Bountiful Basket

My kids are now out of school for the summer.  With that comes having to fix lunches.  I should say they are not so keen on almond butter and jam sandwiches, like there little brother, everyday or leftovers.  My oldest is going to be a camp counselor and doing early morning weight training/ running.  So, she will not only need a sack lunch but healthy breakfasts and snacks to get on the way.  A few years ago I did Bountiful Baskets.  It is kind of like a co op.  One basket costs $15.  Extra cases of things cost more, but are usually reasonable.  I am hoping this will increase our healthy eating.  In that vein I ordered a basket and several cases of fruit.

Today I picked up my first Bountiful Basket in two years.  I may have gone over board.  I ordered one case of blueberries, 1 case of doughnut nectarines, 1 case of strawberries, and the regular baskets.  The regular basket had 6 vine ripe tomatoes, 5 white onions, 2 yellow peppers, asparagus, 2 head of broccoli, 2 stalks of celery, three summer squash, one head of romaine lettuce, 3 apples, blackberries, green grapes, bananas.  Then I went and purchase an additional cucumber, cilantro, parsley, cantaloupe, and watermelon.  My Fridge is FULL!

So, that I do not forget some food that I have and let it go bad  I am going to attempt a menu for the week.  Menu's are good for me  because then I am not trying to figure things out last minute, the kids know in advance what they are going to eat, and I can make a plan for the day.

The first thing that I did was make a list of the items in my fridge that were perishable and need to be eaten sooner than later.   All of the fruit wit the exception of the limes and apples need to be eaten or frozen in the next three or four days.  The tomato's, lettuce, cucumber, and pepper tend to go bad the quickest of the veggies.  Most of the meat should be okay it was frozen when I put it in the fridge.  The Grain's will last a long time in the fridge.  The cilantro and parsley and get nasty pretty quick as well.

Veggies	Fruit	Dairy	Meat/ Protein	Grain	Other
Butternut Squash	3 limes	Milk	CK Drum Sticks	Barley (little)	Almond milk
4 white onions	4 bananas	Colby Jack	2 Ck breast	Quinoa	Cilantro
2 green peppers	3 clams Blue Berries	Ricotta	Italian Ground Turkey	Bulgur	Parsley
2 yellow Peppers	2 clams Strawberries	Cheddar	24 oz ground turkey	Rice	Strawberry Jam
2 head broccoli	1 clam Black Berries	Mozzarella about 1 c ground and one small block	½ lb Bacon
6 tomatoes	3 small gala apples	Cream Cheese	Sliced ham
4 summer squash	Green grapes	Sour Cream	Sliced Turkey
Asparagus	Watermelon		Salmon (freezer)
2 head celery	Nectarines		Eggs
Romaine lettuce	4 grapefruit		Almond Butter
Cucumber
3 sweet potatoes
2 russet potatoes

After taking inventory of what was in my fridge and looking at what is still in the cabinets that would go with what I have is the next step.  The trick with Bountiful Baskets is to not plan your meals until you see what you have to make it work with that weeks offerings.  The next post will have my plan for the week.