Food shopping today - stupid question

[ImnotMamaGbutsheLovesMe]

I searched for "meal plan" and there were more than 500 results.

Is it really as simple as shop for 4 days so
jacket spud
meat
fish
something else?

I find it hard as everything is going up in price and looking at packs of meat there is usually too much for the 3 DCs but not enough for all of us, 2 packs seem so ££££. Anyone know if frozen meat is okay? I refuse to buy rubbish quality meat but have gone down brands in things like cereal, flour, pasta.

I always have veg and potatoes in and the kids love their meat and fish. I'm not making any sense am I?

Mine each such a lot even though they are small and 90% of what I buy is for them.

Do an online shop to work out the cost, then go round the actual shop to buy it.

I have found lately that meat from the butchers is cheaper than supermarket

When I'm meal planning, I try to have:

At least one vegetarian meal
One meal based on fish
One meal based on chicken
One or two meals based on red meat

The vegetarian meals tend to cost much less, so they can balance out the cost of a meat meal.

When it comes to meat, I try to buy/use cheaper cuts:

• stewing beef (shin is best - it's not labelled like this in the supermarket, but the slices will be round with skin all round the edge - lovely and tender if cooked slowly for 3-4 hours; might have to buy this from a butcher)

• 'full fat' mince (lean or 'healthy' mince is often more expensive, and it's much less tasty. If you're worried about the fat in it, fry it and then drain the fat off before adding any other ingredients, and don't add any additional fat)

• belly pork (I buy this from the butcher's counter at Tesco; Sainsbury don't sell it - cut off the skin and sprinkle the inside with lemon zest, herbs, garlic, chilli flakes and salt and pepper, roll it up tightly - secure with string if you wish - then squeeze a lemon over the top and roast for 2-3 hours)

At the moment Sainsbury's Basics salmon is also very good value - I looked at the pack side by side to a Taste the Difference pack of salmon, and couldn't work out what the difference was, apart from the price. The basics stuff is responsibly sourced and RSPCA Freedom Food accredited. It was £2.60 for 2 big fillets.

HTH

Thanks guys.

I went to Asda and spent £85. I got
cod for the kids and salmon for us for tonight.
Lamb for Sunday
Pizza for kids tomorrow
Mince
Pork
Lamb chops

and the rest was fruit, veg, drinks, creams, chips, kiev things, etc etc.