Stop food waste

This was posted recently on social media
Cutting food waste by a quarter would mean enough for everyone.

It just makes me so sad that people are suffering from hunger and we are wasting food.  I found that menu planning has really helped in our household with controlling the grocery bills and also with food waste.  We still buy things not on the shopping list, but our food waste is minimal.  If something is not salvageable it goes into the compost.  I think we all have ideas though that might help others to budget, plan meals and use up leftovers.  I am going to post our weekly menu, shopping list, some recipes and costs and then do a re-cap to see how we fared.  Are you willing to join me in this?

For now I will just post mine and follow along with anyone who wants to join in - then if there are enough people interested we could do a regular linky.

I normally shop over the weekend so start my menu from Monday - this was an example of last weeks shopping and menu. If something is already in the garden or pantry or freezer I dont add it to the shopping list, and if I am shopping and see a really good deal I will buy it and include it down the line.

 I have posted the Cauliflower and chickpea salad in my recipes as it was awesome.  Lately I have fallen love with patties and always have ziplock bags of lemon tuna patties and curried chickpea patties.  This week I tried a new recipe for chicken patties, they are a bit different as they are baked in muffin pans, and with a few adaptations that recipe also turned out to be a keeper. Better than chicken nuggets is what I called them.

This blog Dont waste the crumbs has some awesome tips on meal planning and budgeting.  Feel free to add links to your favourite meal planning and budgeting sites in the comments.

	Week	Lunch	Dinner	Shopping list
	Mon	Pita with cheese and salad	Cauliflower and chickpea salad	Eggs 2.99, basmati rice 3.29, olives 5.00, milk 1.8, barley 1.55 black beans 5.30 peanuts 2.68, dates 2.00, bread 3.00,
	Tues	Cauliflower and chickpea salad with boiled egg	Leftover roast beef and vegetables
	Wed	Leftover roast beef and veggies	Chicken nuggets, baked potato, tomato onion sauce and bok choy from the garden.	Chicken drumsticks 3.84, leg of lamb 22.83,
	Thur	Chick pea patties with leftover veggies	Leftover chicken nuggets with broccoli and carrots
	Fri	Salad	Fish and chips out	Cucumber 2.95, broccoli 1.78, potatoes 1.64, onions 1.96, pears 2.50, bananas 3.04, lettuce 1.50,
	Sat	Lemon tuna patties with salad	Roast leg of lamb with veggies
	Sun	Vegetable soup - make extra to freeze	Leftover leg of lamb with veggies
				71.85