In recent times I have been dealing with food wastage. This is largely because I am not big on food consumption. I also get bored easily when it comes to food. I could lose desire for a meal that I prepared within a week and this includes drinks. I also do not have the patience for stale foods like bread that has stayed beyond 4days. After giving it so much thought and getting cranky every time I had to throw food away, I decided it was time for an intervention. Something that was going to help me prevent food wastage. Interestingly, I came across an Instagram post by a meal plan advisor, plan2chop.ng. Some of the steps she enumerated were steps I have also taken and i thought to also share with you.
Meal Planning
The first decision that I made was to create a mental meal plan using the LIN belly blaster meal plan by Ronke Edoho of 9ja Foodie. This E-book contains a 3week meal plan with recipes. All I did was to tweak the recipes to suit what I like and what is readily available to me. For instance, I should have baked tilapia on some days. I have swapped that with fried Titus fish. For some of the in between meals which you should snack on, I have opted for corn because I love corn. This Day 3 of the meal plan and so far, I am doing just fine.
Shopping List
Usually, I have a shopping list when going to the market. It is a habit that I picked up growing up when my dad would make us submit a shopping list with figures attached to each item. However, on my last grocery day, I was more intentional. I knew what I really wanted. I cannot believe that I didn’t even shop my favourite bread because for me, it was not on the list and I already made yam a carbohydrate that I needed to get in the house. So, you should try it. Share your grocery shopping list with us using the hashtag #stinspired.
Storage
Plan2Chop did advise the use of the freezer to store food. However, there are a few items that I haven’t been able to store effectively in the freezer. So, I have been doing a lot of research and should be better by my next grocery trip. Also, just because it says to store food in the freezer don’t mean I intend to get the things that I do not need. I have told you my problem with losing interest in food so quick. So, store in the freezer or not, I just may wake up one morning and feel like it has to go. So, I am not keen on storage as I am on buying what I need. As a matter of fact, if 4ou come visiting without informing me, you will have to snack on fruits if any and then drink some chilled water.
Share
This I do but only with the people who work with me. If I have something that is still good, I would rather give it out than hold on to it till it gets bad. That has been my strategy but then again, it is a lot more about sharing because I feel the need to than just because I do not want things to waste. This week for instance, I barely have anything that may go bad. So, when I give to them, it is more intentional.
What steps are you taking to prevent food wastage?
Featured image via HuffPost
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