Would anyone like to help me write a meal plan so that I stop doing top up shops and maybe save a little money?

[StuckOnTheM1]

Please?

I work shifts, day time only, but different days each week. I have bought a small freezer which is surprisingly spacious. Ideally I will get a delivery every Friday night to plan for the week ahead.

We are largely a vegetarian family, although DH is omnivorous, happy to have a few meat free meals a week.

I just want to get a bit more organised to stop top up shops. Also spending too much. Anyone care to help?

Maybe I should have mentioned 2 teens as well.

At the moment I look for two recipes I want to cook and cook 4 portions of each for me, DH and toddler DS.

I look for stuff on BBC good food that is relatively quick and easy (although this week I've borrowed a tom kerridge book so a couple from there). Try and do one meat and one non-meat.

It seems easier this year as I can do chillies and curries and stews and stuff like that which Tupperwares well!

I've just bought the batch lady cookbook and it looks really interesting in terms of prepping a protein and then different ways to cook it, needs a bit more reading to get my head round it though.

I’d write a list of the meals you have regularly Then divide them into categories based on the time they take to cook. Then I’d plan from there

I’d also have supplies for a couple of meals you can knock up from stuff in the cupboard and freezer for when something unexpected happens
Meals on my list would include Dahl, lentil Bolognase, quiche, chilli, bean burritos, vege burgers, vege lasagna, pizza, oven baked risotto and curry.
If you getting a shop in on Friday do you plan to do some prep over the weekend so you have a couple of meals ready to do for the week? If so I’d make double of things that can go in the freezer at that time.
I’d also kep a couple of spare loaves of bread in the freezer plus buy long life milk and a good supply of frozen veges

I do large meals like chilli/pasta sauce and put half either in the fridge or freezer.

I have the opposite problem right, both DDs moved to Uni last month and I’m still making to same amount of food🤦‍♀️

So this week we had chilli last night last night, roast beef today. We’ll have leftovers tomorrow with bubble and squeak. Then the rest of the chilli.

Most weeks I do pasta, you could cook double/treble amount and use it for a salad or pasta bake the next day.

Roast some veg to use for the extra pasta. If your DH will eat canned fish you can add that to his portion? Or ham/cold meat sliced or chopped.

Frittata, use roasted veg as filling and keep it in the fridge for a second meal with salad/potatoes etc.

Things like huevos rancheros, eggs cooked in spicy sautéed veg and tomato sauce.

My barrier is always inspiration so I would start by creating a list on your phone of meals that have gone down well. These should include "treat" meals as well as quick and easy school night meals and lunches. For new ideas try browsing BBC good food as they have edits like "winter warmers" etc. Also raid the menus of your favourite restaurants; what would you order if you were going there tonight?

Keep building up that notes as a bank, and every time you come across a nice idea put it in there, with a hyperlink if needed.

Once you've got that, all you then need to do is pick a time to sit down and plan the week around your family schedule. You can strike your own balance of meals or see when might be a good opportunity to do a big batch that can be reheated the following day.

Then write your shopping list and include snacks etc. Think about what you always run out of and buy extra to freeze if possible. It's always best to slightly overestimate as you don't want to be going anywhere near a supermarket until your next shop.

Once in the shop, do not deviate from the list. The person who wrote the list needs to be the same person who shops as they will know what to do if a certain item is out of stock; is it crucial to the point that you need to scrap it and buy a whole different meal, or can it be substituted/left off altogether?

I could use some help here. I had a delivery on Thursday which was £96 and I've just had to order another for tomorrow and it's another £45. It's just me and 2 kids!
We're trying to eat more fish and lots of veg with each meal, and we're making veggie filled breakfast burritos and soups for lunch, but omg its costing a lot. So I'm waiting with anticipation for hints on recipes!

Keep a bag of popcorn in, you can get it in the dried food section of the supermarket. When you feel the need for a snack just measure out half a cup, pop in a saucepan with some butter and sprinkle with salt/sugar. This is my no 1 store cupboard lifesaver, nobody just eats it randomly (like they do biscuits and crisps) because it takes 3 minutes to prepare, so it's there when people are hungry but you can't afford a trip to the shops. It's also not as unhealthy as other snacks.

Some useful ideas, thank you. I think my problem is that I don't work set days, so don't have a routine like prepping at the weekend, as I often work the weekend.

I also find that some days I come home full of energy and am happy to Potter around the kitchen. Other times I am so tired I just want to eat crisps for dinner.

I think I need a flexible plan of 7 dinner, and will just decide which one on the day. Also doubling recipes to freeze is a good idea.

Off the top of my head these will freeze well.

Veggie lasagne (you can make vegan white sauce so cheaply & add cheese, obviously you’d use cows milk rather than buy soya milk), veg cottage pie, hotpot, chilli non carne, , risottos, bean burgers, curries however strong you like it, Burritos.

Nights you don’t mind cooking, fajitas, pasta bakes.

If you make a tomato sauce base of just onion, tinned chopped tomatoes, celery, carrots you can add Italian/Mexican spices to or herbs for a cottage pie or hotpot.

