Thursday, 2 April 2015

Thursday menu plan

A bit behind this week... 

I find that we all tend to go into 'siege mode' when the shops are closed over Easter. It seems almost unfathomable that shops used to be on Sundays within living memory, and indeed outside of capital cities now! 

Thursday: Ham and veggies 
Friday: Burritos
Saturday: ? Eating out or scavenge ?
Sunday: ? Eating out or scavenge ?

Monday: ? Eating out or scavenge ?
Tuesday: Stir fry 
Wednesday: Chili con carne
Thursday: Slow cooker Moroccan chicken 
Friday: Slow cooker chicken curry 
Saturday: Bolognese 
Sunday: Scavenge 

Monday, 23 March 2015

Monday menu plan


Last week recap 


Monday 16: Pasta bake (freezer) All good 
Tuesday 17: Sausages with veggies and mash All good 
Wednesday 18: Asian chicken noodle soup All good 
Thursday 19: Chicken bolognese (from freezer) I can't remember - we had chili one night but I'm not sure.
Friday 20: Chili con carne (from freezer) I can't remember
Saturday 21: Scavenge I ended up being unexpectedly out at a community event for five hours, so we ordered pizza
Sunday 22: Scavenge Sausages and veggies 

 


Monday menu plan

Monday 23: Sausages and veggies
Wednesday 25: Chili con carne (from freezer) 
Thursday 26: Stir fry 
Friday 27: Bolognese from freezer 
Saturday 28:  Scavenge 
Sunday 29: Scavenge 




Tuesday, 17 March 2015

Monday Menu Plan

It's good to get organised again and get back into it. It's a bit crazy that when I'm super stressed I don't have the time or energy to menu plan when it would be most helpful. 

Update from last week:

All good
All good

Wednesday 11: Sausages with veggies and mash
All good
I cooked up beef mince into pasta bake for freezer and bolognese so we ate the bolognese
Ham and veggies - the beans were yukky so it was just ham and carrot with cheese and biccies to extend it out. 

Saturday 14: Ham and veggies
We stayed at friends' unexpectedly for pizza 

Sunday 15: Scavenge
Bolognese from freezer

This week' plan:
Monday 16: Stir fry Pasta bake (freezer)
Tuesday 17: Beef bolognese (from freezer) Sausages with veggies and mash 
Wednesday 18: Chicken bolognese (from freezer) Asian chicken noodle soup 
Thursday 19: Moroccan chicken casserole slow cooker Chicken bolognese (from freezer) 
Friday 20: Slow cooker chicken curry   Chili con carne (from freezer)
Saturday 21: Chili con carne  Scavenge
Sunday 22: Scavenge 

Tuesday, 10 March 2015

Monday Menu Plan



Recap of last week:

Friday 27: Ham and veggies

Saturday 28: Bolognese

Sunday 1: Slow cooker Moroccan chicken casserole 
We ended up staying at friends' for dinner, but I'd already put this on, so I put it in the fridge and we had it on Monday night. 

Monday 2: Chili con carne (cook extra to freeze) 
I cooked up the chili on Monday and froze it, but we ate the Moroccan chicken

Tuesday 3: Slow cooker chicken curry 
Monday night's chili 

Wednesday 4: TBA
A friend dropped off some pumpkin soup on Tuesday night which was heartily enjoyed, with leftovers for the freezer for lunches.

Thursday 5: Bolognese 
Deli meat and veggies

Friday 6: Hot chook 
Deli meat and veggies 

Saturday 7: TBA
Freezer bolognese

Sunday 8: Scavenge 
I found some sausages lurking in the freezer, with frozen veggies and mash (using the potato and sweet potato I had bought for the chicken curry and not used) 

This fortnight:

Monday 9: Chicken bol + extra for freezer
Tuesday 10: Slow cooker chicken curry
Wednesday 11: Sausages with veggies and mash
Thursday 12: Chili con carne (from freezer) 
Friday 13: Beef bolognese (from freezer) 
Saturday 14: Ham and veggies
Sunday 15: Scavenge

Monday 16: Stir fry
Tuesday 17: Beef bolognese (from freezer)
Wednesday 18: Chicken bolognese (from freezer) 
Thursday 19: Moroccan chicken casserole slow cooker 
Friday 20: Slow cooker chicken curry 
Saturday 21: Chili con carne 
Sunday 22: Scavenge 

Friday, 27 February 2015

Monday menu plan

It's been a while and lots of changes have happened, but I'm looking forward to getting back into menu planning. 

