Click here to find out more about my Friday routine

Simply Being Mum’s Friday Fridge

Top Shelf – Spreads, garlic, butter-cream, selection of cheeses and 2 tiny chocolate yoghurts.

Top Middle Shelf – Head of broccoli, a few grapes, 2 tomatoes, 3 mushrooms and a small amount of green pepper.

Bottom Middle Shelf – Empty

Bottom Shelf – Half a jar of home-made pickled beetroot

Door – Milk, OJ and 4 eggs

No Waste Tastes Great (3 February 2012) – The Plan

It’s the Hubby’s Birthday tomorrow. The butter-cream will be used alongside the eggs and other butter to make a small birthday cake. Family are joining us for lunch tomorrow so the cheeses and grapes will be used up as part of a ‘choosing lunch’, as the Kids like to call it.

The remaining egg will be used to make pancakes tonight for the Kid’s dinner. First-born has a hot meal at school today, and Second-born and I are heading off shortly to Cannock Chase Forest to get Daddy an OS Map for his Birthday present (last of the big spenders eh?). We are going to pop into the Golden Arches on the way – well… it’s been a while!

The broccoli will be used up as part of a slow-cooked soup. The beetroot, milk and OJ are all in date.

See below the decoupage box (not quite finished) that will house the OS map plus a mountain biking magazine. No Waste Looks Great! (Old sailing mag plus a welly box)

As Friday Night is Curry Night at Chez Wright, the toms, mushrooms and peppers will be popped into Lil’ Bill (my slow-cooker), I think it’ll be balti tonight. I am hoping to make this recipe recommended by Claire one week… I just need to grab some peanut butter.

No waste for us this week. Next week’s menu has been planned and is already on the menu-board.

The week’s meals all come to under £1 per person (apart from the roast) – a weekly menu plan to make any SuperScrimper proud!

Just about to grab my hat and gloves and head on over to Aldi to do my grocery shop…

How’s your Fridge looking this chilly Friday? Crisp and clear, or crowded and congested? Please share!

No Waste Tastes Great is bought to you (as always) with thanks to The Frugal Girl for the original inspiration.

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Don’t forget I am now updating daily on Facebook - the Birthday Cake no doubt will make an appearance later today…

I’m loving that being frugal is now considered ‘on trend’! Yay! Finally!

As one of those that has been part of this growing community for 3 years plus, it’s refreshing.  What it does mean, however, that as an experienced SuperScrimper the show can’t teach me much I don’t already know.  Disclaimer – I don’t scrimp in all areas of my life. I don’t mind spending money but I hate wasting money! It’s about spending on what really is significant to you, not frittering it away here and there, but rather practicing Conscious Spending.

Those who have been following this blog for some time will know that in September 2011 I decided to reduce my grocery budget by 50% through choice.

I think now might be a good time for an update, and to share a healthy and nutritious recipe that would make any SuperScrimper proud.

It’s been 4 months since I self-enforced a £50 weekly budget to feed a family of 4.

I can confirm – it’s achievable. And without too much sacrifice. Initially the new regime was time-consuming and required additional planning (but it’s now finely-tuned, see my 2012 routine here). However since December 2011, my decision to complete the bulk of my shop in one location (rather than 4) has improved the experience. To confirm, I am still shopping at Aldi. There’s a post planned about how I now shop, but I want to ensure it’s a well-thought-out post with a benefit to those reading. One self-imposed guideline I have about my writing is to not carelessly promote any particular brand above another. My aim through this blog is to outline my experience as objectively and as constructively as possible, and share useful information.

One way I keep my grocery spend down is by avoiding ‘added value’ products, otherwise known as convenience foods. After completing my cooking from scratch experiment last Summer, I feel justified that by spending a little extra time, you can save money. In my case it was approximately 42% as outlined here in a guest post I wrote.

Let me re-introduce you to my Simple Slow-Cooked Spaghetti Bolognese. This was one of the meals I used as an example during my week-long experiment. This meal will comfortably feed 4 and costs less than £1 per person (this cost is based on 450g (1lb) of mince being used – which is quite a lot of meat, it could be halved and the tomatoes increased).

