When do you do your food shop & do you always meal plan?

[Jemster]

Trying to get better organised & would like to plan our meals better to eat more healthily & stop wasting food.
It seems like never is a good time to do food shop. Working until 3.00 each day, can't face it with two dc in tow after school, evenings either running them around or too knackered to do big shop (i have health condition which makes me so tired) I guess that leaves weekends, along with everyone else! Is online ordering good & when's a good day to get it delivered; in time for the weekend or the week ahead?
I've never been good at meal planning mainly because dc are quite fussy & like different things. How do you manage this if everyone likes something different to eat? Ideally I'd like us to eat one meal as a family.
At the moment I seem to go to supermarket daily as it is nearby but only ever have time to grab something for that day so am always out of stuff!
Please help me get organised by telling me what works for you!

I actually enjoy food shopping and like the surprise of picking up a bargain and planning around it or seeing something inspirational/at the peak of its season. However I keep the costs down by eating one "hero" dish and everything else very simple, even boring.

So we might have a roast chicken + salad and fruit
Or home made soup + ham sandwiches
Or an "eat up what's left" salad + home made cake.
Even a new style yoghurt or a packet of unusual biscuits could be the star of the day.

I pick up all the boring food "on autopilot" on Wednesdays when the shops are well stocked and then go with my imagination or recipes that caught my eye.

I live close to a Lidl so buy 80% there. The rest is fruit stall, branded cereal for DH, freezer delivery and occasional splurge at the butcher. My chest freezer is well stocked with special offers and bread but apart from homemade pasta sauce I don't often cook for the freezer.

I spend about £90 a week on food for four of us.

mmm... I thought one of the main reasons people meal-planned was to avoid waste. By cutting down waste they saved money. Is that supposed to be one of its selling points?

I guess we just keep looking thru fridge for stuff that needs eating soonest. That would be much harder, true, if DH (he's the main shopper) only did one great big huge shop a week, to keep track of the oldest food.

We don't meal plan but we stock the same ingredients always. Neither of us has the time or inclination to experiment weekly with new food ideas and our cupboards are stocked with the ingredients for about 10 of our standard meals. Now and then one of us makes something new and that's nice but it's cheaper and easier to just do the same shop each week.

We do a rough plan week by week and take advantage of Tesco's free click and collect service. I've never had cause for complaint about the quality of food picked, touch wood. Either DH or I will pick it up ok our way home from work, either Thursday or Friday.

We have similar things each week but sometimes try a more adventurous recipe at the weekend when we have a little more time to faff about in the kitchen.

Usual suspects for dinner include homemade pizzas (we often use a tortilla wrap as a base for ease) turkey burgers, chicken fajitas, frittata, pan-fried chicken or fish with potatoes/rice/couscous, pasta, salads (trying to hold onto summer!)

The DC eat mostly the same, bar the fish. They also like sausages and mash, spag Bol, mild chilli con carne, fish fingers, pasta with pesto, macaroni cheese, lasagne. I sometimes batch cook the chilli/lasagne/spag Bol so I can cook from frozen and don't lose my head after work/school.

We do utilise our freezer a lot so if we buy something and don't fancy it as planned, I'm quite vigilant about checking use by dates of stuff in the fridge, so we don't usually waste too much.

Breakfasts are usually cereal, crumpets or toast, and I may sometimes make a smoothie for DC if I'm not running around like a blue-arsed fly.

At weekends it's a bit more relaxed so we have scrambled egg, sometimes pancakes.

Good luck with the meal planning!

Aldi every Friday morning - do school run and get there for about 830. It is quiet there at that time of day which means I am in and out in 20 min.
We always meal plan and hardly waste any food.
We have a small freezer that does not have a lot of spare room so when I make a large lasagne, fish pie or whatever, we just have it two days' running rather than freezing the 2nd meal.
Sunday is almost always a roast and Monday is then a cold meat ploughman's type meal.
The above means that 2 work nights a week we have minimal effort meals.
I get all meat and veg at Aldi but will sometimes go to local butcher for meat if I have time.
Monthly top up online shop at Tesco for branded store cupboard bits e.g. Glengettie tea bags.
I work FT and don't really have time to pop to the shops every day. Also although I like home cooking I cannot stand food shopping hence have got it down to the bare minimum of time.....

Boffinmum - I've just had a look at your meal plans on your blog.

They're great, simple and straightforward. Often I look at meal plans and they are either complicated or full of things we don't eat.

I'll be meal planning this evening and taking inspiration from you, thank you!

I meal plan, then shop on line on Saturday so it's delivered Sunday. I'm waiting for it now

I don't get why some people talk about meal planning as though it's some kind of mammoth task or a thing that only boring or obsessively organised people do. It's simply deciding on some meals you'd like to have, then buying the stuff you need .

Anyway, to answer the OP... I shop once a week. I do my main shop in Aldi, as I've recently been converted to its amazing cheapness. Luckily there is a branch of Booths right next door if there's anything I can't get or don't fancy in Aldi.

