Menu Plan 1/3/11: Cooking from the cupboard

It's the first menu plan of the year, and the first menu plan for the Clean Out the Cupboards Challenge!

I'm planning meals to use up my excess inventory in my pantry, freezer, and refrigerator, as are my four co-hosting bloggers and lots of other folks as well!  Please join us!

This week, I want to use up some items that are in the freezer and the refrigerator door.  Items in the pantry usually have long shelf lives, so if I don't use them up this month, in most cases it won't make a difference.  But freezer food can go bad, and that's just a waste.  And some of the stuff in the fridge has been sitting in there a long, long, long time.  Best to use it up and start with a fresh package after the challenge is over.

So here's the menu:r

And here's what's for dinner this week:

Monday - spinach salad topped with chicken baked in red wine vinaigrette dressing

Tuesday- hamburgers, sweet potato fries, pickles

Wednesday - olive pizza on whole wheat pizza dough, salad

Thursday - white bean stew over whole wheat pasta

Friday - chicken soup with matzo balls, baked chicken, rice, salad, challah

Saturday - Blueberry-Banana French Toast using the leftover challah - I ended up not making this last week, so it's definitely on the menu this week!

Sunday - takeout!

If you're a frugal food blogger, please come and link up with Frugal Food Thursdays. And check out all of my frugal recipes!

Check out Menu Plan Monday for more menu plans!