The friendly guide
How to reduce food waste with a meal plan
Plan meals that share ingredients, cook for the people at the table and give leftovers a night of their own. Less in the bin, more in your pocket.
1. Plan meals that share ingredients
Most food waste starts with half used packets: the rest of the coriander, three sad peppers, a tub of cream opened for one recipe. The fix is to pick meals that use the same things. A chilli on Monday and fajitas on Wednesday share peppers, onions and spices.
Aim for two or three ingredients that carry across the week, and you'll buy fewer, fuller packs that actually get finished.
How the app helps
"Plan my week" picks your recipes for you and favours ones that share ingredients, then tells you how many overlap.
2. Cook the fresh stuff first
Put the meals with salad leaves, soft herbs and fish at the start of the week, and save sturdier things like root veg, tins and frozen food for the end. Your fridge empties in the right order.
How the app helps
Your shopping list is grouped into fresh, fridge, freezer and cupboard, so it's easy to see what needs using soonest.
3. Cook for the people you're actually feeding
A recipe for six in a house of two is a fridge full of leftovers nobody wanted. Scale every recipe to your headcount before you shop, not after you've cooked.
How the app helps
Tell "Plan my week" how many people are eating and every recipe's quantities are scaled on the shopping list.
4. Plan a leftovers night
Leave one evening free for whatever is left. Soups, omelettes, stir fries and pasta bakes will take almost anything. Our kitchen guide has plenty of ideas.
How the app helps
If you ask for more days than you have recipes, the app plans leftovers nights for you rather than inventing meals.
5. Keep it different each week
Eating the same five meals on repeat is how plans get abandoned. Mix it up each week while keeping the shared ingredient trick, and see our weekly meal planning guide for the full routine.
How the app helps
Every plan comes out a little different. Shuffle the whole week or swap a single day until it looks right.
Questions people ask us
How does meal planning reduce food waste?
You buy only what the week needs, you choose meals that finish the same ingredients, and you know in advance when leftovers will be eaten. Less guesswork in the supermarket means less in the bin.
How the app helps
"Plan my week" builds the plan and the shopping list together, so nothing extra sneaks in.
What are good ingredients to use across several meals?
Onions, peppers, spinach, fresh herbs, a pack of chicken thighs, mince, cream, a big bag of potatoes and tins of tomatoes all stretch easily across two or three dinners.
How the app helps
Each day in your plan shows which ingredients it shares with the rest of the week.
How many meals should I plan for a week?
Plan for the nights you'll really cook, usually five or six, and leave one free for leftovers or a takeaway. Planning seven ambitious dinners is how food gets wasted.
How the app helps
Pick anywhere from 1 to 14 days, so you can plan a long weekend or a whole fortnight.
Or let the app plan your week
Choose how many days and how many people, and "Plan my week" picks from your recipes, reusing ingredients wherever it can. Then it writes one shopping list for the lot.