EMPTY THE LARDER!! Save $$

I mentioned last week that as part of my money saving regime and in the lead up to an extended holdiay I was going to try to empty the larder - there's lots of bits and pieces in the pantry that could do with using up - they are not family favorites, so they tend to just sit there . . . . waiting until they expire.  Well its 7 weeks until we go away so I thought I'd have a look through and come up with a 'different' that is, irregular meal for 1 meal / week.  This way we will:

• save $$
• try some new
• waste less and
• emptry the larder

Here's my meal plan.  Incidentally I think the biggest saver of $$ is meal planning.  Dont buy what you dont need over the next week - it reduces waste - particularly of things with short expiry dates, and it means you are always eating fresh food.  All I do is forward plan the main meal for 7 days, and this saves time too as I can forward cook on the weekend, and make sure we have the ingrediants - no last minutes menu changes

Here's what I came up with:
week 1 - cannelloni - I've had these pasta shells for ages - it's time to cook them!
week 2 - gnocchi - likewise - sitting in the cupboard . . . waiting to be eaten
week 3 - dahl - its a tough sell with a carnovoric husband, but once over 7 weeks is do-able
week 4 - something with green lentils.  Hubby bought green lentils when I went flesh free over Feb - I've never used green lentils, ever, so I'll have to find a recipe
week 5 - falafel - Falafel has its origins in  . . . .(forgive me if I'm wrong - Lebanon??)  Its a delicious chick pea based ball, you can have them in a roll up kebab with salad, cheese, yogurt + garlic dip - that'll be popular.  You can buy the mix boxed up, add water, roll into a ball, lightly fry.  YUM!
week 6 - Vegetarian Frittata - also a leftover from my flesh free Feb, a can of soy based product that can be turned into a Frittata.  I Might even cook that up for lunches one week
week 7 - spring rolls - we have the casings - and some vermacelli, - it'll make for a fun dinner as you can lightly fry them, or not.  I also have a box of prawn crackers - they can be friend up for a special treat too.

I'll post up each recipe in the "KITCHEN" page.