Shelf Cooking Part 2

If you missed my first week of shelf cooking, check out the post here.

My second week of shelf cooking did not go nearly as well as the first week. We started off the week with chicken tikka masala which my husband and I enjoyed. The kids had some random fried rice here and there and I cooked a pork dish. We did a meal of frozen dumplings and Costco pizza. We also had leftovers to finish from when my husband's parents came to visit. So week two was more of survival mode and eating whatever we could. 

This is an older photo from a previous time I made chicken tikka masala.
When you're shelf cooking you have to forego the scallions and cilantro.

By Thursday and Friday, I had done some grocery shopping again so I could cook some more dishes. On Friday, I was also bringing friends a meal for their meal train so I made a double batch of everything so we would eat the other half at home. Great way to motivate you into grocery shopping and cooking: cook for someone else! 

We ended the week with sushi since I was going to be in the area of our favorite sushi restaurant during dinner time. I placed an order over the phone and picked it up on my way home. 

Let me be honest. Shelf cooking the first week was fun. It was exciting and "cool" to be cooking from things we had at home. It felt like the most efficient way to be lazy. The second week? Not so much. If you ever shelf cook, don't do it two weeks in a row, and don't do it for longer than a week. 

We're slowly returning back to a normal routine of grocery shopping and meal prepping again, but shelf cooking for two weeks was an eye-opening experience.