A Week of Food in the Green Grandparents House

A lot of people tell us they would like to reduce their food waste but don’t know where to start, or think it takes a lot of time and organisation. GG (Green Grandpa) and I are two of the most disorganised people you could meet, so believe me when I say, it doesn’t take too much planning 😂

Here’s how we do it.

For me, one of the key things is to have a store cupboard of key cooking ingredients, herbs, spices, tinned tomatoes, some kind of base, like pasta, rice, or couscous. That way we have options to makes something up or transform leftovers.

I do most of the food shopping, but we share the cooking. And as such, we both take responsibility for creating the shopping list. In years gone by I’d end up buying too much while doing the grocery shop because I couldn’t remember what I had in. So, with the wonders of technology, we’ve created a shared note on our phones, which we can both assess, and add items to it as we notice we’ve run out, or things we think we’d like to eat in the next week or so - works much better than my old system, of scrap paper on the fridge with a pen, which I’d always forget to take shopping!

I use the list, on my phone, as a base idea for shopping but the list often changes when I get to the supermarket, depending on offers and what’s in the yellow sticker section - I do love coming away from the supermarket feeling like I’ve got a bargain.

Here’s what I came home with last week:-

• Meatballs (yellow sticker)

• Whole Chicken

• Mince

• Potatoes

• Veg

• Frozen fish, chips and pizza

Once home, GG and I, draw up a food plan for the week, taking into consideration what items need using up first - in this instance the yellow sticker meatballs needed using (or freezing) first.

Our meal plan

Friday - 1/2 meatballs and spaghetti  (rest in the freezer)

Saturday - fish and chips

Sunday - guests round, chicken casserole

Monday - something with leftovers

Tuesday - jacket potatoes (meat free day)

Wednesday - lasagne - pre cook in oven on Tuesday while jacket potatoes are baking

Thursday - mushroom stuffed peppers (meat free day)

Friday - pizza, chill and a bottle of wine

Well that was the plan -

In reality

Friday - was meatballs, however GG got a little carried away and cooked all the meatballs.  Half of which he added to the tomato sauce and spaghetti. The other half went in a tub in the fridge.

Saturday

- lunch - we both had, fried onions and mushrooms, with a couple of yesterdays meatballs, cut in half, and a sprinkle of grated cheese, in rolls for lunch - delicious treat.

dinner - frozen pizza with added meatballs, mushrooms, cheese and chilli oil - naughty but nice

Sunday - whole chicken casserole, and roast veg, we had guests rounds. I spatchcocked the chicken - 1 it makes the dish look good when it’s bought to the table, but also cooks in half the time - and roasted veg

As always, when we have people round for dinner, I cooked too much and there’s load of leftovers - casserole in one tub in the fridge, roast veg in another

Monday - curry with leftbover chicken casserole, using rice and spices from the store cupboard.

There was a bit too much for GG and I, so rather than eat more than we should, 1/4 portion went into a tub in the fridge (wasn’t really sure what to do with it but didn’t want to waste it)

Tuesday

• lunch  - couldn’t reheat the leftover curry as chicken had already been cooked twice,  quick internet search for ideas, added a sliced apple, dopop of mayo, and threw it in a nice crusty rolls for lunch, quick, simple coronation chicken!) it was delicious

• dinner  - bubble and squeeze with left over roast veg and a poached egg on top

Wednesday - late home from the office, jacket potatoes cooked in the ninja - really surprised how quick and tasty they were  - we followed this link on how to cook.

Thursday

• lunch (day in the office) - 1/2 a leftover jacket potato with baked beans (heated in the microwave at work)

• evening - GG made his first ever cottage pie.

Think he got a bit carried away, it was huge! Far too much for one days meal. So as always, leftovers went into a tub in the fridge.

Friday

• lunch

I had the last half of leftover jacket potato and beans (again took into the office)

GG, instead of his favourite lunch, marmite on toast, he had a portion of the leftover Shepard’s pie

• dinner

GG really impressed me. He added spices to the last of the leftover cottage pie, and stuffed the peppers with it. Served with broccoli and mushrooms  - absolutely delicious

GG’s confidence in cooking is really growing, I love it 😻

By using leftovers we got some really tasty lunches and we still have the fish and chips in the freezer for another day. We used less bread than planned, so I’ve blitzed the stale bread into bread crumbs and popped them in the freezer.

As always we’d love to hear your comments and tips on making the most of your leftovers 🌻