if you DONT meal plan....

[cod]

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Eggs have sell by date?? I just ignore them sometimes a month or so past it!
Have started buying fruit and veg from local market - lasts MUCH longer than manky Tesco prepacked stuff.
Have ordered some organic chick mince to divi up into little parcels for freezer so can make Enids chick nuggets at a whim.

yes agree not meal planning is expensive

essential to buy white chocolate covered strawberries in M and S yesterday par exemple

i don't do random trips either. i do a weekly shop online. then use it up through the week.
actually it's sometimes every 10 days!

dp does sometimes pop into tesco to grab some lunch though and can pick up stuff we've forgotten

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tracyk - make a massive bathc of nuggets then freeze them

am making tonight

not expensive, just use what you hve

really? see i don't find it expensive because i am very lazy at shopping. so i do tend to use EVERYTHING up before we get more delivered

I try to plan before i go shopping but always goes to pot when dh wants a take-away. I try and plan at least the day before, if i did'nt i would go mad.

I do a shop bung in stuff from recipes in my head and then decide on the day , usually at about 5 or 6.

cost of random trips cod? I have to buy bread and milk every few days anyway, not to mention newspapaers at eh weekend

well would love to stay and chat, but have to go out for lunch now......bye

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My dearest wish is to live within 5 mins walk of a good butchers, fishmongers, greengrocers etc for the very reason that I would love to be able to shop every day for what to eat that night. I hate having to plan what to eat each night and then buy everything in one go. It's very unnatural and is a product of mass consumer commercialism.

my freezer is permanently empty apart from one loaf of bread, a pint of milk and an ancient tuna steak
oh and some ice cubes

I swing from never planning, to vaguely planning. No idea what we're having tonight yet. If there is nothing in the freezer/cupboard I will pop to the shop later. I don't find it expensive at all, in fact I find it cheaper just to buy what you need on the day. I don't think I ever spend more than £40-50 a week on shopping.

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i spend about £20 a week for 3 of us in sainsburys. and £16 for our fruit/veg box

We always do meal planning.

I bet those who don't, end up throwing more food away.

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I don't meal plan really and we have loads of options. Dh does the kids dinner 3 times a week, so I make sure he has got sausages and fish fingers, chips and potatoes for mash. I also buy chicken or mince for another couple of meals. Then he wrecks it by giving them beans on toast I do them Wednesday eve, but I don't get home until 5.45, so it is usually something reasonably quick like pasta.

If he has cooked a proper meal he will often eat it with them. Then I just need to worry about me when I get home. I am on slimming world and the family veggie, so usually on Monday after class when I am extra motivated, or tuesday when I am in less of a rush! I cook a big vat of something vegetarian which I can eat up over othe week, so tonight I will do something with the cauliflower, leeks, mushrooms that are in the fridge. Then each day I only need cook rice/pasta/potatoes when I get in. Often doing some for leftovers to go with the fishfingers/sausages the next day (eg if I cook mash I do loads, like I did on Sunday. Dh made shepherds pie yesterday for them, with an extra portion for his lunch today).

So I don't actually meal plan I have an idea for 4 or 5 days and buy that. We then add extras like bread/milk from the village shop as we go.

I am trying to decide if curry would be good this week, or should I go for veggie casserole or chilli and add some beans to my mixture for the week

I do, Carmenere, maybe I'd be less inclined to be so spontaneous if I had to go further afield to the shops.

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dinosaur i hardly ever throw food away!
i use up what i have and then i buy more... and i never meal plan... we jsut have whatever is in the cupboard

crunchie i do pretty much the same thing! especially big vats of veggie stew etc which do me and ds for a couple of days