The Better Meal Plan
One of the biggest aggravations I have when it comes to food in the fridge is when digging in the back looking for something, only to find something I wasn’t looking for instead, and it’s unopened and expired. I might as well have just gone to the grocery store, made the purchase, then tossed it in the waste bin on my way out the of the store. We all know the feeling and there are some best practices to help prevent fridge-rage in the future.
First of all, you have to know your schedule. Are you able to plan meals a week in advance, a month, or just 3 days? The busy lives in the household should help you dictate a schedule that is manageable without too many chances for deviation. When deviation occurs, you end up grabbing fast-food and not only does it hit the wallet with that unexpected purchase, the food you were going to eat is now sitting unused and getting closer to the waste bin.
Which leads to the one that is my greatest frustration: know what is in the fridge. Keep a list of meals and their ingredients you already have close by. If for some reason you go off plan and use a key ingredient for something else, you need to know it is gone by marking the list. Otherwise you’ll end up with a hodgepodge of food stuffs that are unrelated unless you happen to be a master Iron Chef and can make a meal from pickles and peaches.
Don’t forget about the ‘non-major’ meals, like lunch, breakfast and snack time either. If you have a brilliant dinner plan for the week, and it ends up getting consumed during lunch, you’ll end up ordering pizza when you didn’t need too.
Pickles and peaches… I’ll need to Google that and see what’s for dinner tonight.
Source: Modern Parents Messy Kids