Cutting Down On Food Waste

 On thing that drives me crazy is throwing away food, either because something was bought and not used or because I made too much.

Both David and I do food shopping. That's alright but we don't always communicate with each other. For example, at the moment we have too many carrots, there were some in the fridge, David bought some and so did I. So I'm thinking how to use all these carrots before they rot!

Another bad habit of mine is making too much. At the moment there are four people here, on some days only three of us eat lunch or dinner here but I'm still cooking for 5!  On Sunday I made a Japanese meal, oyako donburi (chicken and egg on rice), miso soup and salad. The donburi and rice were finished in one meal but there was a large pot of soup and a dish of salad left over, the problem was I didn't want to use rice the next day, I'm trying to cut down on our rice consumption. So Monday's lunch was a mix of Japanese and Western cuisine.

I made pork patties with chopped green peppers, french fries, salad from the day before and miso soup. Sounds strange but actually worked out!

Monday's mixed lunch

 The pork patties are made from the thin sliced pork I buy. I chopped it into very small pieces, chopped some green peppers, seasoned with salt and pepper and used potato starch to pull the meat together. One good thing about this recipe is that it's very versitile, by changing the seasoning I can make it more Japanese style. It's also very quick to make!

My challenge for this month is to really cut our food bill! I picked up a few vegetables, tin of tuna and a pack of shredded cheese yesterday at one of the cheaper supermarkets, just 15 items came to 3000 yen ( about £15), I actually checked the reciept as it seemed a lot for so few things!  I don't buy anything fancy, not even fruit, unless it's on sale, but 3000 yen for a few staple items is ridiculous!  So it looks like menu planning, making shopping lists and sticking to a tighter budget!  

How are you dealing with high grocery prices?

Any tips or ideas?

Let me know in the comments!!!!