Basic shopping list help

[JadeT2]

I'm looking for assistance from people who are good at budgeting and food shopping in general! I'm a terrible eater and always have been. I grew up on mostly frozen Birdseye type stuff or eating at my grandparents a few times a week. I've always managed off one or two meals then snacks in between rather than 3 proper meals.

I'm currently on maternity leave with a 7 month old but I work in a restaurant normally so have eaten there 5 days a week for 7 years, then outside of this just have cereal or toast, frozen pizza and those packets of filled pasta. The other two days my husband cooks and he just buys stuff as and when paying little attention to how much he is spending. We've never really done proper food shops so my cupboards are lacking most people's basics I assume.

My daughter is eating more and more solids and I've been mostly using fruit/veg purees and giving her bits of toast and porridge. We also have 7 year old DSD 3 nights a week and she will eat anything

So basically I am in need of someone to point me in the direction of where to start when shopping, good basic recipes suitable for all the family and maybe some apps or websites that my help with this. I assume weekly meal planning would probably help.

Just to give you an idea, I currently have pasta, rice and tins of beans/sweetcorn/tuna in my cupboard. Freezer has lots of chips, wedges, waffles, frozen veg bags. Fridge has butter and milk! My husband has quite a big spice rack but I couldn't tell you what's in it.

It's great you want to make a change!

Try not to do everything at once as you'll quickly get overwhelmed with it and go back to old habits.
I'd suggest trying to cook one new but fairly simple dish at a time, start with say a bolognaise or cottage pie. Write down all the ingredients you need for that dish and add them to your usual weekly shop (google a simple recipe, BBC Food is usually good).

Find time to do it, so prepare the meal while baby naps or is entertained in the high chair, or dh is home to do childcare.

Build up to having 7-10 meals you're fairly competent at cooking and at the beginning of each week, meal plan for each night (this can include a couple of pasta/pizza/freezer meals too).

Slow cookers are great too as you can bung everything in the morning and it'll be ready for tea time.

Some suggestions to start:
Roast chicken dinner
Gammon
Bolognaise
cottage pie
Chicken or beef casserole
Stir fry
Fajitas
Homemade Burgers and wedges
Steak pie
Carbonara
Curry
lasagne
Sausage casserole

I hope this is what you mea? Good luck!

I think the easiest thing to start with is to look at your side dishes
So stock up on vegetables, potatoes, rice and pasta
Then you can make almost anything
Roasted veg, rice and grilled chicken breasts (jazzed up with something from the spice cabinet)
Cod in a tomato sauce with new potatoes and veg
Etc etc
Keep it really simple and just keep trying different combinations

Steak, baked potato with butter and veg.

The nice thing about steak is if you undercook it just add more heat, if you overcook it just apologise.

I would buy some good stewing beef from the butcher. Fry an onion or two, add meat. Add Worcestershire sauce etc. Add veg and a large jug of oxtail soup. Freeze into portions

Other meals - cook pork chops and make your own apple sauce with fresh apples.

Salmon - oven bake fillets and add Cajun or BBQ

Steak and chips is always a winner

Mince dinners (chilli or bolognese)

Excellent, thank you all for your ideas!

In terms of where to shop, do you try different places for different things, or can you recommend where is best and cheapest for things like meat or fresh food? We live within a mile of Asda so tend to default there but often find their fruit and veg barely last two days. Do you do top ups of fresh through the week? I'm trying to economise as much as possible whilst on maternity leave!

I have a massive Tesco on my door step and find that I can get everything from there. We also have a good sized Aldi which can be cheaper but I can't get everything from there which means I still end up in Tesco.
I found that online shopping was the cheapest way, your not taken in by the adverts and the special offers and you stick to your list better. But, I have to spend a minimum of £40 to qualify for the free shop.
I find if I do top up shops I'll spend £40 on a food shop, followed by x3 top up shops of about £10 (I just pick up random stuff).
Try a local market for fruit and veg, usually cheap and good quality.

I find ordering food deliveries online (I use Tesco) is very useful as I can sit down and meal plan carefully (checking cupboards and freezer as I go) also you can see how much you're spending as you go so no nasty surprises at the till.

