Have you ever done your weekly shop and filled your fridge with a rainbow of healthy veggies, only to see them end up sad, wilty and unused? Yep, me too. And I’m not proud of it.

These days I’m on a mission to make sure more veggies end up in our stomachs (where they can do the most good!) and not in the bin!

One of the most powerful ways to avoid wasting food (and avoid calling for home delivery!) is to do some Meal Planning. Meal Planning (as opposed to Meal Prepping) is simply a process where you decide in advance what foods and meals you are going to make and eat. There is a Meal Planning template in our Members Resources Library (along with LOTS of other awesome stuff!). To get your copy, subscribe to my newsletter HERE!

But you still need to have some recipes up your sleeve, which brings me to my One-Cabage-Three-Ways trick!

Red cabbages are nutrient powerhouses!

A red cabbage is such a healthy addition to your shopping trolley - provided it ends up in your stomach and not in the bin after languishing at the back of your fridge!

Red cabbage is incredibly nutrient dense, boasting an impressive micronutrient-to-calorie ratio. It’s also fibre-rich, and a great source of vitamins C, A and K. As a cruciferous vegetable, part of the brassica family, red cabbage contains glucosinolates, which are metabolised by our body into anti-inflammatory isothiocyanates. It is also packed with a special type of phytonutrient called anthocyanins. I wrote about the amazing anthocyanins in purple plant foods HERE.

This is what I do when I buy a red cabbage

I use one third of it to make red cabbage sauerkraut

This is my recipe here. I do my weekly food shopping on the weekend, and I often make sauerkraut as a weekend project. It’s a little labour-intensive; it takes me about half an hour to make it, and really gives my arms and upper body a workout (two birds-one stone!!). And I’m rewarded with a supply of super-healthy, delicious probiotic veggies I can add to my salads over the coming weeks!

I use one third to make Ruby Coleslaw

This is my recipe here. It’s delicious for dinner with your preferred lean protein (chicken, salmon, tofu, etc)

Don’t get too hung up on using the exact recipe - if you don’t have purple carrots, use ordinary orange ones. Don’t want to make cashew mayo? Use regular mayo or dress it with an apple cider vinegar and olive oil vinaigrette.

I love to serve half with dinner and use the other half for lunch the next day for my husband and I. That’s the great thing about salads that don’t use fragile, wilty leaves.

I use the remaining third to make Sweet & Spicy Red Cabbage

This is my recipe here. I love to serve this with roasted pork, lamb or marinated tofu.

Sometimes I play around with the amount of cabbage I use across these three dishes

Because coleslaw is such a robust, non-wilty salad and makes great leftovers, I often use more than a third of my cabbage, and use less than a third for Sweet & Spice Red Cabbage. So play around with your cabbage and decide how much you want to use in each dish!

And here’s a sneaky prep-once, eat twice (or thrice!) trick…

All three recipes use shredded cabbage. So I usually prep all three recipes at once by cutting out the core of the cabbage, washing it thoroughly and shredding the whole thing in my food processor. I then use half of the shredded cabbage to make my sauerkraut. Once my sauerkraut prep is done, I make the ruby coleslaw ready for dinner that night, and because the ingredients for Ruby Coleslaw and Sweet & Spicy Red Cabbage are so similar, I prep that dish too, put it in a bowl, seal it well, and put it in the fridge ready for the following night. Having your veggies prepped and ready to go is a Godsend after a busy day at work!

Feel free to try this for yourself. You will have the veg portion of a couple of dinners (and lunches!) sorted, as well as a ready supply of delicious, nutritious, probiotic-rich sauerkraut. All from a single red cabbage!