|FOOD|Meal management Monday - 9 February

 

I've always struggled with Meal planning Monday for some reason and am always looking for new ways to inject 'me' into it.

 

This weekend I've had a bit of a revelation, after watching BBC1's Eat Well For Less I started thinking about our eating and spending habits, it's something I've been meaning to get a grip of for a while, but recently I've been looking at it in a very blinkered way, whereas I've now realised that I should again be looking at 'Meal management' from all sides.  I say look again, because astonishingly this is all something I used to do before we had T, I've even got a planner I created for the job!

 

Now more than ever I need to get on top of it again.

 

So for me Meal Management is the following:

1. Meal planning & preparation

2. Store cupboard/fridge/freezer inventory

3. Freezer/batch cooking

4. Using coupons and a budget

5. Home cooking

6. Reduce waste

7. Grow our own food

 

With this in mind, this weekend, I made a start.

 

Firstly, I created our first meal plan in weeks, see below for all the details.

 

I did lots of preparation for the week ahead:

Cleaned the fridge and threw out far too much!

Grated a block of cheese for the week

Peeled carrots headed for the bin and put in food saver containers

Chopped onions & garlic for the freezer

Made 2 small pizza bases for the freezer

Made granola, yoghurt, courgette crisps & savoury seed mix for the coming week.

 

So as you can see, I've really kicked butt this weekend ;)  I appreciate that these don't seem like huge changes, but sometimes it really helps when everything is prepared, especially after being out all day.

 

I know this is only the start and I've got a very long way to go before I have nailed it again, but I will be trying...

 

Here's our meal plan

 

	LUNCH	DINNER
MONDAY	DIY POT NOODLE	JACKET POTATO & SALAD
TUESDAY	AVOCADO SALAD	PASTA & TOMATO SAUCE
WEDNESDAY	OUT	CHICKEN/QUORN WITH NEW POTATOES & GREEN BEANS
THURSDAY	COUS COUS	GAMMON, EGG & CHIPS
FRIDAY	SNACK WRAPS	ENCHILADA'S
SATURDAY	HOT DOGS & VEG STICKS	ROAST CHICKEN, VEG & TARTIFLETTE
SUNDAY	BOILED EGGS & SOLDIERS	LAMB/MUSHROOMS IN SAUCE WITH MASH & VEG