Current Fridge Protein & Leftover Inventory (Start of Day)
- Last of the bacon from yesterday
- Leftover biscuits
- Leftover sausage
- Leftovers from my mom’s — ham, Italian sausage, peppers and onions
- Leftover ground beef from yesterday’s burger bowls
Morning
Breakfast used up what was left:
- Kids finished the last of the bacon and had biscuits
- My teen made her own — sausage and toast
- Chris had sausage and three eggs over easy
Chris’s breakfast prep: He’s leaving super early tomorrow and will be driving, so instead of his usual reheatable over easy eggs, I made him three hard boiled eggs — diced, salted, peppered, and packed into a disposable Costco container. Easy to grab, easy to toss, and his car won’t smell like eggs all day. Small detail, big difference.
Lunch
A true hodgepodge — used up everything left:
- Leftovers from my mom’s dinner last night
- I had a salad with the last of the burger bowl ground beef
- Everyone else did random plates with whatever fruit and veggies were still around
Fridge officially empty. Right on time.
Costco Run (Sunday Afternoon)
Brought Eleanor (10) along with her own cart. She pushed it through a Sunday afternoon Costco crowd and only hit my ankles twice. I’ve trained her well.
Two full carts — one of those weeks where we were randomly out of everything including all the paper products at once.
Paper products:
- Stocked up on toilet paper, paper towels, Kleenex
- Several were on sale but even with the discount, name brand was still more expensive than Kirkland — bought Kirkland anyway. Always worth checking though.
Proteins:
- Ground beef
- Chicken breast (3-pack)
- Chuck roast (on sale — $8 off, I took a photo to confirm)
Costco tip I filmed a reel about today: grab one of those plastic bags from the meat section and bring it with you through the rest of the store. The baking aisle flour bags are notorious for dusting you, your clothes, and your trunk the second you pick them up. Put the flour bag inside the meat bag. Problem solved. They’re equal opportunity bags…don’t need to
Produce + everything else:
- Apples, bananas, salad, cucumbers, peppers, avocados, the usual
- Pretzels, flour, milk, heavy cream, hamburger buns, etc.
- Bagels — Eleanor asked, I said yes, she earned it
Snack
Got home and immediately warmed up bagels. Sometimes that’s just what you do after a big Costco haul.
Afternoon Protein Prep
I got home and just dealt with the meat — and I think this is becoming my new Sunday routine. Get home from Costco, handle the proteins while I have a focused moment.
Chicken:
- Broke down the whole 3-pack, marinated it, straight into the fridge (olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, smoke paprika, Italian seasoning)
- Took maybe 7 minutes
- Now I can grill it Monday or Tuesday — weather’s going to be great — and it’s completely hands-off until then
- Raw chicken prep is one of those things that’s so much easier when you can actually focus and not need to start and stop with random little kid needs.
Ground beef:
- Made 16 smash burger patties
- Cooked the rest in a skillet, seasoned plain — going straight into the freezer to replenish my cooked ground beef stash
- That freezer supply got used up this week, so restocking it now is the move
Chuck roast:
- Bought it, putting it away — cooking it all day tomorrow
Dinner — A Lot of Meat (On Purpose)
My parents sent me home with raw sirloin steaks last night — normally my mom would sous vide and sear them, but I don’t have a sous vide so I improvised:
Reverse sear method:
- Cast iron skillets blazing hot, oven preheated to 425°
- Seared all four steaks in bacon grease and avocado oil until a good crust formed
- Transferred the whole skillets into the oven
- Pulled at 130–135°, rested in the skillet for 10 minutes
They turned out really well. For someone who doesn’t cook steaks like this often, I’m genuinely proud of how these came out. Didn’t overcook a single one.
Also served the smash burgers alongside — yes, steak AND burgers for dinner. Going into a new week, I want protein everywhere, so that’s exactly what we did.
Post-Dinner / Looking Ahead
Cut up my third Costco watermelon of the season…a solid 6-7/10! Pretty good for a mid April $10 watermelon!
What’s in the fridge now:
- Leftover sirloin steaks
- Leftover smash burgers
- Marinated chicken breast (raw, ready to grill)
- Brats (pulled from the freezer)
- Cooked ground beef (restocked in the freezer)
- Chuck roast (cooking tomorrow)
- I also pulled some frozen thick cut pork chops from the freezer to defrost. I want to brine them…It will take a solid 2 days to defrost, and then I want to brine them for 24 hours, so I probably won’t cook these until Thursday or Friday.
The world is my oyster. Fully stocked fridge, freezer replenished, chicken ready to throw on the grill, chuck roast going tomorrow. This is exactly the reset I needed.