When Andrew and I got engaged we were given a set of cook wear. We loved it but after 12 years they were dead. The non-stick coating was flaking off and once I found out it was a potential carcinogen we decided we had to get new cook wear. We ordered two saucepans to ‘try’ different brands but we weren’t particularly impressed with either. We were in desperate need of a frying pan and as we were at the Ideal Home Show in London we decided to have a look around.

There were no shortage of manufactures selling their wares but the one that caught our eye was the Woll Titan Plus range which is “the strongest cast aluminium pan series on the market”. After answering all of our questions the nice Woll man sold us the 28cm deep sauté pan.

This thing is bloody brilliant; I think it was forged by angels in the volcano of awesomeness. We were worried about the longevity of the non stick and the nice Woll man used a sharp knife to cut the bottom of the display pan many times to show us the quality. It even has a lifetime warranty on the finish!

This particular model is deep enough to act like a wok but shallow enough to be a frying pan. Also, the handle is removable and we can pop it in the oven. It is the most non-stick pan I’ve ever touched and it’s so thick and heavy I know it’s going to last ages. We loved it so much that I’ve been on the lookout for some deals and we’ve since purchased the 24cm stock pot with lid which I love just as much.

The only downside is the price, but if you consider how many years they will last you I actually think the price-per-year cost is very reasonable and is likely less-costly than some “cheaper” brands. I want to get two sauce pans and a small frying pan but I’ll keep my eyes peeled for a special offer.

2. Menu Planning & OurGroceries phone app

For years, Andrew and I had five problems in the kitchen department.

1. It usually wasn’t until 5:30 that someone would say, “What should we have for dinner” and then we would scramble around looking at what we had and what we could prepare in time.
2. Because of this poor planning we frequently wasted food.  Specifically, we would put something (say, half a cut union) in the fridge and we would never use it again.  As a result it would turn green and develop some hither-to-unknown life form.
3. Impulse buy at the grocery store.
4. One of us would go to the grocery store without the shopping list and not remember everything they needed to pick up.
5. We had an obvious lack of a personal chef.

Unfortunately, we still haven’t cracked #5 but we have certainly made inroads to problems 1-4.  ‘How did you achieve this miraculous turn around?’ I hear you ask.  Simply, we started menu planning.

Once a fortnight I will sit down with my handy menu planner printout download (links below) and develop a plan.

Here are my steps.

1. To do this I first look at the calendar to see what we have going on in that fortnight.  For instance, if we’re going out to dinner one evening I obviously leave that day blank.  And if we’re going to be out until just before dinner I’ll put something on the menu that doesn’t require much prep (e.g. a slow-cooker meal).

2. After that I vaguely figure out what meals we want to eat.  Because I’m the one planning the meals I get to pick whatever I’m in the mood for…. muwahaha.  –ahem -

3. Once I know what we’re going to eat I start to fill in the plan keeping in mind food we might waste.  (e.g. if a recipe only calls for half a bell pepper I’ll try to put another recipe that uses bell peppers near it.)

4. As I go along filling in my plan I write in the right-hand column items that we will likely need to pick up from the grocery store.

5. Now I take my handy plan around the kitchen just to double-check if we already have some of the ingredients on hand. (e.g. check the freezer to see if we already have a pack of frozen chicken breasts in there.)

6. Finally, I add the needed items to the (FREE) app OurGroceries which I have on my iPhone  and Andrew has on his Android. (Also available for BlackBerry.)  With this app we always have the grocery list on us, either person can update it and the other person can see the changes, and there is even a web interface if we’re not near our phones.  As I add them to the list I tick the final column.

So that’s it!  That’s what we do.  It’s a tiny pain at the planning stages but the amount of time/money/food we save more than makes up for it.  It also means that Andrew, who gets home before me, always knows what he’s preparing for dinner and knows that the ingredients will all be on hand.

I’ve included the link to my menu plan below, should you wish to download it. Above is a scanned copy of two used ones so you can see how I use it. (Notice in one I do the date American-style and in the other European-style.  Bad expat!)  I’ve started my week on Saturday since that’s the day we do our big grocery shop.  I’ve linked to the Excel versions below so you can change them to fit your needs, but if you don’t like my format there are tons of free printables online.  Some even include breakfast, lunch and snacks if you need that level of planning.

• Excel – A4
• PDF – A4
• Excel – Letter

Trust me, it’s worth it.

1.  My MacGyver lanyard (w/ carabineer)

Years ago, (I honestly couldn’t tell you… maybe 15?) I somehow acquired a lanyard. This isn’t your pansy modern-day ‘made-of ribbon-and-has-a-safe-break-away-bit’ style lanyard. This bad boy is like rope made from adamantium dipped in awesomesauce. A few years later I coupled this with a carabineer and I suddenly became unstoppable.

I use my lanyard+carabineer as my primary key chain which means I always have it on me. I’ve put my keys on different purpose key rings (one for car keys, one for house keys, etc.) and thanks to the carabineer it’s easy to pull one off if I need to give it to someone (the house sitter, the mechanic, etc.) Also, because of the lanyard I can sling it around my neck if I need to or I can use the carabineer to clip it to my belt loop, purse strap, whatever!  Thanks to this handiness I have used it as:

• a tie-down for the car trunk/boot lid
• a leash for Zuzu
• a bike lock
• a purse strap
• a handle on the pushchair for Luther to hold on to
• a weapon

Should you also decide to add this all-purpose tool to your gear, I recommend tying a small knot in the end of the lanyard so that you can easily loop it again through the lanyard to shorten the strap. (So that it doesn’t dangle down your leg while you’re driving or when it’s hooked to a belt loop.)

If you don’t make/buy/do anything else on this list this is my #1 suggestion.

To illustrate how useful it is, after I used my lightbox (and Andrew as my lighting boy) to take the photos for this post, I took some photos for an item I was posting on eBay.  As Andrew couldn’t stick around we mocked up a stand to hold the light.   See what’s keeping it all together?!?

P.S. I promise I wasn’t that behind in my singing… there’s obviously just a bit of lag in the recording process.

I know it’s a few minutes, but it’s a few good minutes.

So please keep buying stuff (especially for me!) but please try to choose high-quality, long lasting gifts; not just a bunch of junk that’s going to break and be thrown away.

Trick or treating:

And my favourite guest: