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Meal planning Monday 17/08/15 #mealplanningmonday

20:58

#wastelessjourney

How much food do you throw away? #Wastelessjourney

07:00

I have always been very aware of how much food waste their is in our house and over the past few months I have been trying hard to change.

Check all your cupbaords, fridge and freezer before shopping, devise a meal plan for the coming week or weeks make a shopping list and stick to it.

Here are my top tips to help your food go further:

Use a whole chicken to make more than one meal (depending how big your family is!) for the four of us I can make a chicken stretch to three meals, a roast dinner, curry and a pie filling.

Cooking too much mash potato! I can never get just the right amount of mash potato! use it the following day to top a pie, make fish cakes or bubble and squeak.

Bananas looking a bit black? admittedly bananas do not hang around long enough to get black with my two monkeys, but i have been known to buy some and hide them to add into choc chip muffin batter.

Left over roast dinner Chuck anything left over from your roast dinner ands turn it into soup for Mondays and even Tuesdays lunch (that's my Mums top tip - Thanks Mum!).

Smoothies are so popular at the moment - instead of instantly throwing away fruit and veg that is starting to look a little past its best pop them all into the blender with a dash of milk to make a refreshing and healthy way to start the day.

Banana chocolate chip muffin

Quesadilla using left over fajita vegtables, chicken and spinach

When unpacking my food shop I'll leave all the meat until last as 9 times out 10 it gets taken out of the packaging and portioned up; this means less waste as I've portioned up enough meat for each meal and with out all the supermarket packaging I have more room in the freezer!

Portioning examples:
500g pack of mince meat gets divided into two bags
6 pack of chicken breasts gets divided into two
Freeze sausages in 4's (sometimes the boys will have sausages if we have steak so I only need 4, if we all eat them I need 8)

It's really satisying to fill your cupboards but stick to a list and only by what you need.

Bulk cooking meals can also help to reduce waste the same way as freezing left over portions of meals for another day.

My top three meals to bulk cook are cottage pie with a sweet potato top, fish cakes and sausage casserole.

Adding loads of veggies to bulk up a meal when I only have a small amount of meat.

Want a recipe to incorporate your leftovers.........

If you've cooked too much bacon for your weekend breakfast why not add it to a risotto (with left over chicken from a Sunday roast!) or crush up the crispy rashers to top a soup for a little extra crunch.

One pan risotto

300g Arborio risotto rice
1 Onion
1 Leek
Garlic to taste
1 litre Stock (I use Boullion vegtable powder)
Peas
Olive oil
White wine (optional)
Butter
Left over meat can be added too

Heat 1tbsp olive oil
Stir in onions & leek until soft
Add rice and garlic stiring to coat in the oil (around a minute)
At this point you can add a glass of wine, stirring constantly until absorbed
With heat at medium-high add the stock a ladel at a time stiring until absorbed
reduce heat to medium and cook for around 15-20 minutes (the rice should be al dente)
Add any meat toward the end of cooking ensuring it is piping hot when served.
I add the peas around 3 minutes before the end of cooking just to soften them.
Butter is added just before serving to give a nice creamy finihs.
Sprinkle bacon piesces on top or mix through.

Enjoy!

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