Meal planning when expiration dates are terrible.

[Aquarelles]

I currently don't do any meal planning, but I want to start because my diet isn't great, and I want to save a bit of money on the food shop.

I don't have a plan in mind e.g. Monday is x, Tuesday is y. I tend to just go to the shops and think OK I'll have spag bol one day, chicken stir fry another day, etc. Due to my work schedule, I tend to go shopping once a week, on a Wednesday or Thursday evening, at Tesco.

However, more often than not, I find that the dates on most fresh stuff doesn't lend itself to meal planning and doing The Big Shop once a week.

I'll go to pick up a packet of mince or chicken, and it'll have tomorrow's date or, at best, the day after. Ditto pre-prepared veg, or ready meal type things. I usually just have to use up fresh stuff first then resort to those slow cooked in a box type things that you get e.g. pulled pork. It's fine, but I would prefer to eat fresh more often and be a bit healthier.

How do people get around the dates? Batch cooking then using the freezer? Shop several times in a week? Use more dried ingredients? Frozen veg?

I agree the dates are terrible especially with fresh stuff, I always dig in the back of the shelf for decent dates on meats and for some veg /fruit you get lucky if you lift up the top pallets. Most things are fine a couple days over the date always check it first but things like tomatoes cucumber and lettuce seem to last a few days over 🤷🏻‍♀️

I've started getting my shopping delivered every 5th day to get around this. It actually is much easier as it isn't such a big pressure with the meal planning as I only have to think of 4 days each time and we still spend the same over the month. In fact, I find that I have far less waste now and buy less overall.

Other things I do to make life easier with the meal planning/shopping:

• 2 days are really easy meals like protein, salad and baby pots or frozen fish, baked potato and frozen peas. Then 2 days are meals that need a bit more chopping and cooking so I switch up which days this suits better
• I generally plan to use meats like chicken first as they are much better as fresh as possible so I'd roast a whole chicken on delivery day for dinner then use the leftovers in a quick meal the next night
• Minced meat - I'll usually plan on using it later in the week so, if the date is short, it often goes straight into the freezer and I set a reminder on my phone to take it out before work on the day I need it
• Always have plenty of eggs and bread so any night can become an egg on toast kind of evening if needed.

All meat and fish goes straight in the freezer and then taken out the morning we will be using it. I don't pay any attention to dates on anything, but things that don't stay fresh for as long get used first. We meal plan but not to the exact day things will be used. Can't say I've ever had veg only last two days, even bagged salad gets through to Tuesday after a Friday delivery. We switched to Ocado though because their stuff lasts much longer.

We waste far too much in this country.

I don't pay much attention to dates except for things like meat. Meat I repack in smaller portions if needed (I bulk buy chicken pieces, and large packs of mince, but there are only 2 of us) and then freeze.

Veg and fruit, I judge from look and smell etc, and if it's mouldy or not. I don't give a stuff about soft spuds or floppy carrots - I may change how I use them but that's it. Mouldy soft fruit goes into the trees for the birds. Doesn't really get a change to go mouldy with us, but if it does, something small gets a nice treat. If I have room in the freezer, I'll keep an eye out for big bags of cheap bananas, and freeze them after peeling. Good for baking or making smoothies. I got about 40 bananas for 10p once. Now that was a bargain!

I will happily cut the mould off hard cheeses and chuck the trimmings out for the birds. Blackbirds love cheese. Soft cheese gets put into the compost bin if it's been open too long, but I'm usually quite careful to use it up within a couple of days, so that's rare.

Bread gets sliced when I get home (i like a sourdough loaf) and shoved in the freezer. I toast from frozen but if I wanted sarnies, it defrosts really quickly.

I have the huge luxury of not running around after small people so I do understand how difficult it must be to organise like this, for those of you who are.

Why wouldn't it be? It's one day and it's bread?
If it's stale, toast it.

Best before s are being phased out anyway

We waste so much food.

