am trying to cut right back..ideas for credit crunch recipes please so I can plan my weekly shop!

[mabel1973]

Says it all really.
DH is terrible for saying oh lets just get a takeaway, or deciding he fancies something in particular and buying all the ingredients in his lunch break, when we have a freezer full of stuff at home. That is going to stop, I am going to be super organised and plan our meals for the week ahead, and only buy what I need
Help me please!

Tonight I'm making vegetable curry. I don't know how much it will cost, but this is what I will be using:

one large onion
several cloves of garlic
fresh ginger
fresh chilli
dried spices/herbs (cumin, coriander, turmeric, oregano)
i/2 pack Sainsbury's value cauliflower courgettes (it was cheaper than buying a whole cauliflower, which is what I would normally do)
2 carrots
1 green pepper
1 courgette
a handful of frozen peas
basmati rice

I have all the herbs/spices already, but I realise that if you had to buy them all from scratch it would add to the cost! It might be easier to buy a jar of curry paste in that case.

I would start by listing what in your freezer and see what meals you can make. I keep a book (sad i know) of what i have in the freezer.

Lizziemum is right. Also, write a list of what's in the cupboard- it can stop you buying what you don't need. I found that I had two or three partially used bags of rice . If you know what spices and herbs you have in it can help when you're menu planning. After I did this I realised that I had all the spices in to make curries, but wasn't really using them!

Once you know what you've got try looking at recipe sites for inspiration. The BBC site lets you search by ingredient and style (i.e. italian, thai etc.)

My DH can get a bit fussy and decide he wants something different. Usually after I've done a huge shop. I've managed to not kill him pre-empt(sp?)it by giving him a choice when I menu plan, asking him if there's a particular dish he wants that week. If you have the stuff in the freezer, you could always say, 'I'm cooking the chicken this week, would you like roast potatoes, veg and gravy or a stir fry or a curry?

I am sure there is stuff in my freezer that is older than DS2

You are right though, i need to get a handle on what I have actually got in there, plus spices etc. DH has a a thing about buying chilli sauce (we have about 5 opened half used jars in the fridge), he also has a habit of opening new jars of things, rather than checking if there's one already open, so we have loads of jars of mustard, tomato ketchup etc. on the go.
What I need to do is set a side an afternoon, where I can get it all organised and then I might actually be able to start planning.

WE have managed to get through the week so far without buying anything extra, I cooked a roast chicken on monday and used the some of the leftovers for a pasta sauce on tues and had a ceaser salad for my lunch with the remains on wed..!
now just need to stay disciplined!

I have found that it is actually cheaper for me to buy meat from the butchers.

We have a good local green grocers that also sells some meat, cheese etc. Which I do try and use alot and then just use supermarkets for the other bis and bobs, it does work out cheaper definitely.

I just need to be a bit more organised so I am planning meals around what I've bought, rather then shopping for what I fancy IYSWIM!