... and this is how it looked earlier in January before I re-jigged the foods into more date friendly order and moved the large jars to the bottom cupboard.
I need to go back to menu planning, why do I let this slip so frequently when I really like doing it and love the ease it brings to meal times. I really must do better. 😏
I think for next week I will make a concentrated effort to pick something from the food cupboard as the basis for each meal. The fridge is a pretty sparse place at the moment so I can just add what is left in there to whatever meals I decide to make. I also need to stop shopping when I really don't need anything, my Challenge money has almost run out, and at the end of this month I will work out what, if anything, I have left.
It would be nice to make it at least halfway through the year on the cash that I started out with in January.
Talking about the fridge, look what I almost lost out on thanks to my £3.50 week. Even after I finished eating from my £3.50 shopping total I completely forgot that these tomatoes were languishing in the salad drawer. Luckily even though they are over a month 'out of date' they are in lovely condition.
So I enjoyed two of them on toast for my breakfast this morning with a couple of slices of onion and some garlic granules. Very tasty.
Do you menu plan ... and more importantly do you actually manage to keep it up all the time?
Perhaps I should do Menu Plan Monday on here every week and try and keep myself on track.
Sue xx
Yes, I menu plan and yes, it is tremendously helpful. It's flexible - I might have unexpected leftovers to finish off the next day, for example, and my motivation for doing it is different to yours but my goodness, I wouldn't be without it now.
ReplyDeleteWhat I do is I have a grid for a couple of weeks ahead (one for each week) and when I find a likely meal or recipe, or suddenly fancy one, I 'pencil' it in (I do it on my PC) and then, at the start of the week, I sort of finish it off for the week. I plan all meals, not just dinners.
It did take quite a lot of organising but it is habit now.
Your cheese and tomato on toast looks so good!
xx
Yes, I really do need to stick at it and turn it into a proper habit. I mean ... my menu pad is right in front of me on my desk and I've not used it in weeks ... what is wrong with me!!
DeleteWe menu plan, create a shopping list and shop for just those items. Our 6 year war ration eating served us well.
ReplyDeleteYou must have gotten into a brilliant mindset and into some really good habits over the course of that challenge. I wish I could keep something going for so long.
DeleteI have a rough idea what is in fridge, freezer or tins/dry food, but sometimes I get to nearly teatime and realize I don't know what the hell the main meal will be. I put it down to the stress of being carer for my husband - most days my brain just wants to go and hide in the past (e.g. family history) or be distracted. Best days are those when we have the other half of what I cooked the night before!
ReplyDeleteCooking once and eating twice is a really good way to do it isn't it. It doesn't take much for me to go absolutely brain-dead and be stood in front of the fridge looking in vain for inspiration.
DeleteI don't menu plan as such any more as I'm just cooking for one these days. But I do know what pre cooked single portions of meat I have in the freezer. I can pull one out for the basis of a quick meal with rice/pasta/potatoes and fresh or frozen veg. Saves time and money! But like you I'm also trying to use up storecupboard stuff. I currently have a 2kg bag of gram flour I need to do something with soon xxx
ReplyDeleteHaha ... snap!! I have a jar of gram flour that needs using. I dread to think how old it is, now that can go on my first menu plan for next week. Your large stack of 'tupperware' ready meaty bits are a brilliant starting off point for a meal aren't they, you can literally just add whatever you fancy to them and hey presto.
DeleteLike you, Sue, in theory I plan meals , but in practice I let it slip far too often. I also challenge myself frequently to use the contents of the freezer and cupboards etc before buying more but I still myself coming home with a bag of shopping, which adds the already plentiful items I have. At least, now retired, I am far better at sticking to my budget than I used to be when I worked. One day I might crack it for good! Regards June
ReplyDeleteI seem to be able to keep it up for a maximum of 3 weeks and then it fizzles out. If you crack it before me you'll have to let me know how. :-)
DeleteHAPPY BIRTHDAY !!! I am doing a freezer challenge so on the same lines, planning meals but around what is in the freezer , I would love to meal plan, I keep trying but then keep failing ,as my old school reports often said --" must try harder ". I do love to see a tidy cupboard, that includes wardrobes and drawers ,very satisfying but Phil is the opposite which can be very frustrating :( x
ReplyDeleteThank you ... it's a good job it's not a secret!! ;-)
DeleteI think I need to make inroads into the food cupboard AND then do my freezer challenge again, somehow it's filled up as much as it was at the start of the year. Most likely due to me shopping when there was no actual need and then stuffing things into the freezer before they go out of date. It would seem we had very similar school reports, I was also a bit of a daydreamer, mine also frequently said 'Susan does not participate in lessons' ... well the view from the window was lovely. :-)
I was a bit loud in my felicitations wasn't I but I remembered the date being mentioned a few posts ago so thought I wasn't letting cats out of bags ,I didn't mention your age though, ha ha :) Have a lovely day ( and I am still a day dreamer ) x
DeleteI’m glad I’m not the only daydreamer! School reports always used to say, “Susan could do better if tried harder”.
DeleteI menu plan (so DH knows what to cook if he is on kitchen duty!) Often I will write down seven meals for the week Monday - Sunday but they are flexible - so it might say lentil stew on Monday but we might switch it to have the Chickpea and rice scheduled for Saturday. I always go by how well the veg are doing and if they look like they need using quickly then we switch to a day where the menu will incorporate it. If I find bargains in Sainsbury's then I will adjust the menu accordingly to take these into account.
