Current Fridge Protein & Leftover Inventory (Weekend Restock Edition)
Bacon
Fresh produce and salad ingredients
Steak from Sunday night and Monday night
Morning — Routine Breakfast
This morning was one of our standard breakfast mornings.
I think most families are like this:
you rotate through the same five or six breakfasts over and over because they work.
So breakfast today was:
- bacon
- bagels
- smoothies
For the bacon, I just reheated the cooked strips on a parchment-lined sheet pan in a 350-degree oven until warmed through.
It’s so much easier than starting raw bacon from scratch every single morning.
My teen made her usual cherry almond smoothie.
And my three-year-old wanted her current favorite:
- Greek yogurt
- frozen berries
- banana
- watermelon added today because apparently that sounded exciting
And once again she consumed it in the most elaborate possible way with the straw situation.
We went to a playground this morning so Daphne helped pick out everyone’s car ‘snack cup’ for the drive. They fill the cups with random items from my pantry and fridge…and ALL trash goes back into the cup and then back into my house!!!
Morning Playground Strategy — Pizza Wins
Today we had a homeschool co-op playground meetup.
Even though co-op is technically done for the summer, we’re still doing park days together, which has been really fun.
And I tried a different food strategy today that worked REALLY well.
We were meeting at 10am, which is exactly the kind of timing where:
- everyone gets hungry immediately
- but nobody is quite ready for a full lunch yet
So instead of packing sandwiches, I heated up one of the cheap frozen Costco cheese pizzas.
Once it was hot:
- sliced into eight pieces
- layered between parchment paper
- placed into an 8×8 baking pan
- covered with foil
And it worked shockingly well.
When we first got there:
- a couple kids ate hot slices immediately
Then after sitting out awhile, I transferred the remaining slices into a gallon Ziploc bag and put them in the cooler with:
- veggies
- fruit
- cheese sticks
And later?
Cold pizza at the park.
It was:
- cheap
- easy
- zero mental effort
- different from our normal packed foods
And because everyone had “heavy snack lunch” at the park, we could come home around 12:30 and still eat a regular lunch at home afterward.
Definitely adding this into the summer rotation.
Afternoon — Pool Days Have Officially Begun
This afternoon we went swimming because this was really our first full week of:
the pool being open,
summer mode kicking in,
kids wanting to swim constantly.
Once pool season starts, everything changes food-wise.
You suddenly need:
- constant snacks
- quick dinners
- easy proteins
- dinner insurance
- post-pool food immediately
Because swimming makes kids absolutely ravenous.
Dinner — Leftover Steak Fajita Bowls
Tonight’s dinner was all about using up the remaining steak in the fridge.
I had:
- steak leftovers from Sunday
- leftover flank steak from Memorial Day
So I sliced all of it thinly and reheated it in batches in a very hot skillet.
Steak Reheat Method
- hot pan
- tiny bit of fat (bacon grease, butter, or oil)
- steak sliced small
- quick sear just until edges crisp again
- little salt
This works beautifully for leftover steak because it gives you fresh texture again instead of that weird microwaved steak texture nobody wants.
Then I made:
- fresh rice
- sheet pan fajita peppers and onions
And served everything with:
- avocado salsa
- salsa
- cheese
- sour cream
- chips
Basically a steak fajita bowl/taco situation using leftovers.
And everybody loved it.
Evening — Nighttime Costco Trip
Tonight I did something I have not done in a VERY long time:
a weeknight nighttime Costco run.
10/10 experience.
The store was calm.
I could think.
Nobody was panicking.
It felt peaceful.
The ONLY downside:
the protein section was picked over.
I literally got one of the last packages of ground beef.
So that is one thing to note if you do weekday nighttime Costco trips.
Still, I fully restocked us for:
- the weekend
- early next week
- summer pool season survival
Protein Haul
- ground beef
- chicken breast
- pork tenderloin
- brats
- bacon
Plus:
- produce
- fruit
- vegetables
- all the normal staples
At this point, the fridge is officially reset and ready for the next round of summer feeding.
Post-Dinner / Looking Ahead
What’s stocked and ready now:
Fresh ground beef
Chicken breast
Pork tenderloin
Brats
Fresh bacon
Fresh produce and fruit
Rice
Fajita toppings
The protein rotation is working exactly how I want right now:
older proteins are getting used up,
freezer backup is stocked,
fresh groceries are in,
and we’re entering the weekend with a fully functional kitchen again. I’ll be cooking at least the ground beef tomorrow and possibly the pork tenderloin as well….I do plan to serve homemade focaccia pizza tomorrow night for dinner too.