I don't plan totally rigidly - often choose a bunch of meals for the week but change around days or put things in the freezer if I don't fancy them that day. Or I think of, say, 5 meals, then see what's on special offer or looks nice for the other two.

Obviously some things I always have in the house - pasta, rice, bread in the freezer, frozen veg, tinned pulses, herbs and spices etc.

My dc are a bit fussy but getting better as they get older. We almost always eat together as a family. I occasionally make them something different if we are having something they genuinely hate (e.g. something really spicy). Otherwise they have to eat what they are given!

I tend to hit a supermarket on the weekend or an evening, which helps in getting some reduced meat to stock the freezer, and in getting dd tired!
Ds has severe eating issues so tends to have toast or spaghetti hoops when the rest of us have a meal.
I plan a few meals and try to cook twice a week to generate leftovers - MrNC will cook anything he's told to put into a stir fry.
My brain doesn't work in winter so I'm trying to produce a list of lunches for me to eat - dinner at the worst gets a bit repetitive with rice/potatoes, meat item from freezer, frozen veg - my hands don't work well so I have to get most things ready-chopped as a 3yo isn't a reliable source of kitchen labour (she is pretty good at dicing aubergines and courgettes!)

Book's free at the moment on Amazon if you want to download it. It has all the recipes in it. And two months worth of meal plans with linked shopping lists you can cut and paste into a shopping list function for online supermarket shopping and so on.

I online shop with Asda (no Ocado here!) tried it as a one-off as had money-off code and liked it so much I signed up for a delivery pass for the year, half price at £30! Get a full week delivered on a Saturday morning, and always meal plan. They have an app to order with so I sit with the calendar and plan according to what's on that day and how long we'll have to cook, and add whatever we need straight onto the order. Takes much less time than going to the shop with two DC and the feeling of having a fridge full of food on a Saturday is marvellous.

I do a big online shop about every 7-10 days and i couldn't do without it. I always go for the cheap delivery slots so tomorrow's is costing me £3. It'd cost me more than that in the working time i'd lose plus petrol/car running costs. I sometimes pick the really late slots as the delivery drivers are always keen to knock off for the night and often come earlier.

I don't meal plan all the time but i have a general idea what i'm going to cook each week. Plus when i'm making spag bol, chilli or curry i often double the recipe so that there's another meal's worth to put in the freezer.

How old are your DC? Are they able to help unpack a delivery or with the cooking at all.

I do an online shop once a month for non-perishables and shop 4/5 times a week - greengrocer's, M&S, local supermarket etc. I also buy fresh bread daily and go to the butcher a couple of times a week, but my local specialist shops are (a) excellent (b) two minutes from the front door which means that frequent shopping is easy.

I always plan meals when shopping for fresh food. My online shop is about keeping fully stocked with non-perishable basics.

I do a Tesco click and collect order which DH then picks up on his way home - Tesco is about 1.5 miles away. I aim to do this roughly every week to 10 days and I order a lot of the same things.

I don't really meal plan as I find it difficult to stick to and quite stressful thinking of all the meals. I do though have a range of 6-7 meals in my head that work over the week but I can pick when to have them depending on what works each evening or what we feel like.

I can't help with including fussy eaters as my DS (5) eats his own meal of either fish cakes, pasta or pizza as he won't eat anything else. Tbh his meals are the easy bit of the whole thing.

I have a magnetic white board on the fridge. Anything I use up or notice I need I add to that list. I encourage others to use that list too if they want^need anything in the shop. I have the cheaper weekday delivery pass for Tesco and every Monday evening after the kids go to bed I take s tea and biscuit to bed with my laptop and meal plan on a spreadsheet (so I can give myself ideas looking back to older weeks) and then do the online shop for delicate the next day. Works great. Rarely top up anything.

I do my main shop around 8.30/9am on a Saturday morning - it's much quieter then, fresh food has just been put out and I could go on my own while DH stayed with DD when younger. Also, back and unpacked by 10am at latest, so that leaves the day free for other things.

yeOlde - I never meal plan and the only things that get thrown out are DDs sandwiches left from school and cat food. It's easy for me to come up with ideas of how to use things that need using up either in our evening meal or I'll make a point of having it at lunchtime. Haven't got a clue what we're having for tea tonight and will decide this afternoon. Our grocery bill (includes toiletry & cleaning items) is low (approx. ??50 for 2adults & 1teenager)

I use sainsburys online delivery, love it, I get a shop every ten days or so, I always meal plan and have started to use the frozen prepared veg like chopped onions, mushrooms, peppers, stir fry mix, chopped spinach, even herbs. They are brilliant. You need to have a lot of freezer space though.

sainsbury's delivery Fri evenings
I would recommend them - they're always prompt, cheaper than Ocado, and better fruit and veg.
I menu plan and sort the delivery in my lunch break during the working week
luckily there's a large Tesco between home and the office so I do the top ups on the way back from work

Luckily my DC are less fussy than average, so I can get away with cooking one meal. This does mean there are things that DH and I like that we never have (moussaka, risottos) but it's better than cooking twice.

