I have a few different things to share, which is turning this menu plan post into a random post. Wow…starting the week off with a bang, aren’t we? :)
First, I know a lot of you have been waiting to hear how our Potato Container Garden experience went. I was SO excited to dump out the container last week and see how many (hundreds of) pounds of potatoes we grew in that one little space. I KNOW this idea works because I’ve read many testimonies from people who say that it does. But ours? Nope. We got enough potatoes for about a meal and a half. Such a bummer! We will try again next year.
Feel free to feel sorry for me if you want to and say things like, “Awww, Laura…after you worked so hard…that’s all the potatoes you got? Bless your heart.” And then I will nod pitifully at you.
On a much happier note, we planted lots of potatoes elsewhere, so we still have tons of potatoes for the year! We will not be potato-less. Not even close. :)
Second, last week my oven broke. Wanna know how I discovered that it was broken?
I put a chicken and some veggies in a roaster, stuck it in the oven, turned it on, then left for soccer games. Came home at 7:15 from soccer games hungry, cold and ready to eat a hot dinner…and found a raw chicken and hard vegetables in the oven. :( I quickly made my “fall back meal” of salmon patties, creamy mac and cheese and peas…and put the chicken and veggies in the crock pot for the next day!
It was just the heating element and Matt was able to get it fixed for me three days later…but that was three days without my oven. SO if any of last week’s meals look a lot like this week’s meals…it’s because I couldn’t bake last week and I had to change my meal plan!
Third, well…I have a LOT of extra things going on right now in my home that I’m trying to get organized for (details coming later), and so I feel a bit short on time to write out a detailed menu for this week. THIS WEEK, I’m just going to “jot down” meal suggestions for me to reference through the week because I don’t have time right now to organize it all. A random post deserves a random menu, right?
Breakfasts: Sweet potato streusel muffins, scrambled eggs, whole wheat waffles, homemade whole wheat donuts, smoothies, peanut butter honey toast, chocolate chip muffins
Lunches or Dinners: Sweet beans and hot dogs, Alphabet soup with homemade soft pretzels, Chicken and noodles, Lamb burgers, Spaghetti, BBQ chicken with ranch potato wedges, Meatloaf, Grilled cheese sandwiches, Sourdough pancakes, Taco potatoes, Chicken enchiladas, Deer steak
(Meals will be served with lots of fruits and veggies…yada, yada.)
Oh, and Tuesday night I’m feeding the YC Women’s soccer team a lasagna dinner. Ever since I fed them the first week of practice back in August, they’ve been asking for my lasanga again. How sweet are they?
Bless YOUR heart if you kept up with these ramblings. Thanks for allowing me some crazy, unorganized writing this time. I’ll try to write normal posts this week. We’ll talk more about grain mills, have a giveaway, talk about Christmas budgets, Gratituesday, and hopefully little boys hair cuts!!!
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Visit Organizing Junkie for more menu planning inspiration!
momstheword says
Oh I love lasagna! I like to make a couple and then stick one in the fridge.
How do you store your potatoes? I know some people buy tons and tons of potatoes but I don’t know how they manage to keep them so long.
I store mine in the basement where it’s cool but they don’t last for as long as I’d like.
Laura says
Here’s a post about how I store potatoes: https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/digging-up-and-storing-potatoes-for-the-winter
Carmen says
The muffins sound great, do you think pumpkin could be used instead of sweet potatoes. I have some extra pumpkin left over from another recipe. By the way, I recently found your site and I love it. Thank you!
Laura says
Yes, I think the muffins would do great with pumpkin!
Jennifer says
Awww, Laura… after you worked so hard… that’s all the potatoes you got? Bless your heart. :)
Seriously, I think your potatoes will taste marvelous, no matter how many meals they last!
Kathy Shaner says
HEY– we got hardly any potatoes in our container either! I think part of our problem with both the container and the ground is that I didn’t plant them early enough. There were the beginnings of potatoes, as well as some really cute little ones (that will be delicious)– but no big collection of big potatoes!
In light of these potato problems, it’s kind of embarrassing to admit I live in Idaho.
DeniseC says
Sorry about the lack of potatoes. But, it’s like the 2-3 crabs we catch each day at the beach; they are the best tasting crabs we ever ate and we mentally remember it. So will you and your family with the potatoes.
Kristen says
My oven has been acting up. It works MOST of the time, but sometimes just randomly shuts off in the middle of cooking. It’s making me crazy and I’ve got to get someone to come look at it. I imagine that three days with no oven was not so pleasant!
Rona says
So, someone can grow vegetables in containers. Mmm, maybe we’ll try that next year.
You have a tasty week of recipes planned.
Please feel free to stop by my blog. Our family is looking for ways to reduce our grocery bill since my husband and I are unemployed.
You have a wonderful week!
Mandy says
I love the potato container garden idea! My kids would love that! Soccer season is hard on us too. Just 3 more weeks and we are done (until February). Your menu looks great!
Jennifer says
We tried potatoes in a box too. Same concept, but in a box not a trashcan. We got about how many you got. it was truly depressing! But, at least potatoes are cheap at the store.
Megan says
I can totally appreciate your “crazy” menu this week! Oh, how I relate at times. :)
I’m definitely drooling over the idea of ranch potato wedges, now; and my kid is still on breastmilk, so I may just make them for myself!
Janna says
I may try the potato experiment next year…but maybe not!
Having your oven break is not fun! It happened to me before kids – and it took me weeks to discover it (sad, I know). We had a hurricane come through and a power surge fried the computer in the oven. Instead of not working at all, it didn’t regulate temperature – it just got hotter and hotter. A cookie sheet in the oven at the time paid the ultimate price…
Brenda says
But can you FREEZE potatoes???? I think that’s what everyone wants to know! ;-)
jeannaMO says
I planted a potato container as well. Got nothing to speak of. You said you did, however, get lots of potatoes planted in a traditional way. Tell me how you did that.
Did you plant in rows? Did you keep covering up the vines like you did in the container?
I would love to know more.
Glad I was not alone. Looks like we are in the company of lots of people with unsuccesful potato containers.
But this year I did plant carrots (made my own seed tape using TP) in a container. And I actually got about 10 nice sized carrots. I planted them in an old galvonized wash tub. Then I also sprinkled in some zinnias. I think the zinnias kept the carrots from getting too hot from the baking sun. It was so exciting for my daughter to pick a real carrot, so I’m trying more of those next year! So the container gardening experience wasn’t a complete “wash”.
JeannaMO
Laura says
Here’s a link about how I planted potatoes in a traditional way: https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/gardening-101-planting-potatoes
randombitsofknowledge says
We grew our potatoes in a FENCE circle (like the container…) and we got hardly any! Our ground is clay and potatoes don’t grow well in the ground per say… so we used the container idea and used black soil… STILL NOTHING… hopefully the GREEN manure we planted and the cow manure we put on will break our soil down enough to grow potatoes next year!
Kendra at new Life On A Homestead says
That’s funny, I think that’s exactly how many potatoes I got out of my garden this year!! And that was ALL of my potatoes. Big Bummer. They sure were tasty though. It was my first garden ever though… there’s always next year!
Merrilee says
I am right there with you on the potatoes. The greens grew great, but there weren’t as many potatoes as I expected. I planted some in regular garden as well. In total, I ended up with “maybe” 5 lbs of potatoes.
But, oh well. Potatoe seedlings are cheap to buy & I already have the dirt & garbage can now. I will probably try again next year!