Food Waste Friday!

Avoiding food waste and keeping to a grocery budget are two things I'm really keen on and menu planning is my number one way to make sure they happen, from planning snacks and lunches to all our dinners for the week. 

So, how did I get on this week?

As predicted I did go over budget on my groceries  (NZ $50 over), but things are looking a bit more normal this week and I am confident I will do the groceries in under NZ$200.

On the food waste front, not quite as good as last week!

A little bit of hummus left in the tub, one bun which got pushed to the back of the fridge and forgotten about, and a small bag of mandarins (I have to confess the bag of mandarins in the photo is not the bag that got disposed of. They got put in the bin earlier in the week, but I forgot to take a photo!). There were a few lunchbox items that didn’t get eaten, but I’ve decided not to worry about the whims of my children’s appetites in regards to Food Waste Friday.

So all in all not too bad. However, it could have been worse!

Thursday lunchtime I still had a couple of handfuls of baby spinach left that I didn’t want to eat raw and I didn’t want to throw away, so I pureed them into the baked potato I was having for lunch! With a sprinkle of cheese on top, they were surprisingly yummy (and not too alarmingly green!). Food waste problem solved :)

The Fridge

Not much to use up this week! The soup on the top shelf is for lunch today, the tofu on the second shelf is for dinner tonight, the peaches on the second shelf have just been opened and all the milk, cheese, eggs and condiments are in date. The fruit and vege in the bins are still good so they will be used up as snacks and meals in the plan below.

Menu Plan

When planning my menu I have to take a few things into consideration. I am catering for:
One person who is gluten-free
One is wheat-free (and many-other-things-free) 
One vegetarian 
One who will eat anything (particularly if it is covered in tomato sauce!)

So what are we eating this week?

Tonight it's Chicken and veges (nice and simple as I teach after school), with tofu for the vegetarian.

Saturday is homemade Pizza and chips.

Sunday is a stirfry (using up the left-over chicken) 

Monday is Steak, baked kumara (sweet potato), carrots, broccoli, with tofu for the vegetarian.

Tuesday is a vegetable Frittata (eggs, feta, pumpkin, potato, spinach)

Wednesday is tuna and vegies stirred through mashed potato (a simple but effective way to get my slow, picky eaters to eat up quick. Wednesday dinner is always a bit late as my daughter has art class until 5.30pm). Once again, tofu for the vegetarian.

Thursday is soup night! Pumpkin, potato and celery with lemon juice and mixed spice is the favourite at the moment.

Lunches: The kids will be having sandwiches all week.  Grown-ups will be eating leftovers and sandwiches depending on the day and what is leftover.  

Snacks are: date and walnut loaf, mini-muffins, corn-thins, sandwiches, chickpea chips, frooze-balls, assorted fruit from the fridge or fruit-bowl.

So there is my food week! 

How did you get on?

Thanks again to The Frugal Girl and SimplyBeingMum for the foodwaste and menu-planning inspiration.