This recipe is one of the simplest in my collection.

Ingredients

450g (1lb) of Lean Beef Mince – browned first in a pan for a couple of minutes

1 x Onion – chopped

2 x Garlic Cloves – crushed

1 x Beef Stock Cube – crumbled

400g (14floz) Can of Chopped Tomatoes

2 x Tablespoons (30ml) of Tomato Puree

1 x Tablespoon (15ml) of Mixed Herbs or Oregano

Black pepper to season

Step-by-step instructions:

Pop the ingredients (apart from the pasta) in a standard slow-cooker (3.5 litre internal capacity) on high for 4 hours or low for 6-8 hours.

15 minutes before serving, remove the lid so that the liquid reduces slightly (whilst on high).

Cook your spaghetti pasta separately as you would normally.

When the pasta is cooked and drained, stir into the slow-cooker pot ensuring the pasta is coated. You can vary the amount of pasta cooked based on how many you are feeding.

This recipe can be easily stretched to feed 6 by adding extra pasta and stores easily in the fridge for lunches the next day.

If looking to reduce the fat content use Turkey Mince. Alternatively If on a reduced carbohydrate diet you can substitute pasta for courgette strips as outlined in this recipe.

What recipe would you suggest for those looking to join the army of SuperScrimpers? Any good ones out there I can add to my collection of slow-cooked meals? Please share!

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Don’t forget I’m now updating daily on Facebook. So far this week there’s been photos of my Welsh adventure (long story! Welsh hills, no phone signal, lot’s of sheep and no idea where I was headed) and yet another decoupage box. It’s official, I am addicted to making these boxes… this time it was topped with a home-made name plaque as a 1st Birthday gift – all made from recycled items and craft stuff I had in the cupboard… Why not go take a look and maybe give me a like?

]]> http://simplybeingmum.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/superscrimping-reducing-your-grocery-budget-plus-simple-spaghetti-bolognese/feed/ 9 simplybeingmum IMG_0419 http://simplybeingmum.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/no-waste-tastes-great-a-taste-of-things-to-come/ http://simplybeingmum.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/no-waste-tastes-great-a-taste-of-things-to-come/#comments Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:32:50 +0000 simplybeingmum http://simplybeingmum.com/?p=3349 Continue reading →]]> It’s Friday Guys – time for No Waste Tastes Great

Click here to find out more about my Friday routine

Simply Being Mum’s Friday Fridge

Top Shelf – Spreads, Cheddar, Garlic, Yogurts and Brie

Top Middle Shelf – Grapes, Cauliflower Cheese Soup and Broccoli

Bottom Middle Shelf – Half a Vegetable Lasagne, 2 Tomatoes, Handful of Mushrooms and approx. 2 Sliced Peppers

Bottom Shelf – Home-made Beetroot

Door – Milk and OJ

The No Waste Tastes Great Plan Friday 27 January

Top Shelf – All in date. The margarine will be used to make butter-cream as I have a 40th Birthday Cake to decorate this morning. Tomorrow I am joining friends at a cabin on the Welsh border for a celebration. The cake will be going with me. As will the brie as I am providing nibbles and cheese for Saturday night snacks. I’m making pancakes Sunday morning for everyone. It’s my first overnight out alone in over 2 years (hence I have a really busy day getting everything organised for whilst I am away)!

Top Middle Shelf – Grapes which will be eaten today and tomorrow, Cauliflower Cheese Soup and Broccoli. I made the soup yesterday and took some photos for my mini e-book I am giving away as the light was okay in the UK yesterday. The soup will be eaten over the weekend by the Hubby. The broccoli I am going to make some more soup today and freeze, this will also appear in the e-book I posted about last Friday , the light’s pretty good today so fingers crossed I can get some decent shots.

The above shot is a taste of things to come! Don’t forget if you’d like a copy of the e-book just let me know in the comments (If you haven’t already) or drop me an e-mail.