Friday 27: Ham and veggies
Saturday 28: Bolognese
Sunday 1: Slow cooker Moroccan chicken casserole 
Monday 2: Chili con carne (cook extra to freeze) 
Tuesday 3: Slow cooker chicken curry 
Wednesday 4: TBA
Thursday 5: Bolognese 
Friday 6: Hot chook 
Saturday 7: TBA
Sunday 8: Scavenge 

Monday, 27 October 2014

Monday Menu Plan


Last week:

Monday: Pizza (take away)
Tuesday: Shepherd's Pie (from my awesome mum)
Wednesday: Moroccan Chicken Casserole (slow cooker) We haven't had this one before so I'm going to give it a try. I think I will serve with rice rather than couscous, because couscous scares me. UPDATE - it went well!
Thursday: Burritos
Friday: Stir fry (Hubby) Family BBQ
Saturday: Spaghetti Bolognese Family BBQ
Sunday: Scavenge

With the adjustments to Friday and Saturday, we actually stuck to the menu plan! We had beef strips and pasta for dinner on Sunday night.


This week:
Monday: Burritos
Tuesday: Sausages (Hubby)
Wednesday: Slow cooker chicken curry
Thursday: Stir fry (Hubby)
Friday: Bolognese
Saturday: Slow cooker Moroccan chicken
Sunday: Scavenge

Sunday, 26 October 2014

Decluttering


I am massively trying to declutter. The decluttering is definitely a work in progress, but I've had a few mindset shifts over the past months.

Anything is better than nothing
As far as decluttering or deep cleaning goes, I'm usually happy enough to sit down with a big chunk of uninterrupted time when I'm in the mood to tackle a big project. Take everything out, sort through it, clean it, take the good stuff to the op shop, store all the stuff that can be used again neatly then sit back and admire my handiwork.

A great theory, except for the two conditions - the big chunk of uninterrupted time, and then in the mood bit. While this is probably the most effective, efficient and rewarding way to declutter, it's also very rare. Like, I have bags of stuff to sort through which I shoved out of the way when I was pregnant. Three pregnancies ago. Because I haven't had a big chunk of uninterrupted time which correlated with the desire to do a clear out in four years.

So instead, I do nothing. Which is as effective as one would expect. I have a great system, it just doesn't get implemented and the resultant actual outcome is much crappier than the theoretical effective one.

So, my new reformed (ok, reforming) perfectionist approach is to just do something. If I only put three random things away from the table, rather than clearing the whole table (which won't actually happen, because REASONS), that's still better than actually doing nothing. A big clear out, 30 minutes on something, five minutes, two pieces of rubbish. Anything is better than nothing, and nothing is usually what happens. This applies to housework too. It doesn't matter if I don't have the time and/or energy to clean the whole kitchen - some work is better than no work.

Fill a bag
In the quest for gold stars, I've been keeping a tally of how many bags I can give away or donate. This morning I had nine, so I grabbed a bag and filled it. It was haphazard and inefficient - a few books, a toy, some shoes which I hadn't worn in years (actually, two pairs were even the wrong size and I had NEVER EVER worn) and I had another bag to drop off. There's no way that I would have gone into the wardrobe to clean it out this morning, but those shoes have gone now as I tried to fill a bag. It's inefficient, it's not systematic but it's a hell of a lot more effective because it ACTUALLY gets stuff done.

When in doubt, throw it out
...or pass it on/ donate it. Even if - especially if - it still has use. I have always tried to be conservative, not wasteful, careful, thrifty, frugal. Don't throw something out if it still has use in it. Except - we have too much stuff. So much stuff that I can't find the stuff that I need. For example, when I was grabbing the shoes mentioned above, I found two passport carriers. One was from ten years ago when I took my first overseas trip and was still in very good condition. The other I have no idea where it came from, but I've had it for ages and it's never been used - I know this because it's still in its original packaging. The 'best' part of this story - Chubs and I just went overseas last month, and I purchased a new passport carrier for that trip because I didn't know that I still had these other two, let alone where they were. I had kept my high quality passport holder from my first trip for ten years because it may be useful in the future, and then I went and bought a two dollar cheapie on the very rare occasion when it would have been useful. So today, I dropped all three passport holders in the donation bin. Someone else can use them in the meantime and I'll buy a new one when I need it again, which is probably what would have happened anyway.

This is a big mindshift for me. It seems extravagant and wasteful, but I have to remind myself that it's actually more efficient than the theoretical, but unachievable, alternative.
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