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

flucker I hate posts that start like yours. £65 a week for a family of 4 is normal. I spend £85 or so, not inc milk as that's delivered, that does include booze, laundry stuff, toiletries and cleaning products. Most importantly, fruit and vegetables, which cost me in excess of £15 a week.

I regularly get snidey comments from older people about how big my family is. There are 4 of us, 2kids. But that is ALL our food. No takeaways, very occasional meals out, 3 meals a day and snacks for 4 people.

Flucker, your idea of "fed well" and mine probably differ dramatically. I for example find food in Aldi cheap - but not at all nice (with the exception of their snacks. I don't call that well fed!
Also, children mean that going to lots of different shops to get various things is impossible (or horrific for both us and other shoppers!)

I don't find Lidl and Aldi horrible but I still debate the fed well claim.

Hang on a minute - I wasn't judging anyone by my opening comment - I was simply stating my own situation. I don't do all my shopping in Aldi/lidl, shock horror I also use a local butcher too! Pretty much every meal is cooked from scratch, just because I fetched the base of it from my freezer doesn't mean it's cheap and nasty. I agree that there is stuff in the budget supermarkets that is horrible, but likewise, there is stuff that isn't

As I have already said, it's easier for me because I grow a lot of veg and salad items. I grow more tomatoes than I can eat so that I can roast and blitz them for pasta sauce. I grow lots of peas so that we've always got some in the freezer. Likewise with sweetcorn and beans. I can pick carrots all year round and don't have to buy potatoes for probably about three months of the year. I totally get that my situation is very different to a lot of people and pointed out that markets and greengrocers are a good alternative to the supermarkets. I can assure you that we are very well fed, with fresh stuff used wherever possible. We have quite a balanced, health diet and we are lucky enough to be able to do so on a budget. The OP asked for ideas and I gave some.

I'm soo bad at cooking meals. Its better for everyone involved if I do nothing other than heating up stuff. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

We have a 5 day menu plan for M-F. Saturday nights are anything goes, and Sundays are always a roast of some description. Lunches are accounted for and I do my shopping online so it all gets delivered, except the joint for the roast which comes from the local butcher.

Monday is usually soup day- one of the DC does a cooking club so the kids don't usually want a big dinner.

Tuesday- usually a meat day.

Wednesday. Always fish. On the menu at the moment is salmon, rice and veg, kedgeree, tuna pasta bake and something else I can't remember.

Thursday. Slow cooker day as the kids have an activity that doesn't finish till 6.30 and I haven't got time to cook afterwards. Chilli/stew/chicken fajitas type of thing. I do all the meal prep in one go in old 2l ice cream tubs lined with a bag. On the morning all I do is take the meal out, take it out it's bag and straight into the sc on low for 10 hours or so.

Friday. Freezer feast. Chips/pizza/nuggets type thing.

Milk, I buy 10x2l bottles and freeze 8 of them. Take one out of the freezer and put in when the bottle in the fridge gets opened.

Wrt the shopping I have an ongoing shopping list of the things we buy every month without fail. Easy to add it to an order. Then there is a shopping list stuck on the fridge that works on a 'if you've used something then write it on the list basis'. Takes about 20 mins to do the shopping from the comfort of my own armchair.

Monthly spend around 200/250 depending on what needs buying. Yes, I could get it cheaper by going to the likes of Aldi but dc1 is a (legit) dairy free coeliac and Aldi's ff range isn't great. Dc2 has special needs and the thought of attempting to do a monthly shop while they are having a nother fuckingmeltdown in the supermarket ain't a happy one and actually I have better things to do with my time than traipse around endless supermarkets.

How many people are you feeding, OP? There are 2 of us plus 1 baby - I'm on maternity leave and am (by choice) now in charge of the bulk of food shopping and cooking (previously my partner did it as my job involves longer hours). I meal plan but tend to focus on Monday - Friday as the weekends sometimes involve takeaway or eating out, and if not we eat homemade meals I have frozen or use leftover veg, egg and store cupboard ingredients to make a quick meal. I cook fish once a week, a stew/curry type thing which is baby friendly and lasts us 2 nights plus 1 or 2 frozen portions for us and the baby, and then something else that lasts at least 2 nights (maybe another curry / stew, or perhaps a quiche, frittata or filo/pastry or pasta dish). This way we can mix up cuisines. All food is vegetarian except the fish dinner once a week, and that helps keep costs down. Another thing to do is learn how to use your freezer - previously we would throw away mouldy pesto, unwanted onions and lemon halves whereas now we freeze when still fresh and it makes life a lot easier. Growing a herb garden is also great for us (we only have a small garden). If I had a larger garden I would grow vegetables too.

Also when on maternity leave you can go food shopping during the middle of the day and scoop up some great bargains. Where I live there is an M&S, an Aldi and a Tesco. I start in M&S and buy stuff on sale which can be frozen - I've bought some incredibly cheap stuff this way, like ready meals for less than £1, pack of pitta bread for 30p, 2 luxury teacakes for 10p, and veg like kale and aubergine for 25p. If you go at the weekend these bargains just don't seem to be available. I then get what I can in Aldi and the remainder in Tesco.

We have all the Hairy Bikers cookbooks and they are fab - we go through them and some other recipe books on a weekend and pick meals/write the list. Our normal week is

Monday - Something meatless from the hairy bikers go veggie (meatless Monday’s!)
Tuesday - usually meat and veg type thing
Wednesday - Pasta
Thursday - Curry
Friday - Fish in some form
Saturday is whatever we fancy and Sunday usually a roast at one of our parents houses.

We’ve been doing it this way since January and love it - takes a lot of stress out of the week and we’ve tried lots of new meals. Plus we’ve built up quite the spice cupboard over the last few months so our shopping list tends to be shorter and cheaper now as we have so many cupboard essentials.

Good luck!

Its 3 of us eating. OH, toddler and me breastfeeding the baby. I'm sitting down now to meal plan and make a shopping list. I had a clear of the fridge and have had to chuck quite a bit away again.
Toddler is almost 3 and is getting really good at eating the same meals as me. We don't really snack on crisps or sweets but we all drink a lot of milk and snack on nuts and fruit.
When you shop on line do you also get fruit and veg? I've heard a lot of it is bruised or past its best when delivered