Bottom Middle Shelf – the lasagne will be eaten at lunchtime by Dan and I, I’m not sure he’ll like it so I have standby of cheese, crackers, bread-sticks and grapes for him.  The tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms will be great for a slow-cooked chicken rogan josh for The Hubby and I tonight with home-made flat-breads. I’m re-naming Friday Night at Chez Wright to Curry Night (rather than date night). The Kids have requested a meal with chopsticks to celebrate Chinese New Year, so it’s noodles, vegetables and prawn crackers for them!

I’m feeling the pressure of much to do, so I’d better get on with it… there’s a birthday cake to finish, car to vacuum, grocery shop to be done plus many other little bits and pieces that accompany a Mum disappearing for a weekend.

How’s your Fridge looking this Friday? Please share!

No Waste Tastes Great is bought to you with thanks to The Frugal Girl

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Don’t forget I am now posting daily on Facebook and there’s some good conversation going on over there…

It would appear that the subject of this post is becoming popular once more.

Patching it up, polishing it out, making do and mending. And of course reducing what we waste, be that food, cloth or just items that we would once have disposed of, that we can breath new life into.

Repair rather than replace.

The comments made by you Guys to my post last Wednesday were amazing. Thank you all. I immediately located some denim patches to resurrect my favourite jeans (boy! I wish I hadn’t ragged the last two pairs of that cut/style). Then as fate would have it, Dan’s jean’s developed a hole also. Two pairs of jeans are about to be repaired at a total cost of less than £1.

Whilst I’m in the ‘make do and mend’ groove I’m going to polish my favourite boots.

These boots arrived at Chez Wright, with one previous owner, about 3 years ago. They cost £35, second-hand. They get worn day in, day out, apart from the summer when they get replaced by a pair of flip flops. We almost parted company early last year when I developed very wet feet on one rainy school run. Temptation called, and a pair of Dune boots I had seen many months before were delivered. And then they were returned and refunded. I couldn’t do it. My trusty riding boots were repaired at the local cobblers for £12.50 (10% off the cost of the new pair). A simple thing like polishing them should delay significant aging and deterioration.

I really enjoyed SuperScrimpers. Not because it taught me anything I don’t already know (metal skewer through jacket potatoes for more efficient cooking? I’ve been doing it years!), but because it’s promoting a culture I believe in. I don’t want a disposable, consumable life to be the norm and any help in spreading the word if so welcomed.

The highlight of the program for me was watching Gem show ladies how to ‘superscrimp’ on their nail art. Demystifying the techniques of applying polish so that the added value prices of nail boutiques can be avoided. I love a bit of creativity! She’s a real DIY girl! Go Gem!

(The shock of the show was the family wasting £50 worth of food a week – but more on that on Friday as part of No Waste Tastes Great)

What ‘make do and mend tips’ do you have? Have you salvaged something that was headed for the bin, or are there some things that just need to go?

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Don’t forget I am now posting daily on Facebook! There’s some good conversation going, so if Facebook’s your thing why not head on over?

(there’ll be a photo of my freshly polished boots later – what a glamorous life I lead? haha!)

]]> http://simplybeingmum.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/superscrimping-patching-it-up-and-polishing-it-out/feed/ 12 simplybeingmum IMG_0414 IMG_0416 http://simplybeingmum.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/no-waste-tastes-great-were-talking-soup/ http://simplybeingmum.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/no-waste-tastes-great-were-talking-soup/#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:30:27 +0000 simplybeingmum http://simplybeingmum.com/?p=3304 Continue reading →]]> It’s Friday Guys – time for No Waste Tastes Great

If you are new here, please click on this link to find out more about my Friday routine.

Simply Being Mum’s Friday Fridge

Top Shelf – Spreads, cheese, garlic and 2 x green chilli’s (in blue tub)

Top Middle Shelf – Grapes and some leftover raspberry frosting

Bottom Middle Shelf – Small head of broccoli and a handful of cooked pasta

Bottom Shelf – My Mom’s home-made pickled beetroot (yes another jar!)

