Meal Planning

I've never really been too good at planning our meals in advance. Lately I have noticed that my repetoire of dinner dishes has become really narrow. I was bemoaning this fact to some friends 2 months ago in the hopes that we could all get together once a month to try out new recipes together...but that idea didn't go down so well. 

I decluttered the fridge door during the holidays

However, the most skilled chef among my friends, must have heard my desperation and organised to come around to show me how she organises her weekly meals and grocery shopping. She has great ideas and could write her own organising blog or book but is too humble and probably too busy with 3 kids and a family business.

This was my first week of ideas.

After planning my first week of meals my girlfriend then had a bit of a look through my pantry and said "You need to start here instead. You have so much food already!" So after she left, I re-jigged my meals. I can happily report that our family is now eating it's way through the pantry and freezer items.

I swapped noticeboards with my kids and put this one inside the pantry door.  I have since made some of the features un-erasable with the use of a permanent marker.

 Kid's Gallery

A steady stream of artwork comes home from school and Preschool, particularly with my my two youngest children.  Most are big enough for wrapping paper but thankfully some of the pieces are small enough to display on the fridge.

I  have also clipped A4 pieces to the wall in the kitchen. One display folder for each of my children.

I also put some new artwork into matching frames.

Other artwork is found scattered around the house.

Eventually I will get around to sorting through the basketful of other artwork that hasn't made it to the walls or fridge.