Current Fridge Protein & Leftover Inventory (Start of Day)
- Small amount of breakfast sausage
- Odds and ends from the week — not enough to build a real meal for seven
- Small amount of steak/beef from dinner last night
Morning
Bacon — last package, oven method:
- 400°F, two trays lined with parchment
- Flip halfway through (honestly probably not necessary, but I do it anyway)
- Comes out perfect every time
- Bacon grease saved, obviously
Homemade biscuits — we were out of bread, out of Costco sandwich bread, so biscuits it was. Kids had biscuits, bacon, and a little fruit.
Chris’ breakfast hash:
- Diced leftover roasted potatoes from last night
- Peppers and onions sautéed with the last of the breakfast sausage. I added some of the leftover roasted potatoes from last night and seasoned it with garlic powder, salt, pepper, and smoked paprika
- Three over easy eggs on top
- He loved it — and it used up every last bit of what was sitting in the fridge from last night
Lunch — Freezer Saves the Day (A Fed All Summer Moment)
I wasn’t planning to film today, but this lunch came together so perfectly I had to grab my phone.
I went into lunch with almost nothing for a family of seven. Not enough of any one thing to make a real meal. This is exactly the moment a stocked freezer pays off.
Pulled from the freezer:
- 3 lbs cooked ground beef — straight from frozen into a pan with a splash of water to heat through (medium low heat with the lid ON)
- Half a bag of tater tots — into the oven
Burger platters — totally adaptable:
- Most kids wanted everything separate: pile of meat, pile of tots, pickles, ketchup, fruit and veggies on the side
- My teenager built a full burger bowl: tots as the base, meat, cheese, lettuce, onion, tomato, pickles, mayo and ketchup on top
- Everyone ate exactly what they wanted
This meal came from essentially nothing in the fridge. No planning, no thawing the night before, no grocery run. Just a stocked freezer doing its job.
That cooked ground beef in the freezer is a gift to your future self. It’s the difference between a real meal and a chicken nugget moment — and I have nothing against a nugget moment, but it feels really good to pull this off on a random Saturday with an almost empty fridge.
Snack (Before Church)
Cleaned out the last of the charcuterie odds and ends:
- Finished the summer sausage
- Leftover pepperoni from pizza earlier this week
- Crackers and cheeseI don’t always eat a snack, but I was hungry today, so here is what I made: 1 sliced banana, sprinkle some chopped pecans, a tiny drizzle of natural peanut butter, a splash of cinnamon, and a small handful of raisins
Dinner — My Parents’ House
My mom did ham, Italian sausage (Costco), and peppers and onions — a great Saturday night dinner. Came home with leftovers, as always.
Post-Dinner / Looking Ahead
What’s in the fridge now:
- Leftover ham, Italian sausage, peppers and onions (from my mom’s)
The fridge is about as empty as it gets. Produce is down to odds and ends, proteins are basically gone — and that means it’s time for a full Costco reset.
Tomorrow:
- Big Costco run: proteins, salad, apples, bananas, cucumbers, peppers, oranges, potatoes, garlic powder, and lots of other things I’m sure I’m not thinking of right now! I cannot WAIT for them to restock the Avocado Salsa. For the past 2 summers Costco has these massive tubs of Avocado Salsa near their fresh salsa and hummus. It has INCREDIBLE flavor and I just love it (so does the rest of my family…we can eat an entire tub in less than a week!)
- We’ll eat the rest of the bacon I made this morning along with the leftover biscuits tomorrow morning.
- Full restock, fresh week