Meal planning, food shopping, any tips to help me get organised please

[Honey1975]

I am so unorganised with food shopping and planning meals. It seems that either me or dh will go to sainsburys every day to get our tea and any other bits we remember we need. I am not feeding my family as well as I could be and it needs to change.

I want a meal plan of easy healthy meals for Mon-Fri. Then I want to make more effort cooking new things at the weekend. Sunday we tend to have a roast in winter so that's sorted.

I like online shopping as it saves me trawling round the supermarket but I'm stuck as to when the best day to have this delivered would be? I don't work Fridays so I'm thinking then so that we have plenty of nice food in for the weekend, but would the food also then last for the whole of the following weeks meals?

I can't get my head around the best way to do it so am wondering what other people do.

So, how & when do you meal plan and how & when do you do the food shop?

I have the Tesco midweek delivery plan. I can orde for delivery tues, weds or thurs. I think it costs me £36 for the year (or maybe 6months).
I do my meal planning for the week ahead on Saturday evening (rock and roll!) then adjust it over the next few days if I’ve forgotten to add something.
I fish out recipe books, decide what we’re eating each day and put it in the family calendar. Ask DH and DD what they’d like, if they need anything topping up.
Takes about 30 minutes tops.
I tend to get the delivery weds eve, timed while I’m generally cooking dinner. Everyone helps put it away and then we get on with the evening.

I do a six day plan, so the delivery day changes. I find that's as long as bread lasts, milk etc. We eat soft fruit first, and apples all week. I try to plan - 2 days eating from fresh, 2 days making something where half can be frozen, 2 days from the freezer.

This gives me a bit of flexibility. I try to have a decent library of freezer foods so I don't get bored, and I also freeze in portions. Partly for weight loss reasons, but also so if someone wants to go out then I have some single freezer meals.

It helps with budgeting too. We don't have much money at the end of this month, so we are mostly eating from the freezer this week.

Thank you both. Gazelda can you have a basket running with tescos before you've chosen a delivery slot? It always asks me to book the slot first but sometimes I just want to add things so I don't forget but haven't decided on delivery time yet.

Yes you can I do tesco shop every 3 to 4 months for store cupboard ingredients/tins but add to my basket as when I think/we run out.

I sort of plan a month roughly in a go. So in each week we'll have fish once, a quick supper once (for when I have to go out), pasta once, slow cooker one for when we all come in at different times. We're not big meat eaters but we might have roast chicken on a Sunday, chicken risotto Monday, the final bits of chicken in quesadillas on Tuesday, soup Wednesday, slow cooker Thursday etc. If the oven goes on I'll microwave then bake jacket potatoes to have later in the week.

I don't usually always plan Friday or Saturday otherwise it feels like there's spontaneity in my life - I get online shopping on Friday so a pizza may feature then, and then you can have croissants or bacon butties for breakfast at the weekend.

The first time you do it it does feel like an effort, but I like driving home knowing exactly what we've got for tea. It also helps you see how to get more veg down the kids.

I meant to add more to my post but got distracted.

I don't menu plan to the exact day where having XXX. I find because I have a stocked cupboards I can cook different meals.

So for example chicken thighs/breast can be plain roast chicken, hunters chicken, piri piri or some form of curry.

Mince can be made into pie either cottage or with pastry, spag bog, lasagne, chilli etc.

Also make use of your freezer have meals made in there that you can for quick dinners.

I don't always follow my own advice but I agree menu planning and getting a delivery is most efficient. I aim to get a delivery on a day I'm not working so I have time to put it all away etc. Start the shop with a menu planning session a few days b4 the delivery and this allows a couple of days to add the stuff you inevitably forget. Planning never takes as long as I think it will.

Recently I merged 2 handwritten recipe books and a file of torn out recipes etc. I tried to be really ruthless and only keep things I've made and like. It's reminded me of lots of recipes I used to do and given me motivation to cook again 😀

Thanks for all the ideas. I think if I aim to have it delivered Friday morning that would be the best time as i'm not working and dc's will be at school.

So if I put things in to my online tesco basket will it just stay in there until I book a delivery slot? Can I just go in and add things during the week quickly or will I neex to amend order and check out again every time I add something?
I need something simple and quick to use or I won't do it!

You have to spend a minimum amount and checkout and then amend later. Asda, Tesco and Sainsburys require this. They have made amending easier.

I do it all the time. I'm just starting my shopping list now, which I probably won't have delivered until end of November.

But you also can book a slot and add/change amend your basket until about 12 hours before delivery.

The apps are usually a bit more streamlined for adding stuff to orders than the websites. I like the Ocado app.

I wouldn't leave it until the last minute to book a slot if the time is important to you. I like the 6:30-7:30 slot and to be sure of getting it I book a week in advance. It's really not too bad going through the checkout process, not nearly as much faff IMHO as having an inconvenient delivery slot!

If you like ocado you can book the same slot every week or two weeks. Can't remember what they call it.