I'm at it again

This time, with a bit of a twist. I wanted to see how little I could get away with spending on groceries for the next two weeks. I plan to make heavy use of what's already in the cupboards/fridge/freezer. These items include:

• 2 pounds of beef sirloin tip steak
  
• almost 6 pounds of country ribs
  
• some colored peppers & broccoli
  
• lasagna noodles, spaghetti noodles, pasta sauce, tomato paste, canned tomatoes
• dried beans
• a can of chickpeas
• a pound of cooked ground beef
• a bag and a half of rice (some of it is going to a rice hand warmer I'm making for someone at church)
• 2 boxes of mac & cheese
• can of tomato soup
  

I went to the store today for milk, eggs, bread, soy sauce, cheese, sweet potatoes, lettuce, apples & bananas, among other things. I had $4.70 in can/bottle returns, and got a lot of stuff for $43. I did get pop, which normally I wouldn't do on such a screamingly tight budget. But Jeff is an admitted pop addict, and if there is pop in the house, he's less likely to want to go out to get some, thus coming home with other things as well. It's a weird kind of investment. One thing I forgot to get was peanut butter. We go through a lot of it, and for some reason, I thought we had two jars. Nope, and we're almost out of the one.

Planned meals for the next couple weeks are:

• Fajitas - this will be Monday, since the meat is no where near thawed yet, but the peppers need to be used up quickly.
• Chili - using the ground beef, spicy canned tomatoes, dried beans, cheese, rice. Leftovers will get incorporated into cornbread muffins. Salad on the side.
• Country ribs - these need to be thawed, marinated, and grilled. We'll have them one night as is, with baked sweet potatoes, and use the rest for fried rice, pulled pork, stir fry, lo mein, and anything else I can think of.
• Spaghetti - I'll finely chop some carrots, onions, & celery, then brown it in a big pan. Add tomato paste, let that brown, then a can or two of diced tomatoes. I'll cook up the Italian sausage and add that. Then I'll take the jarred pasta sauce I have and add that, so I should have tons. Salad & garlic bread on the side, and there will be enough sauce for . . .
  
• Lasagna roll ups - cottage cheese, mozzarella, parmesan, an egg, and some Italian seasoning. Cook the noodles über al dente, and roll up the filling. Traditional lasagna is a little hard on portioning, so I'm hoping this will make it easier. Again, salad & garlic bread.
  
• Breakfast for dinner - always a hit! Scrambled eggs, biscuits, and ham leftover from Easter dinner.
  

I need to do a fair bit of advance prep, like cooking up the sausage and soaking the beans.

After beautiful weather this week, we're supposed to get back to a more standard spring--colder and rainy, so I'm looking forward to still being able to make some cool-weather foods before summer hits. Any ideas for what to do with the chickpeas and the rest of the sirloin?