Pork Gone Bad

Last night's dinner was a disaster. Ugh. I'm really trying SO hard to only use the ingredients I have on hand. I'll admit I did make a quick grocery run on Wednesday but it was only for milk and a few Gerber foods for LO.

So I was scrounging around in the freezer yesterday and found some pork ribs seasoned with a BBQ rub. If I recall correctly, I had purchased them a few months ago, kept them in the fridge a day or two, then plopped them in the freezer (prior to the expiration date). So they've probably been in the freezer for about two months. And I'm not one of those people that take meat out of it's original packaging and put it in special freezer-safe wrap or what-not. I just throw it in the freezer in the same packaging it came home from the store in.

Now I figured I'd call my fabulous sister to get tips on cooking these ribs since her and her husband make totally killer ribs! She said they typically season them, wrap them in foil like 4 times, then bake them at 250 degrees for a few hours. That way, all they do is toss them on the grill for a quick few minutes and voila! Perfect, delicious, fall-off-the-bone ribs!

Well, I had put the ribs back in the fridge about two days ago to defrost. After talking with my sister, I got them out of the fridge and prepared to put them in several wraps of foil. When I punctured the packaging, I almost gagged at the smell. Is pork supposed to smell funny? I dunno. I googled it. People said it wasn't unusual for pork to have a funky smell. One guy recommended rinsing it. Okay.

So I get over it, wrap it all up in foil and throw it in the oven at 250 degrees. Sweet.

About two hours later, I went to check on them. I opened the oven and suddenly was hit with the smell of... fish? Is that fish that I smell? Gag. It was at that point when I decided this pork would not be part of our dinner. It would be meeting our outside trash can in 3... 2... 1. Done.

Now, what can I make instead? I had some ground beef half-frozen in the fridge, but making meatloaf would take over an hour (note it's about 5pm at this time--hubs is due home any minute), I was too lazy to make meatballs with spaghetti, and nothing else sounded easy or good. I figured I could have hubs throw some beef hot dogs on the grill, but that totally didn't sound good, either.

So what did we do for dinner last night? My solution was the frozen pizza I found buried in the freezer. Whew!

Not really what I had in mind, but it worked!

And I'm happy to say that we've spent ZERO DOLLARS on eating out this entire week! And with the exception of my $13.97 shopping spree at Blooms on Wednesday, we've spent NOTHING on groceries!

Note to self: My shopping list is growing very long since we haven't done any shopping this week. I'm afraid when I do return to the grocery store next week, my total spending will be DOUBLE what it usually is... Who's great idea was this again?