Door – Milk and OJ

Not bad eh?

The plan – not too taxing this week…

Top shelf all in date – sorted.

Grapes will be eaten after school today by the Kids and I. The frosting is left over from decorating some muffins on Monday. First-born wants to do a cake-stall at the weekend and sell them to unsuspecting relatives – that should use all the frosting up. She’s donating the money to charity.

The handful of pasta I will add some veggies and sauce for Second-born’s lunch after school (he only attends morning’s at the moment).

And the broccoli has already been dealt with;

I’m slow-cooking it on high (so it should be ready by lunchtime as it’s a small portion) with cheese. I’ll have it as soup for lunch today and tomorrow.

Talking about soup. I also have these remaining from my grocery shop;

6 sweet potatoes, a butternut squash and two onions. I have a great recipe to batch cook two different kinds of soup from these ingredients (using the 2 chillis also). They’ll be frozen for lunches next week.

So what’s for dinner tonight as there isn’t anything to use up? Well Friday Night is Date Night at Chez Wright. We had been partaking in a takeaway but since my cooking from scratch experiment I’m finding it harder to make that call and put my order in. Friday night is now slow-cooked curry night. As I now grocery shop on a Friday, I grab anything I need and load the slow cooker up after lunch. The Kids will be having home-made flat-bread pizza and veggies. I’ll make some extra flat-breads for the Hubby and I to have with our curry.

Just going back to soup for a moment, I have decided to put together a mini e-book of my 6 favourite simple vegetarian slow-cooked soups. It’s a free e-book, a little thank you to you all for reading (and putting up with me!).  I’m not sure exactly when it will be completed. Daytime light currently in the UK is making taking decent photos difficult. A particular problem for me, as my kitchen has black granite worktops and a very dark floor.

If you would like a copy either comment here and confirm you’d like a copy e-mailed, or contact me directly at simplybeingmum (at) gmail (dot) com.

I never e-mail readers without their specific consent. 

How’s your Fridge looking this (grey and dismal – in the UK anyway!) Friday? Have you got a No Waste Tastes Great plan?

As always No Waste Tastes Great is brought to you with thanks to The Frugal Girl for her original inspiring Food Waste Friday 

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I’m now posting daily on Facebook - My menu-plan for the next 6 days will be going up later today

Is it that they all desperately need ironing? Yes they do….but that isn’t the answer (I try not to iron, see how I do the laundry here)

Perhaps this will help…

Oh yes, they’ve all gone into holes.

Am I embarrassed?

No. Not even with a hole this size.

I can’t blame the manufacturers for shoddy workmanship. Basically I’ve worn my clothes out, like I used to as a child.

The reason I wear them out is I have so few they are washed and worn. Then washed and worn again. They don’t have time to go out of fashion, it’s very efficient.

The only problem I currently have is deciding what to do with the holey items.

As a recovering hoarder decision-making of this type can be difficult.

“People who hoard seem to have a different perspective on their possessions compared to most people. Perhaps it is a more finely tuned sense of creativity or an ability to see the potential in objects that most people can’t see. Or perhaps they feel a strong sense of responsibility for not being wasteful” taken from Buried In Treasures – Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving, and Hoarding.

As an item of perfect clothing I have no attachment to it. But once damaged goods something genetic kicks questioning whether I can salvage it and make something of value from a redundant item. This serves me well when it comes to food and not wasting food, but with clothing (where my skills do not lie) it could present a potential hoarding problem. Particularly as I’m planning on buying a mini sewing machine for First-born and I.

So what’s the plan? (because now there always is a plan otherwise it ends up as a pile of clutter):

1. The two pairs of PJ bottoms will be kept as they are cotton and will make great practise material. That’s not hoarding. It makes frugal sense.

