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This month it was our wedding anniversary and we usually cook each other a special meal. My husband cooks the starter and main course, while I cook the dessert. This year I didn’t have much time to plan ahead and decided to make chocolate trifle which is a favourite of both or ours. Earlier in the day we had gone for a walk and picked blackberries so I planned to use them as the fruit for the trifle.

When it came to prepare the dessert it had gotten late and it coincided with trying to put Baby G to bed, I didn’t have time to make a proper trifle so I made these little individual ‘mock’ trifles – something I came up with there and then so I could get upstairs to my crying boy! They turned out to be totally delicious and much quicker so I am recommending this recipe to you.

Serves 2:

Ingredients:

These measurements are approximate, they filled the two small champagne glasses I decided to serve them in (add more of less accordingly)

• 100g blackberries
• 2tsp sugar
• 2 trifle sponges
• 150g custard
• 50g chocolate (or more if you love chocolate!)

Method:

1. Gently heat the blackberries with the sugar until they are soft and slightly liquid.
2. Place the trifle sponge in the bottom of glass/dish, you may need to cut the sponge to fit.
3. Pour the blackberry mixture over the sponge and leave to soak in
4. Break chocolate into small pieces and place in microwave proof bowl with custard, heat on a low temperature for 30 seconds at a time stirring until chocolate has completely melted and mixed with custard.
5. Pour chocolate custard over sponges and place in fridge for custard to set.

Why take the time out to get organised with a meal plan? Here are 10 reasons to persuade you…

1. Using a structured meal plan saves time thinking and considering recipes each day; reusing meal plans or rotating a monthly plan of recipes saves even greater time.
2. Planning all meals in one go allows for food shopping to be cut to once a week, saving time spent popping to the shops everyday, and less money being spent with daily shopping trips often adding up to more than one large weekly shop.
3. It is possible to plan for leftovers, when you have a roast dinner you can plan to use any leftovers in a stir fry or pasta so there is less food wasted which is good economically and environmentally.
4. Busy days can be less stressful as a quick meal or casserole prepared ahead will make things easier.
5. No more worries about a healthy diet as planning a whole week of meals lets you make sure your diet is balanced.
6. Last minute dashes to the takeaway, which can be expensive and unhealthy, will be gone as there will always be something planned for dinner.
7. Less snacking – meal planning helps to get dinner on the table before you get too hungry and start to snack.
8. Time spent in the supermarket is shorter as no need to wander around hoping for inspiration and trying to remember what is left in the fridge.
9. Families can get kids involved in meal planning, even sometimes choosing meals they can help to cook.
10. Everybody should be happy with what is cooked, as family members can all have some say in the plan and will know what to expect each evening.

One more reason:

Plan a week of meals and it is ideally suited to ordering all the ingredients online. Online shopping is very useful but does require organisation and planning.