The Secret to a Full Stomach, Empty Bin and Jingling Purse!

As a working couple, we do a big shop every Saturday. To maximise freshness of food and minimise food waste we knock our heads together before we go out - we write a shopping list! It’s simple and quite effective:


- Talk: First we discuss when we are going to be home, whether there will be guests and who is going to cook for the next few days. Communication is key!!

- Plan: Then we put down what we would like to eat depending on individual cooking capabilities and time at hand. We are not very creative during the week but at weekends we make an effort of trying out new things (which can be incorporated into our weekday routine) or dishes that take longer to prepare. What’s going on the eating plan depends on following:

o If there is a dish that needs a little of e.g. cream, then we’d make sure there is another recipe on the list that also needs a little cream.
o Allow for seasonality of ingredients
o Dishes with ingredients that don’t stay fresh for long are cooked earlier in the week
o The shopping list takes us up to Wednesday

Then we pop down the ingredients needed on a list.

- Shopping: We try to stick to the list! If there is a great offer on we think twice whether we really need it and when we could possibly eat it. Pre-packed fruit and veggies are avoided where possible. They are usually much more expensive per lb/Kg so we only buy what we really need and avoid the packaging.

- Mid-week stock take: As I said, we only plan until Wednesday and we take food stock on Tuesday or Wednesday. It happens very often that there are some leftovers, not everything has been used up as planned, we weren’t home as planned etc. So we look at the fridge for what’s left, is there something expiring soon and how these things can be combine with other ingredients to make another dish. I.e we talk again what we want to eat for the rest of the week.

It takes being organised but it’s really worth it. I hardly have to get rid of any food because I know what’s in the fridge and what I can make with it...