Meal Planning Monday - 14th January 2013

Given last weeks news if how much food is wasted, I typically throw out at least half a carrier bag of untouched food from the fridge when I'm putting away my new haul of goodies.

So, I need to change.  Its a waste of money, our bins are too small and its just wasteful.

So here's my plan for this week and I will be strictly only buying what I need and using any leftover bits.

Monday - Roast beef dinner

Tuesday - Leftover Roast Dinner Pie

Wednesday -Toad in the hole with mash

Thursday - Crispy Chicken Strips, rice & peas and Dips

Friday - Steak and Chips with button mushrooms

Saturday - Quiche, beans and boiled potatoes

Sunday - Lean Fry Up

There's loads more meal plans on Mrs M's blog and if you're a slow cooker fan, check out Mediocre Mum's Slow Cooker Sunday.

What do you do with your leftovers? Have you any recipes? Leave a link below.

-I-

This weeks shopping list

Bacon -2 packs
Eggs - 12
Sausages - 2 packs
Tomatoes
Black pudding
Button mushrooms - 2 packs
Beans - 2 tinS
Ready made quiche case
Steak
Potatoes
Chicken mini fillets
Natural breadcrumbs
Aromat seasoning
Rice
Peas
Milk
Roast beef joint
Broccoli
Sprouts
Carrots
Parsnips
Goose fat

How To Make A Beeswax Candle

This is an easy activity for the kids, relatively cheap and a great way to give a personalised, handmade gift.

The wax is in the form of sheets that are rolled up.  There's no heating or melting required.

You will need:

Sheets of beeswax
Candle wick
Bits of ribbon
Glue, embellishments, anything you like!

How To Make a Candle

Lay out a length of candle wick and start rolling the wax sheet around it.

Keep rolling to form the candle.  When you reach the end, press the edge of the sheet into the rolled candle.

Decorate with ribbon or the embellishments of your choice.

If you want a fatter candle, press another sheet onto the edge when you reach the end rather than finishing the candle.

You can also cut the wax to give a fancy edge or use small cookie cutters on the very last bit to give a debossed effect.

Brilliant as a last minute gift and can be made months and months in advance.

The Art of Regifting - Part Two

Following on from yesterdays post about regifting, here's my ultimate tip to ensure you are never caught out.

Hold a regifting party.

1. Label each gift in your regifting stash with a value.

2. Gather friends and more importantly, friends of friends (remember the circles rule of regifting from yesterday?) Send out a sheet explaining what a regifting party is and why its a great night in.

3. Set up an area for each person to display their regifting wares.

4.  Swap gifts of like for like value!

Now your family and friends will never know you have turned their unwanted gift into a completely new gift - saving you money! They won't recognise the gift, its a fab easy way to save.

You won't manage to shift all of your unwanted gifts so the next step to making sure you're not left with a cupboard full of stuff you don't want is the old faithful - Ebay.

More on how to make the maximum amount you can from Ebay next week, subscribe to my blog to make sure you dont miss my tips for ensuring a successful sale.

And if you fancy a regifting party, leave a comment and let's see if we can get you all together.

Quick Meal: Cod with Red Pesto

Ingredients

Jar of Home Made Red Pesto
4 cod fillets

Method

Preheat oven to 190

Place cod fillets in dish and cover top with red pesto

Cover with foil and cook for 16 minutes

Remove and allow to rest for a minute

Serve with steamed vegetables and boiled potatoes

Simple eh!?! Have you read my 10 meals from a jar of red pesto post?

Filling Quinoa and Chicken Curry

Taking inspiration from the M&S Fuller Longer Ready Meal Range, I created a curry that is do filling that even I couldn't finish a bowl full.
Makes 6 servings
Ingredients
400g diced chicken
2 medium onions, diced
3 sweet potatoes, diced
Tin of chopped tomatoes
8 tsp Balti paste
2 litres of chicken or vegetable stock
200g Quinoa
Method
Spray the wok with oil
Brown the chicken and the onion
Add the Balti paste, tin of tomatoes and quinoa and let it sizzle for a couple of minutes.
Add the sweet potato and stock and simmer for an hour or until the sweet potato goes soft.
Voila! As it contains quinoa, you don't need rice or chapatis.  I'm sure you'll find it filling.
Enjoy!
What's your favourite one pot dish? Please leave a link below

The Art of Regifting - Part One

Regifting is the practice of sending a gift you have received but don't want to someone else. The danger is sending the unwanted gift back to the original sender.

Regifting is a massive money saver and if you simply don't have the spare cash to buy a gift, its a godsend.  If you have popular young children that are often invited to parties, you can save a fortune from regifting as duplicates often happen. 

To be a slick regifter and ensure you're not caught out, follow these simple steps.

1. Label the gift with who bought it you, when and what for (by this I mean birthday or Christmas not "because they think I'd love a floral bandana")

2. Make a list of your unwanted gift stash including a column for the gift giver and a column for who you can regift it to.

3. Make a note in your diary of when and,what you intend to regift.  I do this as I'm to forgetful to remember.

4. Wrap and label the gift ready to give!

WARNING!!  When regifting, consider your circles of friends and family. You can't regift to people who may open the gift in front of the original gifter in case they recognise it.

Tomorrow I'll share with you the ultimate regifting top to ensure you are never caught out and also how you can make money from your pile of unwanted gifts.

Don't miss it - subscribe to the blog!!

10 Meals from A jar of Red Pesto

This keeps in the fridge for a month in a jar and is a staple to have in if you want to add tastiness to your meals.It's also really cheap to make and can really be spun out.

I usually make a batch of this for my Slow Cooked Italian Roast beef and then use it up over the next couple of weeks in various ways.

The recipe for the pesto is on the Slow Cooked Italian Roast Beef Post.

So here's 10 ways I get 10 meals from this cheap to make pesto.

1. Baked Cod with Red Pesto Crust

2. Garlic Bread With Tomato

3. Baked Gnocchi

4. Bruchetta topping

5. Calzone

6. Minestrone Soup

7. Italian Style Quesidillas

8. Slow cooked Pork Casserole

9. Crispy Chicken Strips

10. Slow Cooked Italian Roast Beef

I also use the pesto to add oomph to spag Bol sauce and to spice up shepherds pie mince.

So what do you use pesto for? Please leave a comment and share your ideas

This post is linked up with Creative K Kids Tasty Tuesday