Planning

Sometimes I hit a run of being organised. The first three weeks in the new job for example, I was super organised in terms of food. I had menu plans, I had shopping lists, everything was sorted. We shopped at the weekends, we soaked and cooked beans, we made use of extra time at the weekends to freeze things. I had a list of jobs that needed to be done each night to make sure that dinner was on the table with a minimum of fuss.
It should be noted here that I have a pretty long commute, as does Ben.

Week four, I relaxed about it. What happened? Stress, eating more junk than usual, takeout and a total unwillingness to get on the scale first thing this morning.

So while utterly not logging my food or eating well this weekend (the haggis and cheese sandwich on Saturday lunchtime was a revelation, I must say) we made a menu plan.

I'll admit that I hoard cookery books. I love them, but when I don't menu plan, I get all my recipes from blogs or the internet. Then the cookery books just feel like they are taking up space and gathering dust. Not ideal.
My favourite cookbook at the moment has to be this:
 (picture stolen from amazon, hence the look inside bumf)

I love that vegan food makes me eat more vegetables. I love the recipes from this book that I've tried (my favourite being 40 clove chickpeas and broccoli which sounds odd but tastes amazing). I'd also recommend this woman's website post punk kitchen as there are some awesome recipes there. I love the broccoli udon curry.

When we menu plan we save money and reduce waste. This week one recipe needed lemon zest, so we factored in another recipe that needs lemon juice. That kind of using stuff up frugality makes me deeply happy. It also reduces my stress. There is a horrid feeling when I'm sitting at work worrying about what to have for dinner, what's in the cupboards, what's healthy, and on and on.

Having a plan frees up mental space for other things, like work. Or, you know, how long a 500st attached icord bind off on a shawl takes.

The answer to that on is a long, long, long time.I'm being good though - it is the only thing I am taking to knitting with me tonight, so it might get done.

Note to self: attached icord bind offs are not your friend. They will lure you in with pictures of pretty edges and promises of that little extra weight, but it is a trap. Don't fall for it again.