A Working Gal's Food Organisation 101

From time to time, I've been asked how one is able to produce at least 20 meals a week and thought I'd share some of those tips with you. You may already have implemented them in your life - it would be lovely to hear affirming comments and also some of your tips too!

Tip 1: Shopping Seasonally

For those of us who live in countries with four seasons, we are incredibly blessed to be able to purchase the freshest produce at its optimum growing season, at competitive prices!

Tip 2: Knowing how much to buy

This is quite often rather trickly. Buy too much and one risks throwing out fresh produce at the end of the week (I hate this wasteful act). Over the years, I have learnt exactly how much to buy and it always brings me delight when there's hardly any fresh food left in the refrigerator by the end of the week!

Tip 3: Buying meat in bulk and freezing the rest

I am always on a look out for meat that is sold in larger quantities (e.g. a tray of 8 rump steaks instead of 2) because it is priced better, I am able to re-pack the "access" meat for other meals and they freeze well so long as you store them in zip lock bags and ensure that moisture does not get in!

Tip 4:
Preparing vegetables in advance

I am referring to vegetables that are hardy such as beans, broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. I tend to cut them up and store them in zip lock bags so that they are ready for cooking. Saves time during the week!

Tip 5: Freezing soups and stews for later use

Every fortnight, I tend to make large servings of soups and stews that are not cream / coconut based / have potatoes in them. They freeze very well and is easy to re-heat either over the stove or in the microwave. In this photo, I have a container filled with lamb meatballs in home-made sauce and in the other, Ox tail soup.

Tip 6: Making sandwiches in advance

I tend to make 2 days worth of sandwiches at a time which we have for lunch in the office. It's cheaper and healthier to bring food from home! Most people make their lunches after dinner or in the morning before they head out to work. It's too tedious! Do it in advance. Stick to ingredients that do not perish (e.g. tomatoes, cucumbers). These sandwiches shown here have avocado, ham and spinach.

Tip 7: Preparing healthy and quick snacks

Here's one of our favourite snacks to bring to work. Hard Boiled Egg. They are wrapped in cling film for hygiene and transfer purposes. Again, I have cooked several in advance so all we have to do is put 1 on our lunch bag. I always have a big bowl of fruit sitting on the dinning table so we also grab 1 fruit each day.

Here are my tips and I hope you have enjoyed reading them. What do you do?