Weekly shopping- how to be more organised, go to shops less?

[Missushb]

Hi, looking for tips and suggestions, and to see how others get organised. At the moment I try to do a weekly shop then end up at the shops again at lunchtime at work, then weighed down with bloody shopping coming home from work- feel like I, never out of the shops!! I know fruit and veg you can't always get weekly for the whole week, I'm just thinking there must be a more stress free way of doing this?!

[Magmatic80]

Do you meal plan? DP and I do that before doing main shop so know what we need to get in one go.

[TheAuthoress]

I work close to a lidl so go at lunchtime on a Monday, after work on a Thursday and then my husband stops at tesco on a Friday to get the stuff we can't get in lidl. We have an app called out of milk to co-ordinate this, it's synced to our phones and Ipad so can be added to at any time.

We also get our milk delivered three times a week and have a fruit and veg delivery once a week.

I prefer this to meal planning / once a week shopping and it doesn't feel like we spend loads of time shopping each week as it's just nipping in for ten minutes each time and getting whatever is on the list. We tend to eat the same things so I have a core list of things to buy and can always make a meal out of stuff in the fridge, freezer and cupboards.

[DeathMetalMum]

Meal plan. We do it so any items likely to have a short life are used at the beginning of the week, likewise fruit I buy ripen at home rather than ready to eat and use soft fruit berries/cherries up first. We generally only pick up bread and milk midweek though I usually manage to forget something on our list and both of those are better from the local shop than the supermarket.

[ElphabaTheGreen]

I only ever shop once a week and, yes, I get fruit and veg that lasts the week.

Plan all your meals for the week at the same time as you make your shopping list. Buy only what you need to make those meals. Batch cook in advance. Eat freshly prepared meals for the few days after you've shopped, then the batch-cooked ones for later in the week. Eat the more perishable fruits (berries, cherries, melon) earlier in the week, then get apples or dried/tinned fruit in juice for later in the week.

I never have to drive home wondering WTF I'm going to make for dinner as it's all done in advance and my weekly shop is never more than about £50 max for me, DH and two DSs (3 and almost 1), and that includes all our non-food items as well.

[Gruach]

Do you live in such an out of the way place that no one will deliver to you? Or do you secretly like supermarkets?

Online delivery does make planning and organization so much easier. You may still want to top up with fruit and vegetables - but milk can be frozen, so you never have to carry any home.

[ElphabaTheGreen]

Milk easily lasts a full week in the fridge -we buy 3 x 6 pint semi-skimmed and 1 x 2 pint full fat and it never goes off. Also, keep bread in the freezer. You can toast it directly from frozen or defrost in the microwave or in the counter as needed for sandwiches. Stays much fresher, no waste.

[Missushb]

I do try and meal plan, half heartedly I think. Elephaba, where do you shop, £50 per week would be great, I'm probably about £70-80 over the week and that's me, OH and a three year old. I was going to look at hairy dieters book for some healthy recipes and try and meal plan from that. I was thinking about a weekly home delivery too from Tesco, do you find home delivery helps? Just feeling frazzled being at the shops 3 times a week! Thanks for th suggestions so far folks

[ElphabaTheGreen]

I'm a passionate Aldi convert. We get most of the shop there then the three or four bits we can't get there from the nearby Tesco, then we use the massive pile of money we've saved to treat ourselves to a lunch in the Tesco cafe to make up for the stress of shopping with two tiny boys! I did used to do online shopping, but when I started using Aldi for the bulk of it, I realised I was paying a minimum of £10 a week for the privilege. I did a price compare yesterday - for the relatively small shop we did yesterday, the equivalent online shop would have been £25 more I can say with confidence I won't have to visit the shops again until next Saturday.

We once did a really big shop, which was a total bear with the DCs in tow, but again I did a price comparison to show myself it was worth it - £80 cheaper doing an Aldi + Asda versus getting it all online via Tesco. I work full-time, so online shopping would be much easier, but not at that price! Because of the cafe lunch to sweeten the deal, the DSs are pretty happy with the Saturday morning shop we do

[Chimichangaz]

Meal planning as said is key. I have found online shopping to be excellent in terms of saving me money - not sure if that's important to you or not, or if you just want to save time? In my opinion you can't beat Tesco's online shopping - I have a monthly saver pass; you pay £6.00 a month and then get your shopping delivered for free, any time (even the expensive slots that are normally £6.00 each). It's very rare that anything is substituted, shelf life is usually good, and they are on time. I think they've been doing it the longest so are bound to be good at it. You just need to make sure you stick to your list and don't get tempted to look at special offers like I sometimes do!

Use your freezer too, as said you can freeze milk and bread. Something that I read on Mumsnet which has helped me massively, is making sandwiches up and then freezing them. I hate doing the packed lunches (not really sure why, I would rather cook a full meal than do that..) but doing it all in one go at the weekend and knowing all I have to do is take them out of the freezer and lunch is sorted. Obviously using fresh bread rather than bread previously frozen, and freezable fillings (cheese and ham/other meat generally).

Hope this helps.

[stardusty5]

I can't shop if i haven't planned my meals. Sometimes i change my mind in the shop, but it helps to remember any days when we might be busy and so need something easy to cook for instance. It also stops us from buying the same old thing every week because we can think about it.

We shop at Aldi and spend £25-30 for a couple. We top up with some branded things in Sainsburys. If we have children, i'd probably switch to online shopping just to save on stress. I used to do it before i switched to Aldi and found it really helpful.

[Floundering]

Yes to meal planning & batch cooking also online delivery is your friend.

Most sites allow you to set up a favourites list use that to get.stuff you always use. Loo rolls, basic stocks for cupboard, tinned toms, beans, fruit. Toiletries etc.

Put everything on the list then just add or deleted each week.as levels.dictate. Get fresh basics but then pick up other fresh after work as needed so you only get a few days worth at a time.

[MinesAPintOfTea]

I sit down, write out what meals we will have that week (with one built in for freezer raiding or pasta with cheese). Then shop for what I need for that plus breakfasts and lunches.

The meal plan is more of a guideline, its a rare week where things don't get swapped around or I replan something based on an offer in the shop, but it stops me getting the wrong mix of things.

I do my planning on the computer so I can copy ingredients from frequent meals in quickly and print out a list.

Its rare that we manage more of a top up that I can carry on the train, so if I miss it we have to go without.

[Missushb]

Thanks, everyone, some great ideas here. I am going to go back to weekly Tesco online shops, and try and get all I need in that, ive went back to meal planning again, so less spending in all my top up shops, so I can get out and get fresh air at lunchtimes rather than always having to go to the supermarket! thanks!

[Bonsoir]

Online shopping and batch cooking to fill your freezer with nice home made meals for the times when shopping for fresh fruit/vegetables/meat/fish defeats you.