ReplyDeleteMy SIL meal plans for the month - I tried it but didn't work for us. I do have a grid of meals though that I work from - it lists meals to make using nuts / rice / pulses / eggs and cheese so that over the week I cover the main food groups and we don't end up making the same recipes week after week.
Now that all sounds REALLY sensible, and it's something I seem to be able to do for Challenges but not for day to day normal life. Maybe I should make my whole life a challenge ... haha. ;-)
DeleteI'm getting some great ideas from all these comments. :-)
PS Happy Birthday - hope you have a lovely day and plenty of flowers and cake. xx
ReplyDeleteThank you ... I'll let you know how that goes. I have cards, wine and bath products up to now. :-)
DeleteYes, I have menu-planned for years. First I write the list of main meals for the week, then MrVA does the shopping. I hate having to decide what to eat at short notice!
ReplyDeleteNow that sounds very organised. Does MrVA ever go off-piste? I know Alan would if I sent him shopping for joint meals.
DeleteNo, he only buys extras like Easter Eggs! He's also excellent at checking costs/sizes and making sure that food is gluten-free as I have coeliac. He's very good at shopping!!!!
DeleteI'll send Alan over for some lessons. :-)
DeleteHappy Birthday Sue!
ReplyDeleteYes, I've written meal plans on and off for a number of years but I tend to make a list of possible meals and decide on a day's meals the night before. We often change plans at a minutes notice but do tend to like our main meal at lunchtime if we can, then it's so much easier to make soup or sandwiches or something on toast for tea. I do really need to concentrate on cutting the carbs though now the weather is about to warm up a bit :0/
I think your cupboard photo is great. It looks so neat and tidy and I'm sure there are the makings of several meals in there!
Thank you.
DeleteThat's a really good way of doing it, an ideas list instead of a menu fixed in stone. :-)
Happy Birthday to you!!! Tomatoes with a sell by date? I wonder how many people would see that and chuck 'em out?
ReplyDeleteMenu planning? Never! We just look at what's in the Lidl box, checking what needs using up first and work round it. We often don't know what's for tea until we start getting hungry. xxx
Thank you. xx
DeleteI know!! I can just imagine people throwing them away, and in fact they were deliciously sweet and just soft enough to cook really well. A veg box is a really good way to inspire new meals and tastes, I bet it's like Ready, Steady, Cook every night. :-)
Happy Birthday! Yes ,I plan meals. stick to a list, batch cook and check sell by dates. I also eat fresh and leftovers first. I hope this birthday is a happy one.
ReplyDeleteThank you. xx
DeleteBatch cooking is really good isn't it, ready made inspiration in the fridge or freezer.
I don't understand the UK's obsession with best dates on fruit and veg. If it's off it's off and discarded. Thinking of my carrots in the fridge, been there since the start of March and still perfectly fine.
ReplyDelete50, the BBE dates are to do with ensuring good stock rotation and reducing customer complaints. Unfortunately, some people take them as actual consumer directions. It’s noticeable that many supermarkets are now doing away with BBE dates on veg and some fruit. They claim this is to reduce food waste, rubbish, it’s so that they don’t have to mark down/ throw away older stock and reduce their profits. Other than ready meals, which I would never eat out of code, as I don’t trust the manufacturers not to alter dates, I always vote with smell and taste, not dates. 2 years in the food production industry was enough for me 🤢
Delete50 and counting ... Julie C has described the reasoning perfectly, we also have Use By dates here which are on the more sensitive items that might cause health problems if the food were eaten. Unfortunately, a lot of people confuse the two. :-(
DeleteThanks Julie C, a perfect explanation, and yes once you know about 'behind the scenes' at many food manufacturing and preparation establishments, it's eye-opening and sometimes very worrying isn't it.
DeleteI menu plan for our main meal, but otherwise lunch is just bread and "sandwich stuff" (or, for Mr FD who takes a packed lunch 3x a week, it's leftovers from the night before). I'm happy to have the same sandwich filling every day but Mr FD desires variety which means I over cater on this side of things. If I didn't menu plan we'd end up on the same rotation of simple meals. This way I try lots of different things....probably too many as I forget the things that we enjoyed!
ReplyDeleteI could live on sandwiches, I love them. I love simple and well loved meals appearing regularly, but yes to switch it up a bit with some new things thrown in is a good thing isn't it.
DeleteI have a very full pantry (home-preserved items), "grocerystore in my basement" (purchased dry goods), 2 deep freezers and my kitchen fridge & above freezer. I have to meal plan or nothing would get used. Also, I'm relearning how to not only cook for only 2 "getting older" people; (you'd think I would have figured that out by now since the boys have been out of the house for the past 20 years); and now a change over to low carb/Keto/Intermittent Fasting livestyle. It's quite the learning curve but I'm saving so much on my grocery budget not buying the typical North American diet foods.
ReplyDeleteThis coming week we are doing lots of roasted veg with our proteins. I'm throwing in a 48 hour fast mid-week so DH will have his beloved pancakes that night.
I did a small stock up on produce yesterday and I can see not going to the store for another 2-3 weeks (maybe the odd cream for my coffee and salad veg.)
That all sounds magnificent, knowing that you can 'shop from home' is a real worry stopper isn't it. I think those of us that have cooked for more people in the past can find it so hard to cook for only one or two as the children fly the nest don't we.
DeletePlease could you sign your first name at the end of any Anonymous comments you need to leave as I don't usually publish Anons. without a name. :-)