Julia’s challenges

Julia was looking for help with meal planning and meal inspiration for a gluten and dairy-free diet. She thought that she’d be able to work it out for herself but just never got around to it. It was one of those things that kept being put off but, in the meantime, she would end up with pasta pesto for dinner all too often and buying an unsatisfying and expensive lunch at work, even if she’d just done a food shop. None of this was conducive to the healthy diet, weight loss and energy boost she needed.

How we overcame them

Julia simply needed a kick-start so booked in for a meal planning mini session. We covered off meal planning – what it is, how to do it and how often, where to look for meal inspiration, as well as how to get organised to make meal planning easier and more efficient.

We looked at how to make food go further, storing food properly and stocking up the store cupboard. I also introduced Julia to the food waste audit so she could start to see the trends in the food she was throwing away and put a plan in place for reducing it.

Next step

Julia is all set for successful meal planning for breakfast, lunch and dinner, with her meal plan template on the fridge. She’s going to take an inventory of what’s been forgotten in her freezer and plan to use it on the days she’s working late before restocking with regular batch cooks. Once she’s completed her food waste audit, we’ll take a look together at how we can tackle the food waste.