I do a fortnightly online shop with Tesco, usually delivery on a Tues or Weds evening when the delivery slots are cheapest. I'm lucky to work within walking distance of both an Aldi and a Sainsbos so do top up shops at lunchtime as needed, usually for fresh fruit and veg towards the end of the fortnight.

I do meal plan but only for evening meals. I just make sure that we have enough cereal and bread for breakfast and always buy things like cheese, eggs and fruit for packed lunches for both me and DS.

I have one of those family calendars so one column is dedicated to food! This makes it easy when planning as it reminds me if we have plans in the evening, which need a quick meal, or if we're eating out etc. Deciding what to eat is usually based on what I've already got in, what we fancy and what works with the schedule i.e. a quick meal is usually needed after swimming lessons. I also try to plan to use up fresh veg soon after shopping is delivered and meals at the end of the fortnight tend to use frozen veg. I also try to plan so that we have a balance of meals and try to include at least one meal at week that I can cook extra of and freeze. I don't plan for the two nights that I am just cooking for myself so I can use these nights to eat up any leftovers or eat something that DS doesn't like. He's not at all fussy and it's usually easy to cook meals that we both enjoy but it's nice to have a chance to do myself a red hot curry or something with mushrooms (DS's only hated food!)

I keep a running list in the kitchen so I can add to it as staples run out, then add to that once I've done the meal plan, then do the Tesco order starting with my favourites list, then adding any special ingredients, then going through all special offers to check I've got the best deals on everything. I usually do the order about a week before delivery, then add in anything else I might think of. I've got the Tesco app on my phone too so sometimes even do the shopping on the bus!

It works well for us. We generate very little waste and I think I'm a fairly canny shopper and get good bargains.

I shop a couple of times a week, have never done a grocery shop online (more because I am not very tech savvy than any other reason). I don't obsessively meal plan as I like to react to the weather/evening plans/what's left over from the night before/special offers reduced stuff when I get to the supermarket etc etc but I probably have a rough idea of meals for the week.

I tend to do an online shop two weeks in a month and brave the supermarket on a Tuesday (my day off).

I like to plan meals on a Sunday for the seven days ahead - for me, Monday is the start of the week and starting it on another day would make me edgy . I am a bit of a loser and created my own blank meal plan template in MS Word. I then sit down with the calendar and DH's rota and plan the meals, writing a shopping list as I go.

I get my online stuff from Waitrose - with them you can order two days before delivery i.e. if I ordered today (Saturday) the earliest I could get it delivered is Monday. I've never had problems with delivery slots apart from it being busier at Christmas, and I tend to go for weekends or evenings as we work full time. It may depend on where you live though.

Good luck, OP!

I get a shop delivered every Friday evening from Sainsburys I spend around £75 to feed 6 of us, 2 cats and packed lunches for three dc.

I meal plan we eat mostly rice or potato based dishes. I use blogs online and usually cook the same main meal but change the side dishes I cook with it. I do buy a lot of Sainsbury basic products but I think they are very good quality.

Evening meals are mostly cooked from the Greek Vegan, Veg Kitchen and 1001 CookBooks. I use other places but these are the main places I look for recipes.

I sometimes add in food hordes when I shop so if something tinned or freezable and good value I stock up as long as there is enough left of my food budget.

I always meal plan, but I actually get it delivered twice a week now. I found fresh fruit and such wasn't lasting long enough, not because of the dates but because my children eat it at ridiculous rates when its there so it doesn't last! So now we get a delivery on Sunday night, ready to make up packed lunches, and then a top up on Thursday nights to get in extra weekend supplies. I meal plan monthly and book the basic shops once a month too, then a couple of days before each delivery I double check that we still need everything on it, add bits that have been used up etc. Works very well for us and I've found I'm actually spending about £20 a week less (from £100) for a family of 6.

I do an Ocado shop weekly with all the standard stuff we use every day for breakfast and lunches (juice, salad veg, carrots, bread, fruit, kitchen paper, coffee etc), that come on Saturday morning and includes a chocolate treat for DD's. Then we have an Abel & Cole veg and eggs (there's are much nicer than any of the supermarket eggs) weekly on a Wednesday. I tend to do one vegetarian or vegan meal with whatever veg is in the box and one fish based. I cook roast dinner on Sunday (Nut or chicken) and its my turn on Tuesday and Wednesday, my work at home days. DH does the other days as he works at home every day. We keep storecupboard essentials stocked up (rice, pasta, quinoa, tinned toms, tuna, salmon, lentils, oils). DH is a very good cook but better at elaborate meals, easier now DD's are teens and more adventurous.

I meal plan on a Saturday and usually do shopping on a Saturday or Monday. Our work differs every week due to us having crazy work hours and we are sometimes away on weekends with work. We try to eat together at least 5 meals a week. I try and buy all food from Aldi and will probably do a quick top up shop from Tesco for things we can't get in Aldi. Hubby works for Ocado so do a shop with them for certain things as he gets quite a decent discount, usually once a month.