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Less Waste, More Time: Your sustainable weekly meal planner

One of the best ways to prevent food waste is to plan your meals in advance, and nothing helps more than having a full stock of pantry essentials.

We’ve pulled together some of our favourite and most popular recipes to help you easily plan this week’s grocery list (or next week’s) and leave you with less waste and more time!

Did you know?

You need to start reducing what you buy and always ask: Do I really need this?

Estimated CO2 Saving: 17kg per month (200kg per year)

You can reduce your overall consumption by questioning all significant purchases and resisting impulse buying. Before purchasing, give yourself at least a day or two to cool off.

Here is a menu plan: 3 Days – 3 Meals – Using the key ingredient SLAW

Making up a batch of Slaw on a Monday night is a great idea, and can be used over 3 days in these great recipes.

SLAW

Ingredients:

1/2 head green cabbage, very thinly sliced

1/2 head red cabbage, very thinly sliced

3 carrots, cut into matchsticks

Directions:

  1. Mix all ingredients together and store in the fridge in a reusable airtight plastic container till needed.

Meat Free Monday

SLAW AND SOBA NOODLE SALAD

Ingredients:

3 cups Slaw (as made above)

1 pack uncooked soba (buckwheat) noodles

1/2 cup thinly sliced shallots

Dressing:

6 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

2 tablespoons sesame oil

4 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced

1 tablespoon asian/thai red chilli sauce or chilli paste

salt and pepper

Directions:

  1. Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain; rinse with cold water.
  2. Combine noodles, Slaw and 1/4 cup shallots
  3. Combine soy sauce, seasame oil, chilli sauce, rice wine vinegar, sugar, ginger,  in a small bowl; stir with a whisk until blended.
  4. Add soy sauce mixture to noodle mixture, tossing gently to coat. Sprinkle with any remaining 1/4 cup green onions and peanuts.

Serves 4 – 6

Terrific Tuesday

BRONTE’S SLAW & CHICKEN TACOS

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Slaw (as made above)

2 medium to large boneless skinless chicken breast

1 Avacado, cut in squares

Sweet corn, 1 can (small)

3 limes

Jalapeños, optional

Marinate:

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika (regular paprika works too)

Directions:

  1. Put Slaw in a bowl, cover with juice of two limes, mix and let it sit to pickle while cooking chicken.
  2. Place cumin, salt, pepper and paprika into a bowl. Stir to combine.
  3. Place chicken breast into a large bowl. Pour over the marinate, then squeeze the juice of one whole lime over chicken. Stir chicken around with seasonings and lime. You can marinate up 1-5 hours if desired.
  4. Cook chicken on either a grill or frypan until cooked through and juices run clear.
  5. Transfer chicken to a large plate and let rest for 10 minutes. Thinly slice chicken.
  6. Put Slaw, chicken, Avacado and sweetcorn inside your softshell taco. Jalapenos taste great with these too!
  7. Top with your favorite taco sauce.

Serves 4 -6

Wacky Wednesday

ZESTY COLESLAW

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups slaw

zest of 1/2 lemon

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

  1. Add slaw to a bowl, lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, honey, salt and black pepper. Toss to combine.
  2. Serve this right away for more of a salad, or store it in the fridge overnight for a slaw that’s more pickled.

Serves 4 – 6

Tremendous Thursday

No Cook Sustainable Sushi

Finally Friday

Mushroom Risotto

Splendid Sunday (Australia Day)

Dominique Rizzo’s Sicilian lemon grilled meatballs.

Perfect Aussie meal to sever with a seasonal side salad!

How we live, and the choices we make with our money affect the planet, its climate and future generations. As women we make most of the spending decisions that determine how our households impact on the environment.

Together we can fight dangerous climate change with better choices. Everyone of us, everyday. It really is that simple.

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