Menu Monday 10/12 -The Unplan

I do not get too much company out here, but when I do it is only for a weekend and that usually does not change our meal plans. If any thing we go out to eat and it just pushes the meal I had planned to the next week.
I will have my sister out here in a few weeks, but again only for the weekend and most of that cooking will be making sure the babies have baby food to eat. I am very bad and usually cook what I am feeling. Not a good thing, but some weeks are better them others.

I usually pick up a couple of chickens, a ham or fresh sausages and a large roast (pork, beef, etc.) or ground beef.
The leftover meats can be sliced for sandwiches or made into fajitas. Ham can be breakfast meat, scalloped potato casserole, pot of soup or sliced sandwich meat. Ground beef can be chili, hamburgers, meatloaf or sloppy joes in a heartbeat. Pot roast can be shredded for hot sandwiches if not a main meal.

I make sure I have potatoes, rice, pasta and other pantry items on hand, onions, carrots, frozen vegetables, etc. and enough eggs and bread for a breakfast.

I also like to prep ahead or buy lunch meat and slice some cheeses, set out two kinds of breakm crackers and fruit so I can put out a lunch platter with cold cuts and fixings. It's also good to have a pot of soup on hand (frozen in 4 to 8 cup containers).

It's also handy to have spaghetti sauce made ahead and frozen. All you have to do is make a salad, cook some pasta and make some garlic bread and everybody's happy.

We usually do two meals (big breakfasts and dinners) with serious snack grazing mid-day.

The key is keeping it simple, gettting a few things made ahead and be flexibile.
Hope you have a great weekend.
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"The obstacle, in my opinion, is having the right amount of meat thawed at the right time."

Cold water and microwaves are a cook's best friend.

Frogmore sounds fab! i havne't had one in ages!

We don't ever have company that stays with us for more than a day or two. I think planning meals for a week's worth of company would be a real task! When we do have company, I try to plan something that allows me to do as much pre-cooking as possible. Your your pulled pork idea is great! For something like that, I would cook all the meat ahead of time and then just warm it up with bbq sauce and serve some coleslaw as a side. Mostly I try to make sure that I have time to spend with guests (and of course eating out is the funnest way to do that, but it's not cheap:)

Trixie

One major cooking session this week will be corned beef & cabbage. All the elements were on sale this week at the grocery store, so about 5 meals for two came to around 20 bucks. Gotta love that.

Also, it...uhh...makes my wife "romantic." Yeah, let's use that word. :) It was the first thing I cooked for her. Weird first date meal, I know, but there you have it. Corned beef & cabbage is like Spanish fly around here. I predict an awesome week in my future. :)

I've always found that a roast in the crockpot will feed a lot of people, unless my brother is eating. Good luck if he is! My menu this week was really a difficult one to make. My mom's blood sugar shot up, so no carbs until Wednesday when she sees the dr, plus we're heading out camping Friday, so I had to have enough food for the weekend.

Sunday: pork roast w/mashed potatoes, gravy, and carrots
Monday: grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup (mom will have soup with cheese)
Tuesday: SOS (using the other half of the pork roast and leftover gravy)
Wednesday: grilled cheese and tomato soup
Thursday: breakfast burritos
Friday: chili
Saturday: burgers
Sunday: pizza or salisbury steak

My husband's cousin is coming into town this weekend. I'm the same as you, I'm better off with a rough idea of what can happen vs a plan for what will happen. Company in town is a great excuse for us to eat out often. Although, with a family of 3, I get a bit giddy at the thought of another set of adult tastebuds at the table. I think I need to get out more!

I have a pork loin that needs to be cooked or frozen today. And I have my eye on a jar of tomato relish for some sort of a topping sauce. I have some sad, frostbitten sweet potato cubes that would be wonderful in biscuits. I have lots of leftover tomato bits and juice in the freezer that will be turned into soup and served with grilled cheese. And I have pie crust that needs to be used up in either a savory or sweet pie.

It's Thanksgiving today (in Canada anyway) so there will be something involving turkey or ham. Perhaps even both. I imagine it'll probably last me most of the week.