Meal Planning to Use What You Have (& Save Money)

Welcome to Episode 15 of Quirky Cooking Chats (Season 2), with Jo Whitton: "Meal Planning to Use What You Have (& Save Money)".

{Watch this video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/DARsGKLZ-rk}

Get a peek into the veggie drawer in Jo's fridge, and find out how she plans her meals from the fresh produce she has on hand each week!

Did you know that Australia is one of the worst countries in the world for food waste? Foodbank Australia says Australians waste 7.6 million tonnes of food each year, and 70% of that food was still edible!!

Jo says, "I think it’s really important to learn how to meal plan so that you’re using what you have, rather than meal planning to recipes that you want to make. Otherwise you plan a great week of meals, go and buy all those ingredients and bring them home - you’ve got the best of intentions -you pop them all in the fridge and you’re like, “I’m going to be so organised this week!!” Then by about Tuesday you kinda lose motivation, you’re tired after work, you need a quick meal so you say “well I’m not making that one tonight, we’ll just have something easy”, or you get takeaway, and little by little you sort of lose the plot, and then by the end of the week you’ve got a crisper full of soggy veggies and you give up, chuck them out and start again!"

Sound familiar?

It’s really common to make the mistake of buying more than we need. Jo's trick is to check what she has on hand first, do a “fridge audit” before doing her meal planning, then she plans her meals for the week around that.

Learn to ‘make do’, use what you have, and reduce food waste in your home!

Visit Quirky Cooking for more healthy eating and healthy lifestyle tips here: https://www.quirkycooking.com.au/