I agree with learning one new dish at a time, my default family friendly meals are:

Spag Bol
Roast chicken
Chilli con carne
Chicken curry
Chicken wraps
Shepard's pie
Pulled pork
Beef stew
Pork sausage casserole
Chicken pesto pasta
(I know we don't eat enough fish! I'm working on improving that)

I use my slow cooker a lot and cook everything in double batches or more and freeze portions.

As you teach yourself new dishes you will start building up a store cupboard of herbs, spices, stocks and dry ingredients.

Don't try to completely change overnight, one small step at a time.

My go-to simple week night meals include things like

Various chicken curries (sometimes include red lentils which negates need for rice on the side)

Chicken or prawn stir fry

Grilled chicken or salmon (with interesting spices or herbs added) and/or boiled eggs with a big salad with cous cous

Fishcakes with roast Mediterranean veg (toms, peppers, courgette, red onion etc) and boiled spuds or rice

Ragu for spag Bol or lasagne

Chilli

Cod in a spicy tomato sauce

A 'breakfast' tea - eggs, nice ham, fried mushrooms, tomatoes and spinach and some toast

Sometimes a pizza out the freezer with a big salad

I plan the weeks meals out in advance so I know what we're having each night and any nights we don't need to cook e.g. If we are going out. Then write list checking exactly what ingredients we need. Either do an online Tesco shop or go to Aldi and top up at nearby Tesco or Morrisons for the bits we can't get in Aldi. Find Aldi veg pretty good on the whole and definitely a lot cheaper. If having things like salad or spinach later in the week will do a top-up later in week for them. Things like carrots, onions, peppers, courgette etc generally last well.

I also use BBC good food website for ideas and simple recipes can get some good stir fry ones on there for inspiration.

Maybe start with mince for spag Bol or chilli as these are quite forgiving and also great for freezing! Hope that's vaguely helpful!

I find online shopping brilliant, I have the midweek delivery saver with Tesco which is I think £3 a month for free delivery Tuesday-Thursday (still have to meet £40 minimum).

I am terrible at meal planning TBH but I try to be careful about using the more perishable stuff first. We get through loads of fruit here, and I always get the kids to eat the soft stuff like berries sooner and leave the apples etc for later in the week. We have tinned fruit in juice too.

Can you roast a chicken? If you do that on a Sunday you could then try a couple of things with the leftover meat at the start of the week like a stir fry (straight to wok noodles by Amoy are brilliant) or try a tomato and veg sauce for pasta with the chicken stirred in.

If you can learn to make a bechamel (butter flour milk cheddar) there is loads you can do with it - mac n cheese, cauliflower cheese, lasagne, cod mornay etc

I am loving all the suggestions, thanks for taking the time to post. I'm quite excited to attempt some proper food this week.

I literally can't do anything as my husband is the cook (and actually works as a head chef so that's probably why) but I will certainly attempt to roast a chicken at some stage.

We used the Ocado delivery before because we had a £20 off voucher and I did actually find it better than normal shopping so may look at delivery again. It was particularly helpful in the early maternity stages. I do feel a bit lazy using it though as we are an actual 6 minute walk from Asda so I imagine my neighbours judging!

Have a look at Jamie Olivers www.jamieoliver.com/family/ - he's a bit of a weirdo but the ideas are very sound.

If you are looking for an easy roast chicken recipe to ease yourself in OP, google "Jamie Oliver's Perfect Roast Chicken". It's the one with a lemon up it's....cavity.... It's an easy one to learn with and I'm yet to stuff it up! Don't worry about sticking to the exact herbs, substitute for what's on hand .

Jamie Oliver Minitry of Food and Delia Smith How to Cook books, from libraby, would be very useful :) well done OP

I really recommend the Busy mums cookbook, which has a list of basic cupboard ingredients in the front.

I try and include in each week's menu:
One meal including potato, two pasta, one rice, one noodle
Then
One meat, two fish, two veg

So eg
Jacket potatoes with beans and cheese
Prawn stir fry with noodles
Baked salmon with rice and veg
Broccoli cheese (with bacon)
Etc