meal planning and shopping lists

[ambereeree]

I'm on maternity leave and after buying a bigger house and renivations finances are going to be tight for a couple of months.
Those who plan meals ahead and shopping lists

Can you please tell me how to do it? I seem to run out of ideas. Do you have much wastage or run out of ingredients?
Do you stick to thr shopping list religiously or pop things in the trolley on impulse?

I wrote out a list of all our usual meals so that I can peruse it for inspiration. We try to have two veggie meals a week, we need 4 quick meals and I try and have at least one pasta, one rice etc so that makes it a bit easier to pick your meal for each day. Sometimes it's a good idea to start by planning half your meals, then work out what ingredients you're going to have left over from those and think up meals you can use those in.

I'm much better at sticking to my list now that I'm shopping in Lidl rather than Tesco...

And no we don't run out of ingredients, although I always have storecupboard ingredients in that can be used for an unplanned meal if needed. Definitely less waste now that we meal plan - no buying veg and then forgetting I bought it until I find it rotting at the bottom of the drawer, I'm only buying things that are destined for a particular meal so you can't really forget things.

I roughly menu plan most of the time.

So my plan would be

Sun : Roast with all the trimmings
Mon : cold roast with jkt pots/rice and salad
Tues : Pasta
Weds : left overs
Thurs : fish
Fri : something quick - pizza and salad / Burger and chips
Sat : whatever takes my fancy when shopping.

But then I also have a few dishes made from the same thing.

So

Chicken - Chicken Parmesan
Fajitas/enchiladas
Hunters Chicken
Curries
Stews/casseroles
Pie

Mince - Stew
pies
Spag Bog

Sausages - Toad in the hole
sausage and mash
Pie
Pasta - Spag Bog
Pea, bacon,onion pasta
Chicken and Broccoli
Lasagne

For example so I tend to buy chicken thighs,breast, and mince so I can have a variety of basic items so I can make things without having to go and buy extra.

I write a list, four meat, one fish, two veggie. Check the cupboards, fridge and freezer for what we have in, add store cupboard replacements, lunch, breakfast and cleaning stuff.

Initially I shopped online, which I think makes it easier to check you have everything. We have switched to Aldi plus farm shop, plus a couple of things from ASDA though, so it's a bit more tricky now.

I am pretty good at sticking with the list, only occasionally switch it around if there is a very good offer on.

Same - have a list of meals split into type (soups, chicken, veggie etc) and look through it when stuck for inspiration.

I normally cook from scratch and do some batch cooking when its things that reheat well like bolognaise so there is always something in the freezer

We always try and have fish a couple of times a week even though it's not my favourite, and a veggie meal, and a stir fry

We tend to have pasta at the end of the week with whatever veg is left

We also have one easy bung in the oven meal like breaded chicken and beans that's no work

It's a pain in the ass planning meals and ingredients but once it's done I find it makes the week feel a bit more organised as can prep some the night before. I do find we get stuck in a rut quite often still

One thing I don't bother doing as it leads to arguments, is ask anyone else for an opinion as they will say something like 'chicken' which doesn't really help!

I rotate

Rice meal
Pasta meal
Potatoe meal
Bread/grain meal

Through the week to keep things varied for example

Thai curry and rice
Spag bol
Jacket potato cheese and salad
Med fish with cous cous
Veg biriyani
Mushroom and leek pasta

I cook in bulk sometimes and freeze it so all I need to do is heat it up.

One thing I don't bother doing as it leads to arguments, is ask anyone else for an opinion as they will say something like 'chicken' which doesn't really help! at least you get a meat, I tend to get either whatever or I don't know .

Don't forget to have cheap meals like egg and Chips, toasties and jacket pots with a filling. And try to plan in a leftover day as more likely as not you will have some that can be eaten rather then binned.

I genuinely can not imagine not meal planning. I don't get it, how on earth do you know what to buy? I've done it my entire adult life, including at uni from age 18.

Agree with above, one pasta, one rice, one noodle, one jp, one fish, one veggie, one quick thing not from scratch. Batch cook.

I waste very little if anything. I keep an eye, if I've got some stuff left unexpectedly, I'll whizz up a pasta sauce/soup and freeze it.

We don't do leftover days, they're always next days lunch, either as is, or adapted. If there's loads leftover, they're frozen.

I've recently set up a 4 week rotating meal plan (after reading the life hacks thread).