2. The 2 jersey tops will be bagged up and donated to charity. When donating unsaleable clothing to charity shops I bag it up only with other ‘rags’ and clearly label it as that. Rag merchants pay by the ton for donated ‘rags’, but if the shop staff (the majority of which are volunteers) have to sort through items to check whether they are suitable to sell then it’s counterproductive. Time is money in the retail world.

3. The pair of jeans is a toughie. I loved these jeans. They fit the best any pair ever has but the style is no longer available. In fact they were the third replacement (the previous 2 went into holes also) of a pair I loved, and I found them many miles south in Windsor last May. How happy was I that day? I’ve decided to try to patch them. If it doesn’t work I’ll rag them no question.

4. Finally the pants (I apologise for photographing my underwear…really there’s no need is there? but it’s a bare all post). I’m going to rag them also. I’d challenge even the most creative mind to think of a use for well-worn holey pants. No suggestions required thank you.

Do you wear your clothes out? What do you do when they’ve given up the ghost? Have I missed some great ideas on what to do with my holey items?

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Don’t forget I’m now posting daily on Facebook! Why not pop over?

This comment was left by Cheeryshirley last week. Thanks Cheeryshirley!

I may be organised in many areas of my life and home, but not all. We all have our Achilles heel. I’ve posted about mine before, and it’s paper. Paper that has the potential to be sentimental to be exact.

This hoard weighs heavy on my shoulders, it’s always there in the back of my mind.

Great progress has been made in all other areas. I’ve decluttered my life, the house, my commitments, even my ‘work’ over the last 3 years. I’ll talk more about this in a post some other time.

But I still have the legacy of sentimental hoarding sitting in my wardrobe. As I don’t own many clothes (told you I’d decluttered the other areas of my life!) I can give up half of the space to clutter. Fortunately I’m not accumulating new sentimental clutter. I’ve spotted my weakness and now dispose of items before I can attach sentiment to them.

I posted early last February about my Piles Of Procrastination. Some progress has been made to reduce, but not as much as I would have liked. The hoard did come out of the closet and lay on the floor for the remainder of the year. Then just before Christmas the Hubby insisted I spend a few hours making some headway on reducing it. The remainder went in my wardrobe. Christmas just around the corner meant it needed to be packed away.

I’m keen to share some organisational tips and ideas, and yet until I’ve dealt with this pile of clutter I feel it would be hypocritical. It needs dealing with.

I wish I could just scoop it up and chuck the lot. But I can’t. There are a few keepsakes among it that I do want to keep for the Kids.

So each day I will spend time sorting through it with a view to having just the items I really want placed orderly in the scrapbooks I have for the Kids. I’ll update daily on Facebook. I’m committing to myself to have this dealt with by next Monday. If there is anything that hasn’t been sorted through it will be disposed of without mercy Sunday night – no discussion or negotiation.

Once it’s done and dusted, I’ll feel in a position to start talking in more detail about home and life organisation. There’s a series of practical posts planned. I may also touch on hoarding, as this is a very different thing to general decluttering and organisation. As a recovering hoarder I do have an understanding of the problem.

How about you? What’s your Achilles heel? Do you have one, or have you dealt with any hoarding tendencies?

Any tips on clearing the sentimental clutter?

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Don’t forget I am now posting daily on Facebook!

If you are new to NWTG click here to find out more about my Friday routine

It’s Friday the 13th – will it be unlucky for me and a horror story in the fridge?

Simply Being Mum’s Friday Fridge

This is good.

Top Shelf – Spread, cheese, garlic and one chocolate mousse (all in date)

Top Middle Shelf – Grapes (with a couple of days of life still in them)

Bottom Shelf – Home-made chutney and pickled beetroot

Door – Milk, OJ and one egg

Dan will have a hard-boiled egg and soldiers with grapes and chocolate mousse to follow, for lunch. I’ll have cheese, crackers, chutney and grapes.

No waste for us at Chez Wright today!

Normally if there’s no waste then the Hubby and I have been partaking in a takeaway. However after tidying my cupboards this week  I discovered I have chick peas and coconut milk to hand. As we have been having a slow-cooked curry instead of a takeaway of late, I’m going to rustle up a vegetarian curry (with home-made indian flatbread) and add the sweet potatoes I have.

