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We’re Having A ‘Use It Up Week’!

October 17, 2011 by SimplyBeingMum

I mentioned Friday that I had a ‘Use It Up Week’ planned. This was mainly due to the guilt of my overspend on the previous weeks groceries. I’d spent £75 by online grocery shopping, which is 25% lower than what I used to spend but it’s still £25 more than what I have been spending the last few weeks. If anyone’s in any doubt how much blogging can keep you on track with developing new habits – don’t be! Since I posted about my reduced spend I feel totally accountable to meet that target as much as I possibly can…

As a fanatical meal planner I don’t carry much surplus in my cupboards, fridge or freezer, there’s no need and I believe it leads to waste. I like to think I work on more of a ‘Just In Time’ basis. But food items do creep into our home, so every once in a while I have a ‘Use It Up Week’.

The ‘Use It Up Week’ plan 

Did I mention there was a plan? There always has to be a plan for me when it comes to food. (I’m not this organised in other areas of my life I promise).

1. Do an inventory of cupboards and freezer with a view to incorporating as many ingredients and items as possible. Particularly those that have been hanging around a while!

2. Design a meal plan (for 6 days) around those items, writing a shopping list for additional items required. This should be as minimal as possible.

3. Go without a few things for a week, and not add to stocks with additional items. When shopping resist buying anything above and beyond what is required even if it looks a good price/deal. The aim is to reduce stock in the kitchen.

In practice

On Friday morning I did my inventory. The following suspects stood out as items that needed using up;

Freezer items: Minced Beef, Sausages and Puff Pastry (missed fish fingers off photo – oops!)

Store Cupboard items: Tinned Chick Peas, Coconut Milk, Tuna, Evaporated Milk and Pudding Rice

Fresh items: Cooking Apples and Carrots

Taking into account some other basic store cupboard ingredients I always keep in such as flour, pasta, rice and frozen veggies I devised the following meal plan;

Saturday Lunch – Naan Bread, Cheese, Crackers, Crunchy Veg

Saturday Dinner – Fish Finger Sandwiches (Kiddy Tea) plus Popcorn

Sunday Lunch – Home-made Pizza and Garlic Bread for kiddos, Spicy Butternut Squash Soup and Garlic Bread for adults with Apple Crumble and Custard to follow (we had a few guests!)

Sunday Dinner – Toad in The Hole with Frozen Veggies with more Apple Crumble to follow!

Monday Lunch – Leftover pizza, crackers, cheese etc…

Monday Dinner – Tuna Pasta with Cucumber and Rice Pud to follow

Tuesday Lunch – My Favourite Soup with Bread Rolls

Tuesday Dinner – Minced Beef Puff Pastry Pie with Cauliflower Cheese. Pancakes for dessert

Wednesday Lunch – Cheese and Beetroot Sandwiches

Wednesday Dinner – Chick Pea, Potato and Coconut Curry with Chapatis with Cake and Ice-Cream for pudding.

Thursday Lunch – Carrot and Coriander Soup with Bread Rolls

Thursday Dinner – Slow-Cooked Spaghetti Bolognese with Garlic Bread. Fruit and Yoghurt to follow

Friday – No Waste Tastes Great

Once the meal plan was devised, I did my grocery shop and purchased;

I had a target of £25 (to compensate for the previous weeks overspend) but didn’t meet it.

I spent £20.84 at Home Bargains on staple items, £6.33 at CoolTrader on cold items (milk etc) plus £8.50 on fresh produce from the market.

Total = £35.67

I could have reduced my spend by approx £8 by not buying the Paracetamol, Wine, Naan bread, Chocolate Milkshake and Freddos! These items weren’t absolutely necessary but still a far cry from over indulgence me thinks! And I didn’t buy any meat products at all. The wine turned out to taste fantastic at £3.99, the naan bread at 49p for two is a bargain, the milkshake is for after swimming lessons. We have a little routine where the Kids have a choc milkshake and then a packet of ‘Tangy Toms’ (crisps) out of the vending machine. By buying the milkshake in advance I save 50%. The Freddos were an impulse purchase – I’m only human after all! Oh and I am desperate to try to shift the cold in advance of the half-marathon so have resorted to popping pills!

So far it’s going great, I’m doing a lot of baking and cooking from scratch (including bread, cake and biscuits), but I enjoy it. I’ve tried out a new soup recipe which was really nice and I’ll post the recipe. I don’t think we are missing out by having a ‘Use It Up Week’, to me the meal plan looks quite varied and interesting. There’s a good chance I will need to replenish milk as we have got through a lot this weekend, but that’s something I won’t scrimp on as for us it’s an essential! I’ll be taking the exact change to the shop though – no chance of any additional purchases that way 🙂

Do you ever ‘Use It Up’? How do you do it where you are?

p.s – I had promised photo’s of my cupboards (how exciting!!) but the post would have been too long and off topic somewhat. I’m planning a ‘What’s In Your Cupboard’ post for next week! 

p.p.s – Couldn’t resist taking a snap of my freezer contents though and have posted it on Facebook – click here

Filed Under: Conscious Spending, Simple Cooking Tips Tagged: baking, cooking, food, food waste, using up food, using up ingredients

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Carla says

    October 18, 2011 at 1:46 am

    I’ve been trying hard NOT to shop, as we really do have a LOT to use up! :/ Hopefully I can keep our budget low & use up what we have in the house!! Hope you’re feeling better soon!

    Reply
    • simplybeingmum says

      October 18, 2011 at 2:00 pm

      Hi Carla – Here’s a tip. Just decide that one week you aren’t shopping. Just grab milk and the bare essentials, and see what you can do with what you have. I’ve done that in the past when something has gone wrong for some reason and I haven’t had chance to meal plan or shop. We’ve never gone hungry! It’s amazing how creative you can get when you need to!

      Reply
  2. Carla says

    October 18, 2011 at 1:46 am

    I’ve been trying hard NOT to shop, as we really do have a LOT to use up! :/ Hopefully I can keep our budget low & use up what we have in the house!! Hope you’re feeling better soon!

    Reply
    • simplybeingmum says

      October 18, 2011 at 2:00 pm

      Hi Carla – Here’s a tip. Just decide that one week you aren’t shopping. Just grab milk and the bare essentials, and see what you can do with what you have. I’ve done that in the past when something has gone wrong for some reason and I haven’t had chance to meal plan or shop. We’ve never gone hungry! It’s amazing how creative you can get when you need to!

      Reply
  3. Carla says

    October 18, 2011 at 1:46 am

    I’ve been trying hard NOT to shop, as we really do have a LOT to use up! :/ Hopefully I can keep our budget low & use up what we have in the house!! Hope you’re feeling better soon!

    Reply
    • simplybeingmum says

      October 18, 2011 at 2:00 pm

      Hi Carla – Here’s a tip. Just decide that one week you aren’t shopping. Just grab milk and the bare essentials, and see what you can do with what you have. I’ve done that in the past when something has gone wrong for some reason and I haven’t had chance to meal plan or shop. We’ve never gone hungry! It’s amazing how creative you can get when you need to!

      Reply

Trackbacks

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    February 21, 2012 at 1:36 pm

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    May 11, 2012 at 10:48 am

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    May 11, 2012 at 10:48 am

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    August 30, 2013 at 9:27 am

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Welcome to SimplyBeingMum – one mother’s personal website documenting the journey toward a family life simply done.Here you will find a collection of recipes, ideas, musings and philosophies related to families who feel a pull toward a more conscious, mindful and simpler way of life.

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