I looked through the bbc good food recipes and made a list of a bunch we like (by the way, bbc good food website will send the ingredients list straight to your Tesco/Asda etc list if you ask it). Then made a spreadsheet and planned which days to put which meals on (mainly depending on how late I'll be at work so will need quicker meals etc).

Then I made 4 weekly shopping lists with those bits on AND the other bits & bobs for lunches, household stuff etc.

And then I do an online shop every week. Which makes it easy to see what we've already got enough of etc.

And then I batch cook and freeze stuff so sometimes I'll be able to sub those in instead of actually cooking.

It took a good couple of hours to organise it all. (But I needed to plan alternatives for someone's dietary requirements too), but now I haven't got to think of what to feed everyone, and I haven't got to think particularly hard about the shopping either.

We did get a second chest freezer (second hand) which has revolutionised life.

I have a few back up ideas for when a specific ingredient runs out, or I just CBA. So, fe, I always have dried pasta, rice, canned tomatoes and some form of canned fish in the cupboard.

If you don't already, may I suggest home delivery groceries? You save an absolute bundle if you are prone to impulse buys. It also allows you to check the cupboards so you are less likely to both duplicate existing purchases or forget something.
Meal planning is great, there is a myriad of helpful blogs (for instance, here: Freezer meals) that can help with meal planning and freezer meals that you pre-prep and freeze, then sling in a slow cooker.

I personally disagree that online shopping helps. What has helped me is avoiding big shiny shops with 38 variants on the same thing, and going to Lidl. No bogof offers, much less distraction.

This week was

Sat - Fajitas
Sun - Spaghetti carbonara, garlic bread and salad
Mon - Scampi and Chips
Tues - Chicken and asparagus with roast potatoes and veg
Wed - Chilli
Thurs - Quorn sausage casserole
Friday - take away

Next week is

Sat - Spag bol
Sun - Roast dinner
Monday - Jacket potatoes with left over spag bol and salad
Tuesday - Ham, egg and chips
Wednesday - Chicken parmo with patas bravas and salad
Thursday - Pizza
Friday - takeaway

I've been doing it two weeks. It is saving time and money but I am running out of ideas so watching with interest

I meal plan and purchase to that plan.
So this week is unusual in that we are going away so last weeks menu was:
Monday - lunch - salad sandwiches
Dinner - spaghetti bolognaise
Tuesday - lunch salad sandwiches
Dinner - chicken pasta bake
Wednesday - cheese toasties
Dinner - leftovers
Thursday - lunch - bacon butties
Dinner - (remaining chicken) curry and rice
Friday - lunch - cheese and bacon salad
Dinner - chips and pizza
Saturday - lunch - ham sandwiches
Dinner - my son and I made a “shepherds pie” from EVERYTHING in the fridge - all the veggies, mince, onions, whatever we had it went in.
Sunday - lunch - soup
Dinner - leftovers.
I generally run to the same menu with little change as it makes the shopping cheaper and easier. So the whole thing is very cyclical and it works well for us.

We do it by looking to see what we've got left (because DH worked late one day or we got a takeaway etc) on a Saturday morning before going to the supermarket and then buying the remaining evening meals - so if we've still got sausages and gnocchi then we only need 5 meals/ingredients. Same with breakfast, lunch things (at home for me and ds, pack lunch for DH), and snacks.
Plus there's always a couple of emergency things in the freezer like chips, fish fingers, and oven peas.

I really like frozen chopped onions, mixed peppers, and soffrito mix - bases for a lot of what I cook and don't go off.

I shop online at Waitrose. You get £20 off your first shop.
I start buying going into meats on offer.
Pick meats to make a meal and then add the bits to make up the rest of the meal. Then snacks, milk etc.
Means I get a great shop for Around £65 to feed 4 people really well.

This week we have -
Spaghetti and meatballs & G.bread
Gammon, egg and chips
Coq au vin + veg
Hotdog and chips
Tapas
Fajitas

Sainsburys do £18 off a £60 shop. Change your email and keep getting the offer!

Firstly always take an inventory of your larder, fridge & freezer check the dates and move the nearest use by to the front.

Helps to make a list of your families favourite meals/foods as well, there's no point making a cheap dish if no one likes it.
I do try one new recipe per month though to try a broaden the menu and their tastes.

Decide on how many meals you would like to incorporate meat, it does cost more so think specifically about what cuts you need.

