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Hands slicing tomatoes on a worn wooden board beside lemons, herbs and a bowl of white beans

Kitchen · 15 min

A week of meals on one card

Fifteen minutes on the weekend: seven dinners on one card, one shopping list, and no more 'what is for dinner' at six o'clock.

15 minutesFrom the library, free to readFour steps
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The hardest part of cooking is often deciding what to cook, every day, at the end of the day. Deciding once a week, on one card, moves that choice to a calmer moment. It also tends to save money and waste.

The steps

Four small steps,in your own time.

  1. Choose a calm fifteen minutes before your main shop. Take a card or a sheet of paper and write the seven days down the side.

  2. Fill in the days that are already decided: leftovers, a night out, a regular dish. Then add easy meals on busy days and the one that takes longer on a quieter day.

  3. Check what is already in the fridge, freezer and cupboard, and write the shopping list from the gaps.

  4. Stick the card on the fridge. Swap days freely during the week; the card is a guide, not a rule.

The reason

Why it helps

Planning ahead takes daily decisions off a tired evening, and a list made from a plan tends to mean fewer impulse buys and less food thrown away. Seeing the week at a glance also makes it easier to include a mix of vegetables, beans, fish and other foods. It is a small job that pays back several times.

A gentle variation

If seven days is too many, plan four and leave three for leftovers, standbys or eating out. Keep old cards; after a month you will have a set of weeks you can simply reuse.

Neighbours setting a long table in a green garden

WE · TRIBE

Try itwith someone.

Plan it with the people you live with, each choosing one meal. If you care for someone who lives elsewhere, plan their week with them on the phone and share the shopping list with whoever shops.

Make it a plan in HIVELIVE, with WE

Try it today

This weekend, take fifteen minutes to write seven dinners on one card and make the shopping list from it.

Add it to your day

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