The curry will use 2 potatoes and also 1 of the onions, and I’ll make soup with the other 2 potatoes (using the recipe I posted on Facebook before Christmas). This soup will also use up a second onion. The other 2 onions I am going to chop and freeze. The 2 bagels I will make pizza for the kids by topping them with tomato puree and grated cheddar cheese. They’ll get a few frozen veggies on the side.

All of the items could have been used up over the weekend. But I’m not shopping today as usual. It’s been a busy couple of days. Last night saw me cleaning the kitchen until midnight after finishing off a Birthday cake I made as a favour for a friend.

I’ve also been for a run this morning, which I don’t normally do on a Friday, but if you are following on Facebook you will know I planned on running daily this week to get back in the habit. Shopping will wait until tomorrow!

How’s your Fridge looking this Friday the 13th? Is it a Nightmare on your street or an absolute dream? Please share!

With thanks to The Frugal Girl and Food Waste Friday for the original inspiration behind No Waste Tastes Great

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I’m now posting daily on Facebook all sorts of bits and pieces, so if FB is your thing why not give me a like?

(I’ll be posting the coconut, chickpeas and sweet potato curry recipe over on Facebook later today)

]]> http://simplybeingmum.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/no-waste-tastes-great-friday-the-13th/feed/ 16 simplybeingmum IMG_0356 IMG_0354 IMG_0352 http://simplybeingmum.wordpress.com/2012/01/11/10-minute-tidy-my-cupboards-the-result/ http://simplybeingmum.wordpress.com/2012/01/11/10-minute-tidy-my-cupboards-the-result/#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:43:27 +0000 simplybeingmum http://simplybeingmum.com/?p=3230 Continue reading →]]> When The Frugal Girl posed the question

“Do you want to clean out your kitchen cabinets with me? ”

The answer was a resounding yes.

As someone with usually tidy and organised cupboards this happened over the Christmas holidays:

Not good.

10 minutes of tidying and voila:

How much better do I feel? Definitely worth 10 minutes of my time.

However I did uncover some mid-week waste:

In my defense these have been lurking a while, and I didn’t buy them. The vitamins etc… make an appearance if I ever mention to my Big Sis I’m feeling a bit under the weather. The Hot Chocolate I didn’t buy and there’s only a teaspoon left inside. The gravy browning (gifted) is only 3 years out of date (how did I miss that?), so it’s time to part company.

I’m now in the zone, decluttering fever is flowing through the veins. I’m hitting the understairs cupboard this afternoon. Second-Born is home so we’ll make a game of it me thinks.

How are your cupboards looking, do they need to shape up now we’ve rung in the New Year?

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Don’t forget I’m now posting daily on Facebook – I’m sure my understairs will make an appearance this PM (Oh the excitement!)

(ps – anyone notice the reduction in exclamation marks? After reading this post I’m trying my very hardest)

It’s been a while since I’ve posted about my actual No Waste Tastes Great routine. In fact it was over 12 months ago in this post , so I thought I’d do a refresher, particularly as it’s changed a little over the last year.

(If you’d rather skip the routine explanation feel free to scroll down – about halfway the usual NWTG kicks in!)

My No Waste Tastes Great routine was born out of the original inspiring Food Waste Friday by The Frugal Girl. The objective with NWTG is to clear the fridge and perishables each Friday, using up anything that could potentially become unusable to reduce and ultimately eliminate wasted food.

