I’m going to use this meal plans post to make a bit of a commitment today. A commitment to something I’ve been feeling a little uncomfortable about for a while. You know that feeling you get when your attitude towards something and your behaviour don’t match up? It’s called cognitive dissonance and we all experience it a lot. We can use this feeling in one of two ways: we can change the attitude (decide we don’t actually care about the thing we said we cared about) or change our behaviour. I’m going to change my behaviour, and that’s never that easy.
So the thing I’m feeling uncomfortable about is waste. I’m pretty good at decreasing my food waste but I still produce a lot of rubbish and waste in my household. It comes from my kitchen, beauty products and even stationary and I hate it. Yes I try to go for recyclable packaging and do all that stuff but in Australia we’re facing a bit of a crisis. We don’t process our recycling in a sensible manner at the moment and some councils just send it to landfill. I can’t actually control what my council or government does, I mean I can send letters and stamp my feet and repost articles shaming them. All those things are worth doing, don’t get me wrong about that. Some of my favourite people are absolute warriors when it comes to making their values known to their government. But at the end of the day change is a slow process. And how can I expect anyone else to change if I’m not doing it myself?
That’s why I’m going to start making changes in my own life so that I personally produce less rubbish and waste in general. Each month I’m going to have a list of changes I want to make, I’m going to try to keep it to 4 things as I feel that’s pretty doable. I also know from quitting or changing things in my life previously I’m better at incremental change than a huge life makeover. I’ll let you know at the end of the month how I’m going and I’m hoping that by the end of this year I’ll be making a smaller waste footprint and maybe helping somebody else (You!) to do the same.
My goals are all to do with switching to natural products and decreasing my reliance on single use packaging and plastic, as a well as decreasing the amount of things I’m throwing out in the rubbish.
This month’s goals: switch to a natural hair dye, find a plastic free moisturiser (preferably something that’s refillable?), swtich to natural plastic free deodorant, start a compost system at home.
Do I sound like a hippy? Haha I probably do to some people and the rest of you are going, ‘What?! You don’t have a compost?!’. I’m going to enlist my friend Kaitlin from reground to help me make these changes as she’s just killed it at plastic free July. I’ll share any tips I get along the way with you on Instagram too:)
But now what you’re here for, the meal plans! Remember that an end of the week cook up where you just use what’s in your fridge is a great way of cutting down your food costs and waste. If you love a little direction or don’t feel comfortable winging it message me on Instagram with what you need to use up and I’ll send you suggestions. I do this for a few friends and I think it’s fun, like my own personal Chopped kitchen.
Plan A
Day 1: Creamy Vegan Mushroom and Thyme Soup, start the week with a big batch of soup.
Day 2: Prawns and Chickpeas with Paprika and Saffron – serve it with crusty sourdough or just some green vegetables on the side. Still one of my favourite food memories from Spain.
Day 3: Roasted Potatoes with Fennel and Lemon, I’ll be having these with pesto baked salmon and some rocket.
Day 4: Brussel Sprout, Thyme and Crispy Skinned Duck Breast Risotto – such an amazing risotto with lots of tips for how to make it an easy dish to cook.
Day 5: Crispy Tofu with Broccolini and a Miso broth. I don’t make this enough, every time I think about it I start salivating.
Plan B
Day 1: Gnocchi with Cavalo Nero, Cauliflower and Goats Cheese, this creamy and indulgent gnocchi is full of veg to balance it all out.
Day 2: Roasted Potatoes with Fennel and Lemon, serve with a big handful of rocket and a couple of soft boiled eggs and call this dinner.
Day 3: Creamy Vegan Mushroom and Thyme Soup, the beans in this soup make it both creamy and really filling.
Day 4: Crispy Tofu with Broccolini and a Miso broth, soft and crispy and so delicate.
Day 5: Coconut and Ginger Eggplant Curry, the meaty texture of eggplant makes this a super satisfying dish.
This weeks bonus? Another savoury snack! These home made parmesan and black pepper potato crisps are hard to beat.
HH. x
