Tag: meal

Who’s the largest distributor of toys in the world?

No, it’s not Hamley’s, Toys R Us or Disney!

But in fact…..it’s McDonald’s!  Surprised?  So was I.

I was cleaning out Madame’s room today getting rid of toys to make way for the onslaught of new ones at Christmas and I came across a load of Maccy D toys, the ones that come in Happy Meals.  Have I just outed myself?  Yes, I take my daughter to McDonald’s occasionally, usually when I’ve had a tough week, can’t be arsed to cook or she’s been exceptionally good.  We call it the ‘Burger House’ or ‘Chez Ronald’s’ so she can’t out us to our posh Annabel Karmel wannabe mums!

I’m a firm believer of anything in moderation, so you can stop tutting.  We go on average about twice a month. In addition, I’m fully aware that cattle are a threat to the environment, as they produce more CO2 than transportation.  Then again, I was a vegetarian for 20 years so think I’ve done my part. So, unless you’re a vegan who doesn’t own a single synthetic or animal based product please keep it to yourself!

However, these toys are another environmental nightmare, you can’t give them to mates, as you’d have to admit you went to McDonald’s, and they’re made from nasty plastic that can’t be recycled. As a result, I now have a pile of crappy toys (who needs a Bazooka wielding penguin?) that I don’t know what to do with.  Sadly, I think they’re destined for a landfill site unless someone has a better idea.

This isn’t going stop me from going to McDonald’s however next time I’m going to say ‘no toy thank you’!

Photo Credit

Tired of deciding what to cook for dinner?

I am! This is where the inspiration came from.  I tend to do my shopping on a Monday and find myself trolling recipe books on Sunday night or Monday morning before I head to Morrison’s (yes, we slum it) and not being a natural in the kitchen doesn’t help.

It won’t generate recipes or create a shopping list for you but it will eliminate the need to make any decisions.  Hooray!  One less thing to worry about!

Start by deleting my list.  Then add all your regular meals, the main ingredient (pork, chicken, fish, etc) and then click the Random Meal Generator button and it will suggest 5 meals.  It took me all of 5 minutes to add my meals.  You may also want to add the odd sneaky take-away or possibly a new meal idea so it forces you to try something new.  Don’t forget to save it to your machine so you can add to it and make changes.

Don’t worry, if you’re not a meat eater, just add your own main ingredients (soya, quorn, falafel, quiche or risotto) and it still works.  No idea how, but it does!

Click on the image:

If you get a message about macros..you will need to go into tools>macros>security…choose medium and then enable macros.

I really can’t take credit for this…yes, I did come up with the idea but lovely James (@syzygy), who has a strange attraction to excel, did all the hard work for me.  If you find it useful please do drop him a quick tweet to say thanks!

I hope I saved you 5 minutes!