It’s the same story every January – the excesses of the Christmas period seem to drift on for another month. I rarely make New Year’s Resolutions. I’ve learnt from experience that they require will power, something that – when it comes to cake – I just don’t have.

However, all good things must come to an end and by the time February swings around, I am starting to look at my food habits. I don’t really hold with diets. I do worry about my weight but I try not to buy into that whole cultural obsession with a woman’s size and shape. So I try to avoid the scales (not least because I don’t want to break them!) When my jeans get too tight, I know I need to lay off the cheese and chocolate and take on board more fresh veggies and fruit. Or at least that’s the theory.

We start with really good intentions – the fridge is crammed with salad and healthy snacks and the fruit bowl is overflowing. But a week later, most of it has gone off and we end up chucking it all out and calling up a pizza.

I’ve found the most effective way to address my expanding waistline – or should that be waste-line? – is to tackle the healthy eating issue as a family. Instead of buying extra produce for me to eat on a lonely diet, (which relies on my non-existent will-power to prevent it going in the bin), I change the way I cook for the whole family. It doesn’t take too much doing and they don’t even notice. Eating fish & chicken more often and leaving out cream, butter & cheese. Grilling and baking, rather than frying. Instead of steamed puddings I’ll make bowls of fruit salad, instead of mash we’ll eat baked potatoes.

I’ve found that keeping an eye on portions not only helps save waste, it also helps save your waist! If you’ve cooked too much, you’ll either serve it up or throw it out. And because we’ve been taught to finish what’s on our plates, we tend to eat what’s put before us. Measuring things more accurately, especially carbs like pasta and rice, really helps to control portion sizes.

More than ever I plan ahead and stick to my list when shopping, so that I’m not tempted by naughty things in the supermarket. Otherwise I bring them home to be struck by a pang of dietary conscience, and end up throwing them out in order to remove the temptation. It’s not rocket science really, is it? 

So if I had to make a New Year Resolution it would be simple. Don’t buy it if you’re not going to eat it. And if you’re going to eat it, remember some things will just stick to your hips.

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Waste not, waist not!

Talking of freezers, I’d be completely lost without mine. We’ve got one of those enormous American style ones, given to us by a friend. I was terribly grateful – it is absolutely huge and has made such a difference to the way I shop and plan meals for my tribe. I really regard it as another storecupboard, only much, much colder. I throw all the meat and fish into it when I’ve done the weekly shop, portioning up the really big bags into smaller ones to make it easier. Then I only have to remember to take something out each night before I go to bed, to defrost for the next day’s supper. It means the fridge is much less crowded now. I can see what’s in there and things don’t get lost behind the yoghurts. No more missing the ‘use by’ dates on forgotten packets of sausages and having to chuck them out. No more discovering the last slice of bacon, a bit blue around the edges and fit only for the bin.

Or that’s the theory anyway… The freezer is so full at the moment that I can’t actually find anything!

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The Big Chill

To plan or not to plan?

There’s a lot of sense in having a rough battle plan – otherwise the kids would end up eating microwave pizza every night and I would be arrested by Jamie Oliver. I’ve found a great website which does it all for you. “The Kitchen Revolution” offers weekly time and money saving recipes as well as shopping lists which you can download. The menus all fit together to use up some of the same ingredients, so you cut down your grocery bill and preparation time. It may not be to everyone’s taste, as some of the ingredients used are not run-of-the-mill – a good thing in my book – and you need to be fairly competent if you want to substitute them for things you like. But as a great list writer, I loved the method of organising and planning your cooking like a military campaign!

We tried it out here for a fortnight and I was impressed by how little food we threw away – but it all went to pot unless I was the one doing the cooking. I had to trust the husband to carry out the plan when I was out, but I would get back to find the kitchen littered with empty pizza boxes…

Save Time and Money

Love Food Champions
Two Week menu Planner
5 Sure Fire Ways To Save Money On Your Food Bill

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Planning A Kitchen Revolution

Supermarket Savy!

Featuring Julia Falcon from Love Food Hate Waste! Julia gives some great advice on buying and storing fresh fruit and veg, meat, fish, and dairy products. She explains what those ‘best before’ and ‘use by’ dates really mean and how to use your freezer more effectively. She’s even got some good tips on buying ready meals and party food – perfect for Christmas entertaining.

Turkey Crumble, anyone?

Alison Gribble from the WI has some brilliant ideas for turning Christmas dinner leftovers into some delicious dishes. She shows us three recipes to use up what’s left of the turkey, stuffing, cooked veggies, potatoes and – even the gravy. She combines her well-stocked store cupboard with her imagination, to make sure her Christmas cooking goes on feeding her family into the New Year.

Christmas Leftover Recipes…

Turkey, Ham and Leek Pie
Christmas Pudding Strudel
Pear and Stilton Toasts
Cranberry Brownies

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Two Great Christmas Films… to help you save money!

Small and gorgeous…

Talking of mince pies, they do freeze brilliantly, which is just as well because we’re going to be eating them until Easter at this rate. I’ve just spent £20 on two mini muffin trays (don’t tell The Husband) because I thought that if I make them really small, they look gorgeous and guests can get them in their mouths in one bite. It will rescue the carpet from potential mince-pie spillage and therefore actually save money in the long-term… A friend pointed out that I could have spent less than 20 quid on ready-made ones from the supermarket and saved myself a whole heap of stress. She’s right, those TV ads for perfect little nibbles are really tempting, but buying them doesn’t quite fit with my domestic goddess inclinations…

Furry squash!