My simple routine step by step

1. Friday morning I empty my fridge, placing all items on the counter top

2. With a cloth and bicarb of soda mixed with a little water I clean the fridge

3. The items on the counter are returned to the fridge identifying anything that needs to be thrown away or used up as part of No Waste Tastes Great

4. Because I’m a little strange I photograph my re-stocked fridge

5. Whilst re-stocking the fridge I jot down on my ceramic notepad any items that need replenishing. These items are added to the list I have been compiling throughout the week as storecupboard and other items diminish

6. Because I’m very strange I then write a blog post about my fridge, shelf by shelf accounting for what I will be doing with all the items

7. This post then allows me to identify what waste I have (hopefully none as that is the ultimate aim). It also gives me opportunity to establish what needs using up to reduce potential waste, if there are items to use up immediately then that is my No Waste Tastes Great Challenge. A meal or 2 has to be devised to be eaten that day. If there is no immediate need to use the items then the ‘olds’ (hubby and I) have been partaking in a takeaway and the Kids something easy like pizza. This is one area where things have recently changed. Since conducting my cooking from scratch experiment I now prefer to slow-cook a curry for Date Night at Chez Wright. It costs approx. 50% less and I can opt for free-range chicken. I’ve been able to do this by changing my grocery shopping day from Saturday to Friday as I can now grab ingredients should I need any.

8. It’s then time to meal plan! I’m a major advocate of meal planning. Taking an inventory of the fridge, freezer (which is hardly stocked) and storecupboards I then devise a 6-day meal plan for Sat-Thurs

9. I write the dinner meal-plan on my menu board for the family to see

10. Sticking to a budget of £50 a week I then do my grocery shop (on Friday) for the coming week.

My No Waste Tastes Great routine in practise – 6 January 2012

I emptied and cleaned the fridge returning all items apart from this suspect!

I’m not proud of this…this is bad! Cream! Oh my! In my defense I didn’t buy it (if that’s any sort of defense?). New Year’s Eve I encouraged guests at our open house to bring along any items that needed using up. I hadn’t paid much attention to this pot at the back of my fridge, let alone check the use by date. It’s 5 days past it’s best and as it is cream I’m reluctant to use it.

The rest of the items were returned to the fridge

Simply Being Mum’s Friday Fridge

And just in case this post isn’t long enough already there’s a second photo in honour of my new camera! (have I lost any readers yet?)

Top Shelf – Spreads, cheese, garlic and 4 in-date yogurts

Top Middle Shelf – Almost a head of broccoli, a pack of green beans, puff-pastry (well in-date and about to be popped in the freezer) and brie (also in-date)

Bottom Middle Shelf – Brandy Sauce (not mine arrived with a friend at New Year), grapes, 2 x half bottles of white wine

Bottom Shelf – Half a large jar each of home-made pickled beetroot and chutney

Door – 5 x eggs (in date), Milk and OJ

The No Waste Tastes Great Plan (because there always is a plan!)

The only items that need using up today are the brandy sauce and wine – these are leftovers from New Year. I’m going to make a large mince pie later today (I have a jar of mincemeat left over) and have it with the sauce today and over the weekend. The wine will of course be consumed this evening as part of Date Night.

The broccoli and beans will last until Sunday and I’ll use them up as part of a Sunday Roast. The brie and grapes will get used up next week as the Hubby and I tend to have cheese and crackers late evening (the Kids will eat the grapes also over the weekend) – the chutney will accompany this snack! The beetroot is good for a couple of weeks yet and will be seen topping many a sandwich and salad at lunchtime next week.

For dinner this evening the Kids will have pancakes as a treat (first week back at school!), and a slow-cooked curry is planned for Date Night. I’m visiting the local Aldi for my groceries today.

I’ve just menu planned for the next 6 days and written my shopping list, taking into account the items that I jotted down on my ceramic notepad that need replenishing

Breakfasts will consist of cereal, toast, bran loaf and maybe pancakes.

Lunches will be sandwiches, soup, salad and leftovers!

Next week’s dinner menu is:

(Please excuse the spelling of Spaghetti Bolognese – the ‘e’ went over the ‘s’ as I proceeded to run out of space!)

That’s pretty much it apart from actually going and getting my groceries!

It’ll be all back to normal next Friday with the usual No Waste Tastes Great post – why not give it a go yourself? Don’t forget to check out Food Waste Friday for true inspiration!

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I’m now posting daily on Facebook!