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