Start as you mean to go on.

There was a brilliant programme on the BBC this week "Great British Waste Menu", it certainly makes you think about how much food is wasted in this country there are some great websites to help make better use of our food, LoveFoodNotWaste is one of these sites.

I find it very difficult to remember what has been bought over the weeks and which fridge it's in, what we are having for dinner, then forgetting a vital ingredient and next minute, it's past its use-by date. Some things like veg, that doesn't matter, but for meat it is an issue.  To prevent us wasting any food in future, we are going to start planning our weekly meals again and put up a list with the fridge contents and use-by dates. This should also enable us to shop more wisely and the entire family to work to the same plan. How many times has something vanished from the fridge due to "hunger pangs", only to find out it was someone's sandwich filling for the next day, oops.

Well we've just got back from Ferndene farm shop. I decided to share what we've just bought for 3 of us for the week ahead which includes a Bank Holiday and then the plan for the weeks menus.
1 doz medium free range eggs,
3 packs stewing lamb (2 pieces per pack),
1 chicken,
1/2 shoulder lamb,
1 pack lamb mince,
1 pack steak & kidney and
3 large pork chops,
3 parsnips,
1 swede,
1 bunch fresh beetroot,
1 bunch watercress.
I think total was £22 ish.

So here is the basic plan for the weeks meals.
Saturday - Roast Chicken, with roast potatoes, parsnips and beetroot plus a green veg
Sunday - Moussaka plus a greek salad
Monday - Roast Lamb with dauphinois potatoes (I'll use my own recipe but I won't put the cheese on the top) and green veg
Tuesday - Lemon marinated pork chops - not sure what to serve yet, will post the recipe on my crafty cooking blog later in the week.
Wednesday - Lamb Stew
Thursday - Individual steak and kidney puddings with new potatoes and veg
Friday - probably fish

I'm going to try a new recipe for the Moussaka, I love watching My Greek Kitchen and this recipe is by Tonia Buxton so going to see if this is more authentic.
Now going to hit Waitrose at about 3 (reduction time we hope). That's all the meat we need for our meals for the week, but there are still the additional veg, cream, black olives, aubergines, courgettes, flour etc.
I am also planning on starting the Christmas cakes and Christmas puddings both recipes from Delia Smith, I've got all the dried fruit, butter, eggs, just need oranges, lemons, brandy etc, think that may be a next weekend job, I have made these recipes every year for the last 20 years, ever since I got married, they are the best recipes ever and are my first start to Christmas.

The lanes around us are overflowing with fruits and berries, my foraging and preserving instinct has started, so I need more preserving sugar, I've got loads of vinegars, now for some cooking apples to ensure when I get some fruit I can just get going. There is nothing more satisfying than turning a glut of something into a set of colourful jars full of the most scrumptious preserves.

I will also be starting to get planned for Christmas, I have had a planner for the last 5 years, now's the time to start updating the pages ready for this year. I use a couple of sites for printouts, here's a good start

I need a planner

Every Christmas I use my special handmade planner, it is amazing, I have records of all the presents we’ve previously bought, all the recipes I use, my card lists, even the shopping lists (held on One Note on my PC which I reprint every year).  The family are trained to pick it up as we leave the house, if I’ve forgotten it, but it is our lifeline over the festive period to ensure Christmas runs smoothly.  We’ve been using the planner since 2005 and it’s great.

So why do I use the planner, to make sure I do everything and don’t miss anything out. Then why don’t I follow on this idea and create one for the rest of the year. 

This is going to be my first step in my year of “Organisation”, there is no point starting anywhere else, I need to have somewhere to keep the lists of food in the cupboards, fridge and veg box, and to plan the meals for the week that the whole family can refer to. An easy starting point in my mission.  I’ve done some research, found lots of useful sites and will be getting my crafting things out today to make a start. I’ve got new toners for the printer (I don’t want to leave it empty or I will be very unpopular).

I’m going to print my inserts before making the cover, I can then work out the size to ensure that the tabbed dividers fit.

Organised Home

OK, so this is what I need ALL year to keep me organised.  I started looking yesterday and have found a great starting point on the Organised Home website. This explains the Household Planner and everything that could be included, ideas for the dividers, pages to be downloaded and printed.

I also found the planner below with some great pages.

Brenda Arnall’s planner

This is the front of a lovely planner that Brenda Arnall has made on her blog. I love the look of this, there are lots of templates available to download, you need to go near to the bottom of the November pages to find all the details, but very easy to follow.

I want to keep the binder flexible, so will use some bookrings to hold it together and then tie on lots of ribbons (same method as my Christmas planner). I do need to make it easy though to add pages, so will remember this time to use a standard hole punch so that the holes are all in the correct place.

I suppose I could use a standard A5 ring binder, but it doesn’t feel “mine” in the same way.

I will print her pages on paper, I don’t want the planner to become too thick, if producing a bound book (what a great present for someone) then I’d use card and my Bind-it-All.

Martha Stewart

There are also loads of excellent tips on Martha Stewart’s website. I’ve also added her calendar’s into my outlook, so that I can choose to do or ignore her suggestions for the week. Simple things like checking smoke alarms etc.

Time to have some fun at the same time as getting organised.

Enjoy