkey and chicken Italian sausage. For that will need to buy some ricotta, but that's it.
I've even got Valentine's day dinner covered - grilled bone-in ribeyes, shrimp stuffed twice baked potatoes, and either creamed spinach or green beans with bacon. I'll only have to buy a couple potatoes.
Hopefully by the end of the month I'll be condensed into just the fridge freezer - so I can defost and clean the chest freezer.