Day 7

Clean – Fridge

I give my fridge a complete clean every 3 months, usually the day before I do my weekly grocery shop.   In between this time a wipe over the shelves regularly with a cloth picking up any spills.

Cleaning task

Today’s cleaning task is to do the following in the fridge:

[wlchecklist name=’CleanDay7′]

I use my homemade fridge cleaner, with a microfibre cloth, as a scourer will scratch the fridge surfaces.

Read more: How to clean and polish a stainless steel fridge

Here is a post I  shared when I first started blogging, step by step guide to organising the fridge (I don’t put vegetables in our vegetable crisper, instead I use it differently).  

And if you want to go that extra step read here How I Organise inside my Fridge.

---

Declutter – Cookbooks

I love recipe books, I have a quite a collection which includes many from my mum and grandmothers.  I love the old fashioned recipes.  However there are only so many cookbooks one needs.  I am running out of storage space so I need to declutter my collection. There are a few cookbooks that I only use one or two recipes from, so I photocopy these pages and place them in my recipe binder and will then donate these cookbooks.

I have two recipe organisers, one for baking and one for cooking (dinners, slower cooker recipes etc).  Having all my favourite recipes in one place has been fantastic.

The recipe organiser is available in my shop.  Use coupon code 20daysrecipes to get 20% off at checkout.  Click here to download

[wlchecklist name=’DeclutterDay7′]

---

Organise – Meal Planning

If you have been a follower of my blog for awhile you will know that I am a huge advocate for meal planning.  I share my families weekly meal plans each Monday on the blog, pop on over to find some inspiration for your family meals.

There are so many benefits of meal planning, in brief it will save you time and money, eliminate waste, create healthy meals and so much more, you can read more about why I love it here.  I sit down with my Sunday morning coffee and create our meal plan, give the fridge a clean out and then go grocery shopping throughout the day.

How to use a meal planner

• Prepare your meal planner:
  • Laminate & use a whiteboard marker so you can re-use each week; or
  • Frame and write on the glass with a whiteboard marker; or
  • Create copies and file in a binder to repeat plans each month or so
• Create a list of all your families favourite meals.  This will be an easy reference when you can’t think of something to cook.
• Nearly every family has after school activities during the week.  Organise your menu around these activities knowing you can start dinner throughout the day to have it ready in time when you get home (or use your slow cooker, I love my slow cooker), or perhaps an easy meal is required on these nights.
• Glance through your fridge and pantry, check if there is any food that may need to be used soon?
• Have a look through the grocery junk mail and plan your meals around the meats and vegetables that are on special, this will help reduce your grocery bill.
• Perhaps you may cook up a double batch and you have left overs for the next day, don’t forget to include this in your planner.
• Now complete the planner with meals you would like to cook.  Don’t forget you can get some great meal ideas here from my blog.
• Next, write your grocery list then your ready to hit the grocery store!
• Place your meal planner somewhere (on fridge or in frame on kitchen bench) for easy access and family to see.

The meal planner is available in my shop in a variety of colours.  
Click here to view more details

---

New Habit – Meal plan once a week, each fortnight, or monthly.

Find time once a week to create a meal plan, after a few weeks you can rotate the same meal plan so you don’t have to sit and plan each week.

[wlchecklist name=’OrganiseDay7′]

---

5 Minutes Only – Wipe over kitchen appliances

[wlchecklist name=’5minutesonlyDay7′]

---

DOWNLOAD

Print the daily sheet and checklists to keep for reference while you are completing the above tasks.

• DAY 7 DAILY TASK SHEET – file behind ‘Daily Task’ divider – click to download.
• FRIDGE CLEANING CHECKLIST – file behind ‘Checklist’ divider – click to download.
• BLANK FRIDGE CLEANING CHECKLIST – use this to create your own checklist, file behind ‘Checklist’ divider – click to download.

Please share your progress in the comments below