We’ve eaten a lot of baked potatoes this week – partly because my planning has gone to pot slightly. With all this frantic activity in the kitchen, I’ve ended up running out of time in the evening and having to fend off starving children. So I’ve chucked potatoes in the oven for a quick supper, but I’d already defrosted some stewing steak for a casserole and also some sausages to have with mash. Now I’ve got to cook it all up before they go past their dates. I did manage to use up the carrots earmarked for the stew in coleslaw. But the butternut squash, which usually lasts for ages in the veggie rack and was going to be served roasted with the sausages, has gone decidedly furry.

But a least we’ve got mince pies…

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Mince Pie Madness

A fortnight’s food…

I start by writing down what we need for the big one – Christmas lunch. Then I work out who’s coming to stay and what other meals I’ll need to provide. We tend to throw a party the week before Christmas and have people over for New Year, so I plan for those evenings as well. Then I fill in the gaps – a bit like joining up the dots – using leftovers and items from the store cupboard and freezer, until I have the whole fortnight’s food pretty much sewn up.

My extended store cupboard…

I treat my freezer as an extension to my store cupboard, only much colder. I’ve been buying a little bit for Christmas each week, already i have cocktail sausages, streaky bacon, sausagemeat and puff pastry in the freezer. Stocking up now means any unannounced visitors will be easy to cater for and they’ll be terribly impressed by how organised I am! (As long as I don’t lose my lists…)

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Christmas Crowd Control

The Queen of Free-lunching

My cousin takes a packed lunch to work every day. I make it for her when I am doing the kids’ lunchboxes.  (Family duty prevents me from telling her to move out of my spare room and make her own flaming sandwiches…) So when she sits down in the staff room at lunchtime, she has no clue what she’s going to get. It wouldn’t be so bad if she was a shy retiring type, content to lift the lid and just nibble away self-consciously in a quiet corner somewhere. But no, she feels the need to broadcast far and wide exactly what she has in her lunchbox and take all the credit. In other words, she deliberately tries to provoke lunch envy in her colleagues and claim the ‘queen of free-lunching’ title.

Who’s got the best lunch today?

If you needed any more encouragement to jump on the free-lunching bandwagon, lunch envy is another brilliant reason to use up those leftovers. But my cousin won’t be wining the “I’ve-got-the-best-lunch” badge today and you might want to make your own sandwiches, just to be on the safe side. Boiled egg and marmalade, anyone?

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Lunch Envy

The most useful thing I’ve picked up from free-lunching is using up leftovers at lunchtime. Every night I forage through the fridge to make the kids’ lunchboxes. Normally there is something left over from supper, or the weekend’s dinner, that can be transformed into a far more exciting alternative than the usual cheese sandwiches. Lunch is now a bit of an event in our house!

Wrap it up…

My secret weapon is the humble wrap. They take just a minute or two to defrost straight from the freezer – I tend to keep them in there for emergencies, so there is always something to put leftovers in. Spread them with mayo – the glue which keeps everything all together – and then grate over some carrot or toss in some shredded lettuce. You can hide all sorts in wraps, like the tired remnants of a salad or a spoonful of beans. I pick out the bits of meat from leftover casseroles and curries, or slice up cold sausages and burgers, add the last slice of ham, a couple of prawns, or the odd bit of cheese. If I can get it in a wrap, you can bet it will turn up in somebody’s lunchbox the next day.

Free-lunch in private…

I am a bit selective about which leftovers I allow my family to have in their lunchboxes. Not because they are fussy, but because I tend to earmark the best ones for myself and hide them at the back of the fridge behind the orange juice. You don’t have to go out to work to free-lunch. If you work at home like I do, you can free-lunch in private! I have a secret thing for shepherd’s pie, smeared thickly on to toast and topped with grated cheese. The joy of free-lunching at home is that nobody gives me funny looks about my choice of food combinations and I get to use a proper metal fork, rather than one of those ridiculous plastic ones.

Great for lunch recipes…

Vegetable Lasagne
Broccoli Stalk Soup
Leek & Broccoli Mini Muffins
Beef & Bean Salad

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The Joy of Free-Lunching

A forgotten and very furry loaf of bread…

The Green family, prompted by the discovery of a forgotten and very furry loaf of bread, have challenged themselves to a week of zero food waste. Mrs Green has been checking her use by and best before dates, and planning her grocery shopping around what she already has got in her fridge, freezer and store cupboard. Already she feels she’s saved money and drastically reduced how much food she was throwing away. So just how is Mrs Green getting her family to eat up those leftovers? “If you don’t eat it, you’ll find it in your soup!” Inspired!

Take the challenge…

Challenge yourself to a week of zero food waste. It’s a brilliant way to see just how much food gets thrown away in your house – even if you don’t think you are very wasteful, it’s a real eye-opener. It is also great to see just how much money you can save. Start by getting to know your Best Before and Use By dates which can be quite confusing. Knowing what your dates mean will help you use up stuff safely without having to cross your fingers!

More tips for a week of zero food waste…

Store cupboard essentials
Five sure fire ways to save money on your food bill

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The Zero Food Waste Challenge