I always do a roast for Sunday's and buy a bigger joint/chicken but use it purposely for and extra meal or two.
So if I do roast chicken I strip the carcass after dinner, keep the left over meat for soup or chicken wraps/enchiladas/stir fry and then use the carcass for stock which will be used as broth for lunch the next day or soup the next day etc.

Beef joints get sectioned up and one part into a roast or braised and the other into beef casserole or pie.

Meal planning helps reduce food wastage this way with meat because you know how much you need for each meal and cut to suit your menu.
It's also helpful to keep to the right portion size as well, DH & DS1 could happily eat 7 slices of roast beef but really 4 is more than fine.

I plan the week with much more fresh veg at the beginning as well to avoid a ££ top up shop when we need more bread or milk.

So a typical week for us is:

Sunday: Roast Chicken, carrots, cabbage, swede, Yorkshire's, roast potatoes & gravy.

Half the left over set aside for a pie.
Half to Stir fry.

Monday: Chicken & veg noodle stir fry with match stick carrots, sliced cabbage, sweetcorn, bean sprouts, garlic, ginger & soy.

Tuesday: Chicken & bacon pie with mashed carrot & swede, Broccoli & roast potatoes ( from the same bag as Sunday) & gravy.

Wednesday: Spaghetti with hidden veg sauce, salad & garlic bread & pudding sponge, fruit & custard.

Thursday: Lentil & bacon soup (stock made with Roast chicken & half pack of bacon from the pie) with ham and cheese toasties.

Friday: salmon or any fish foil parcels baked with (frozen) green beans, asparagus or broccoli, garlic & buttered new potatoes.

Saturday: English breakfast, sausage, bacon, mushrooms, beans, tinned toms, diced and sautéed new potatoes, ( left over from Friday) eggs & toast.

We usually have a pudding on a pasta/noodle day, but it's cheap and easily made.

I started doing this a couple of years ago when I wanted to vary what we ate a bit more and cook from scratch more. I have the same couple of favourite recipes that I use every week, have a few more that get rotated and then often try one new recipe (usually on a Saturday when there's more time). I've got quite a few recipe books and also a folder with favourite recipes from the internet and recipes saved from newspapers and magazines.

I tend to go through the recipes when I do the shopping list, just to check that I don't miss anything out. Sounds faffy, but doesn't take long. Then check the cupboards, fridge and freezer in case we're low on any of the non-recipe staples.

I don't run out of ingredients when I'm cooking and there's definitely much less wastage than before I used to meal plan.

£65 would feed two of us for a month! And feed us well too!

OP - make a list of what you already have and base your meal plans around that. Rice, pasta and potatoes are staple items and if you have any of those in, you've got a meal!

Batch cook stuff like spag bol, cottage pie and curry and freeze them so all you need to do is defrost and add pasta/potatoes/rice.

I do admit that it's easier for me because I grow most of my veg and salad and just use the contents of the freezer to match what's in season. But you could buy fruit/veg from markets or greengrocers which would be a whole lot cheaper and fresher than the supermarkets!

Don't limit your weekly shop to one place. You can guarantee that you'll find the same item cheaper elsewhere no matter what it is.

I plan my meals two weeks ahead and do a weekly shop for the few things I need to get for the week ahead.

You do need to make time to sit down and work out your plan. I do mine on a Friday when I get home from work and then know what's on my list for Saturday morning when I go shopping.

Some weeks will be more expensive than others but you can make it work if you put the effort in. We don't go without anything 😀

Oh and acquaint yourself with Lidl and Aldi if you've got one/them near you - a lot of stuff in there is cheaper and better quality than the bigger supermarkets

I just started this last year exactly the same reasons as you OP. My husband does all the cooking.

Made a list for two weeks of meals then wrote all the ingredients and made a 'shopping list' on internet shopping if everything, that can just be reordered fortnightly.

Bulk buy paste rice loo rolls etc.

I did future me a favour and made up some frozen pastries, I did jerk chicken filling in puff pastry, made a whole load (six from one sheet of ready rolled puff, do 12 in a batch) in the oven 30 mins = instant hot lunch when the baby needs all your attention.

I make a list of everything we've got in, and make a plan of the breakfasts, snacks, lunches and dinners for the week using the list of what we've already got as much as possible. I then plan for the gaps and write the list of what we need to buy.