Meal planning update

Blimey two weeks fly past don't they? Well I played with the food plan idea and by and large it worked for me. I've based it on a very simple grid in a google doc with the idea of roughing out each meal to make sure I've got a decent balance of meals from a nutrition, variety and a "making the best of what I have" point of view:

w/c 17/9	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Breakfast
Lunch
Tea
Snacks

I have been using the first row to remind myself when bread needs to be made or whether something needs to be defrosted, pre-prepared or used up for the next day . Not sure i really need a breakfast line as it tends to meander between toast or cereal most days so no need to plan much.

As the last few posts show I have certainly cooked a lot more but have only used up some of the ingredients we have stockpiled over the last year or so. It being late summer a lot more ingredients are coming into the house so they are getting used up first - apples, plums, blackberries, potatoes, peppers, peas, and hazelnuts are just a few of the recent picks and these have been turned into pies, flans, omelettes and bakes - some of which have been devoured on the spot and others of which have been split into portions and frozen for "too tired/can't be bothered" days. 

I've already figured out I need more flexibility at the weekend as with J around we tend to either be out and about or busy doing jobs which means we sometimes have less time to prepare, get up late so three meal become two or with two sets of taste-buds to please we won't fancy what I originally planned so I'm going to follow the advice on the "A farmish kind of life" blog and just have a few ideas to pick from rather than a definite plan that inevitably goes awry.

It's too early to say whether it will improve the shopping planning and thereby reduce waste but I'm hopeful. I've managed to sort the veg stores and the fridge out, rescuing a few things that were on the verge of being consigned to the compost bin and have had a cursory rummage through the freezers (need to do a proper inventory this week). I still need to go through the larder though - I soon realised I need to do that when someone else is here as getting to some of the things involves reaching and twisting and bending, all of which I'm not supposed to do! Mum is visiting next week so she might be up for helping with that, if not it'll keep for the next wet weekend when J and I can get to it.