For those that struggle with good shopping/budget.

[Loveduppenguin]

Family of 4- budget 100-120 per week and I try to keep it as low as possible to be honest so under 100 is 🙌. We have one take away most weeks but not every week.
Today I spent 96.44 on food for the week and a few items that will span over a few weeks.
The weeks meal plan is:
Sun- Boiled Ham, cabbage, potatoes and carrots and a white sauce.
Mon- chicken Kiev, wedges and salad.
Tues- cheesy, creamy ham pasta bake
weds- homemade pizzas with salad
thurs- chicken curry with rice, poppadoms and naan.
Fri - take away
sat - sausage casserole
Im going to make a potato and leek soup also for lunches and I’ll make a banana bread tomorrow to have for breakfasts. I like to stew some of the apples and pears for breakfasts too.
boiled ham leftovers wil be used for the pasta bake and a little in a pizza or two.
I already had carrots, lettuce, tomatoes and olives, Greek yoghurt etc
receipts attached and I don’t think I did too badly. I’ll probably buy milk on weds or Thursday again.
Just posted in case anyone was looking to m ram plan budget similarly.

I used chicken fillets. Cut them in half and flattened them ever so slightly so they would cook evenly.
I used flour and seasoned it with salt, pepper paprika, mild chilli powder, onion powder, and garlic powder.
so I tipped them in the flour mix, then egg, and I had some gluten-free crackers that I needed to use so I smashed them up and used them as the coating. But you could use your own breadcrumbs. I have to say they were delicious. 🤤

@Loveduppenguin they sound delicious. Did you fry, air fry or oven bake?

We shallow fried them. I’ve been thinking about an air fryer for these kinds of things tbh.

@Loveduppenguin thanks. I'm definitely going to give these a go.

Fantastic let me know how you get on 🙌

Food is far more expensive in Ireland than the UK. You've done well there. Bizarre how people have ripped it to shreds because you don't buy everything every week. Nobody does. Some of the stuff you've got there will probably carry over next week so it balances out.

I did ham in parsley sauce and as I live alone, I portioned and froze it in bags. Worked really well, made loads and I just reheat it with some mash and veg

yes that’s it exactly, it would be very wasteful if we bought the exact same options every week regardless. I do have a friend that does that and then wonders why she has five tubs of toilet cleaner beside each toilet. 😅

You do know calcium is in other foods not just a bottle of milk?

Yep, I’ve have kids who are allergic to dairy. I’m sure it could be my mastermind specialist subject. Even with extra milk there isn’t enough calcium in that shopping.

Yeah you are probably right but we take multivitamins (kids take vit d and calcium)so we are probably covered a bit more. My dc eat yogurts and cheese a lot too. Our diet varies from week to week so it’s not always low in the same things as such.

I think some of the diapproving posts are because you haven't included haloumi, dhal, burnt aubergine chilli or champagne truffles, OP 😂

We've just spent 2 weeks over in Ireland OP and really couldn't get over how expensive even the most basic groceries are there. We were self-catering and so used Lidl and Tesco - but everywhere was significantly more than in the UK. Soda bread was about the only item which seemed reasonably priced!

Yes it’s expensive enough to be fair but manageable I think. No shopping this week as I’m away but I’ll be back on Friday and will have a big enough shop to do. Will post when I get it.

Back from holiday and here is the meal plan and shopping for the next week

today- veg soup and bread
sat- sausage casserole
sun- roast chicken with veg and potatoes
Mon- beef burgers with salad and wedges
tues- pizza
weds- pasta bake
thur- baked potatoes with cheese and bacon /salad
Fri- chicken korma

items I already had.
coconut milk
nuts for the korma.
spices and herbs
stock cubes
wedges
butter
tin of tomatoes
beans.
Rashers
Eggs
cheese

see attached photos of shopping today. I also went to the shop on the way back from the airport for milk and bread- 5.60
webt to Lidl last night when we got back and got yoghurts, cucumber, jelly pots, turkey, wraps, mangos, and pastries.

so all in all this week it was 74.04 all in. Will probably get milk later in the week again

breakfasts are a mix of
Overnight oats
porridge
stewed fruit
cereals
eggs

lunches
turkey/pepperoni wraps
crackers
cheese
chopped veggies with cream cheese dip
fruit
jelly pots
yogurts
dried fruit and nuts etc

me and DP usually have leftovers for lunch or sandwiches etc.

Forgot the receipts

Great inspiration OP!

I'm also in Ireland but lived in UK for over a decade until recently. Ireland is definitely more expensive than the UK for branded stuff and some basics, but I find it better value for meat and dairy - you can get such good quality meat here for a good price.

Ah thank you, ☺️ I try. I’m trying to make as much from scratch as I can from here on.
I need to learn to make pizza dough. Have mastered pasta sauces and curries and soups so I'm delighted with that.

Sounds fine except things like bacon, sausage, ham and chorizo, are all group 1 carcinogens so should only be eaten very occasionally.

www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/cancer-carcinogenicity-of-the-consumption-of-red-meat-and-processed-meat

You could replace a couple of those meals with things like jacket potatoes with cheese and beans or Omelette with cheese, peppers, onions green etc.

I think it's interesting. I always learn stuff from other people's meal plans.

I have teens so I think there would be a lot more stuff to provide for snacking sadly for us. Sometimes that's healthy, lots of fruit and sometimes not, biscuits and crisps!

Yes I made a quiche last week and this week I have jacket potatoes on the menu. The first post is only one weeks meal plan.

@MBL mine snack on the crackers, fresh fruit, dried fruit and nuts, but I try to not let them snack too much, I don’t buy biscuits and crisps as they just eat them all. I don’t buy juice or fizzy drinks either.