The average Australian household throws out around $600 of food each year (more info on this study). This is bad for your bank account and bad for the environment.Planning meals and shopping in advance is a great way to reduce food waste. Dinner leftovers for lunch also make an easy way to save money and reduce waste.
I was in a stationary supply shop (staying calm in the presence of so many colourful pens and filing systems...) when I came across A4 sheets of white magnet that can be put through your printer like regular paper.
I made a table in Microsoft word with thick lines and filled in the table with a Monday to Sunday strip, the names of everyone in my family, who, what, and the meals we cook regularly. I printed this onto the magnet and then cut out along the lines of the table.
Now I have the magnets on my fridge, I plan the meals every weekend then do the shopping accordingly. If anyone wants to know what's for dinner - the answer is right there. No more getting to the fridge on Thursday to find half a carrot, Parmesan cheese and milk.
If I can't think of a meal for a particular night, there is no need to go rifling through recipe books, all our tried and true favourites are right there on the fridge to inspire me. I also added a few blank magnets to fill in with pen later and a series of mix and match magnets such as "wrap" "pasta" "curry" "vegetarian" "Lamb" "Vietnamese" "Mexican" from which I can make things up if I want to cook something for which I don't have a magnet. I could put them together to make "vegetarian curry" "Vietnamese lamb pasta" "lamb wrap" "lamb curry" etc.
To make planning easier I organise the meals on the fridge under the name of the person who usually cooks that meal.
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