So what works for me;

Meal plan from a list of 30 meals that everyone likes - flexible on what food on what days but most meals take 45 mins to make.
Have a couple of meals that can be made from the cupboard or long life stuff like tuna pasta bake.
Online shop - keeps me to a budget and the dates are generally better.
When shopping arrives, pack the meat in date order in the fridge with shortest in front, spot any bottle necks in dates and put the most freezable stuff in the freezer.

I meal plan and we shop once a week. I honestly don't find it's an issue, though I do aim to do the meals with more fresh ingredients, like broccoli or kale that might be less fresh by end of the week first. Any meats that won't last until the day I need them go in the freezer and come out the night before to thaw. It does take a little bit of remembering, but I set a reminder on my phone.

Honestly, other than meat, which actually does go off, I can't say I even notice use by dates.

Have a magnetic meal planner pad on your fridge freezer door. Make it part of your morning routine to check it. If you have a smart speaker set reminders about taking stuff out the freezer. Don't buy prepared veg!
I meal plan for 7 days and do a big weekly shop on Mondays, but I do top up on fresh stuff for the weekend.

Yeah, I agree. I tend to plan for two or three days tops. Nothing worse than setting all the veg out on the fourth day to see a bunch of veg looking grim and having to go out on the hop. I don't know how people do weekly shopping.

I do batch cook & freeze if meat is going out of date, but I also wouldn't worry about eating something a day or 2 past the date. Veg especially is usually totally fine in my experience.
With regards to forgetting to take things out of the freezer - before we make dinner we check what we want for the next day, if anything needs taking out of the freezer, we take it out then and put it in the fridge before bed.
We have an idea of meals for the week but will move the days around based on expiry dates.

I get shopping delivered first thing Saturday morning. So Friday I’m thinking what shall we eat over the weekend, planning nice more interesting meals. And for the week ahead we just have easy stuff we tend to cycle through. I would find it hard to shop on Monday for the weekend meals, but it’s easier the other way round.

Freezer is your friend, mince for instance freezes well so make the dish Bol an end of the week meal, stir fries on the other hand beginning of the week.

I shop with Tesco (online) every week and have never had this issue. They tell you on the website how long everything will last (3+ days, 5+ days etc). and if something has a short life, they tell you on your e-mail and you can always return it for a refund.

But I generally ignore BB dates anyway and go by how things look and smell.

No microwave here and we freeze all our meat. We just take it out the freezer each night for the next night's dinner.

The freezer is your friend.

I tend to transfer my meat into freezer bags with the portion I'll need for each meal and take it out the night before.

For example if I buy 4 chicken breasts and I know I need 2 on Wednesday and 2 on Friday, I'll freeze them in 2s and move the portion for the following day into the fridge the day before.

Obviously that does require planning in advance but it's very easy once it becomes your routine.

Work out when you buy things what the second or third meal you're getting from the meat with a short date. So eg if you buy mince for spag bol, cook it all then leave part in the fridge for a cottage pie or stuffed peppers in a day or two. Same with chicken. Cook it all then keep the leftover cooked chicken in a curry.

The frozen veg I buy are sweetcorn and spinach, and I freeze green beans on day of purchase because they go slimy quickly. They can all be chucked in curry, casserole etc still frozen. Other veg should last a week if not longer.

I think it is your supermarket. Asda meat usually has decent dates. I would also use mince/bacon a couple of days past sell by unless look really dodgy.

Can you do 2 shops?

Bread is fine past the date but ic it's a bit stale, toast it or make eggy bread to go with your bacon.

Plus have another look at Morrisons because in my experience the quality is way ahead of Tesco, especially for meat. Plus the Tesco you're using sounds appalling. I don't think I've ever known any supermarket be so bad for dates.

But if you live alone you could freeze meat in single portions, these can also be defrosted in under an hour by submerging the pack in cold water. Plus definitely look at frozen veg, some are better than others like spinach , steam fresh bags and beans are great.

Fresh carrots, potatoes, peppers and onions should last a week or two at least.

Is your fridge properly cold?