Basic supplies of rice, pasta, cous cous if you eat it, wraps freeze well, you can make mashed potatoes and freeze them in portions.

Then you just need frozen vegetables & you’ve got a meal.

Here's our 7 day meal plan for this week, it's just me and DH at home at the moment, I'm veggie, DH isn't... but of a mix of homemade from scratch stuff and some easier/cheat stuff here which may help you...

1. Skewers (chicken and roast veg for DH, halloumi for me), rice, salad, yoghurt dip
2. Goats cheese tart (shop bought) for me, steak and ale pie for DH, potato wedges, some kind of veg on side
3. Chilli (black bean for me, con carne for DH) - will have with either tortilla chips or rice, sour cream, salsa etc.
4. (Veggie) sausages, mash, peas
5. Pizza night - may be homemade or shop bought - or may compromise and buy ready bases and add toppings ourselves.
6. Pasta with tomato sauce and cheese, DH may add some meatballs, garlic bread, salad

7.'Roast' dinner - roast butternut squash topped with pine nuts and goats cheese, roast trimmings, DH may have chicken...

I work shifts too and empathise. We go through phases, and sometimes tbh we eat beige. In terms of trying to avoid top up shops I think figure out what you're most often going for that's not a meal (so bread, milk, etc) and make sure you buy more and freeze!

Eggs work really well because they last a long time, cook quickly and go with loads of things. Our go to semi decent meal is rosti (the type you get in a foil pack, shelf stable - waitrose do it and so do home bargains) and eggs, maybe with roast tomatoes or some other veg.

We also do shakshuka, and I have succesfully frozen the sauce many times. It defrosts quickly in the microwave or just in the pan.

Another easy but less quick option is oven baked risotto. Just this afternoon I've sliced a load of leeks and chopped mushrooms, I'd use those, add some roast tomatoes - we make vast batches and they last a while in the fridge - and voila. Leave it to do it's thing while you have a shower. Sun dried tomato paste would be a good alternative to the roast tomatoes.

Have a look at what you’ve got in and start from there. Make a list of what you could eat from it. Try and get the others involved...so write it on the fridge or somewhere. So it’s not all your job.

So eggs, frozen peppers, peas, potatoes....you’ve got a frittata. Or if no energy you’ve got egg and chips. Or Jacket potato. Or add beans and you’ve got a veg chilli.

Getting in the habit of putting leftovers, spare portions in the freezer and labelling them really helps on Cba nights. Also anyone can reheat them.

None of that goes off.

Hi here's a plan that doubles up what you used from the night before. It alternates effort so you might need to organise it with your shifts!

Chick pea curry w/ home made onion bhaji & plain rice. Make too much rice and put in the fridge. Next day - take the cold rice and squish it with your hands to make it sticky. Roll into balls and have with smoked salmon for you DH and cucumbers / avocado /carrots etc as "sushi". Serve with a small bowl of miso
(Onions, tomatoes base for the curry. Bhajis are just onions friedin batter, this is probably not authentic but works for me)

Beans chilli as mentioned before but make too much then have with wraps and veg on day 1
Day 2 you can have with jackets, coleslaw for a very different feel to the meal, or...
Mash with an egg to make bean burgers

Courgette/aubergine Ratatouille or any vegetable sauce & pasta. Again make too much of the sauce, make it in one of those cast iron pots so you save on washing up and just add a pastry lid to make a pie the next day.

I try to do one or two batch cooks a week (slow cooker and or a soup) and that plus previous weeks batch cooks plus 1 or 2 meals cooked from scratch make up weekly menu.

For example the last week:

1. Crumpets (cba tea and really wanted crumpets
2. Chicken curry (slow cooker) and rice (3 portions left over for the freezer)
3. Chilli pasta bake (chilli from freezer previous batch cook)
4. Soup and toastie (soup made from scratch with 3 portions left over for the freezer)
5. Pizza and salad
6. Beef stew and mash (stew from freezer)
7. Oven chips, oven fish and batter, peas and brocolli

Hi OP.

I use the AnyList app - have been a keen cook for many years snd a mum for 16. Been using the AnyList app for two years and it’s hands down the best thing I’ve ever done for:

1. having a flexible meal plan that can be colour coded
2. building up a stock of recipes
3. building up a rotation of favourite recipes
4. building up quick/store cupboard recipes
5. keeping a store of pantry items
6. keeping running shopping snd pantry lists
7. reducing waste.

I’ve never looked back.

A really handy thing to do is to bulk cook the basic background of dishes which can be frozen into family portions and thrown in to completely transform a basic dish last minute. Examples of this would be to bulk made a really flavourful, slow cooked soffrito. Throwing this into a dish would allow the dish to taste like it had taken hours to cook, yet only really taking half an hour to put together.

This is a fantastic article on how this helps busy cooks and ideas.

OP Im the same - do a regular Aldi shop then mid week I end up nipping in for say fresh bread but come out with 5-6 more things