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The 2014 Meal Planning thread...

Flat_Eric
Flat_Eric Posts: 4,060 Forumite
First Anniversary First Post
in Old style MoneySaving
Late in 2012, I started a meal planning thread with the intention of being better organised and saving money on my groceries. I'm not quite sure what happened but I'm still very disorganised and still wasting money on my food shopping so new year, new thread! I hope to do better this year. No more supplementing my food shopping budget with my overdraft and no more binning food! Here's to getting organised!
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Comments

  • glitter58
    glitter58 Posts: 85 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Hi I was just about to ask how do people go about meal planning as I too am rubbish at the minute for wasting food,my freezer is full and so is my fridge but because I leave it until on the day to decide what we want to eat we usually think oh nothing suitable so we,ll just pop to morrisons again!!
    I really need someone to explain how to start and how to organise it.
  • glitter58
    glitter58 Posts: 85 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Oops,going to read your old one to get the basics.
  • Flat_Eric
    Flat_Eric Posts: 4,060 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post
    glitter58 wrote: »
    Hi I was just about to ask how do people go about meal planning as I too am rubbish at the minute for wasting food,my freezer is full and so is my fridge but because I leave it until on the day to decide what we want to eat we usually think oh nothing suitable so we,ll just pop to morrisons again!!
    I really need someone to explain how to start and how to organise it.

    I'm not very organised and often find I will buy something in the morning for dinner but change my mind so come teatime, I'm cooking something else ! I find a family planner the best thing for me as I can write what me/my OH are doing and work backwards although I always start off with good intentions and then let it go pear shaped....
  • rememberwhen
    rememberwhen Posts: 9 Forumite
    My problem is that even when I know there is lots of food in I buy takeaways if late home from work. Just done my first proper meal plan and have a mixture of things that can be bunged in the slow cooker first thing if I know its gonna be a long day as well as some quick and easy recipes. Fingers crossed it will work :-)
    January grocery challenge 0/400
  • sunshine81
    sunshine81 Posts: 1,485 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Combo Breaker
    edited 1 January 2014 at 6:30PM
    Hey, I'm going to join you all. I've just gone through my kitchen cupboards to see what we have, then made a shopping list. I don't have as much stores as many other people probably, as we don't have a freezer (no room for one!) but we have a fair bit of cupboard stuff so, my plan for the week from tomorrow is

    Thursday - prawn chow mein
    Friday - chicken tikka masala
    Saturday - salmon, jacket potato and carrots
    Sunday - chicken or beef fajitas
    Monday - something quick (we both go to uni this evening)
    Tuesday - vegetable pasta bake
    Wednesday - jacket potatoes with beans or cheese or tuna

    We will go to Ald! who even do seafood cheap. I've wrote a shopping list and hopefully it will be significantly cheaper adhering to this rather than just putting random stuff in the trolley! Just hope we stick to it now or there's not hope lol xx
  • Mrs-s_4
    Mrs-s_4 Posts: 87 Forumite
    Here's mine -

    W - spaghetti and meatballs
    T - jacket potatoes (LO freezer chilli for DH beans and cheese for me)
    F - southern fried chicken breast burgers
    S - pizza
    S - shepherds pie
    M - eggs and chips
    T - corned beef hash
    January Grocery challenge - £165.31/£350
  • Ladyluck1
    Ladyluck1 Posts: 749 Forumite
    Here's ours for rest of the week!
    Thurs; chicken tikka masala with rice and popadoms
    Friday; fray bentos steak pie with leek mash, carrots and peas
    Saturday; fish fingers, waffles and beans
    Sunday; salmon en croute with new pots and salad
    I'm C, Mummy to DS 29/11/2010 and DD 02/11/2013

    Overdraft PAID OFF
    CC PAID OFF
    GC Sept £141.17/200
  • gingermomma
    gingermomma Posts: 14 Forumite
    Another great thread to keep me on track
    tonight-grab and go refuse to plan to cook new years day as hubby usually too hung over to eat
    thurs-garlic sprouts,mash and pork chops
    fri-fish,chips and peas (home not from chip shop)
    and so organized even done next weeks
    sat-chicken and egg fried rice
    sun- roast dinner-pork carrots,sprouts
    mon-chilli and rice
    tues - left over chilli with either jackets or chips
    wed-cottage pie
    thurs-spag bol
    fri-either stew or chicken curry
    hoping to bulk out the mince with lentils and beans (a tip picked up from another thread)so hopefully will need only a lrg pack are they 500g or 600g the tesco value ones
    Saving as much money as possible in 2014
    spc # 206
    50p savers club # 8
    weight lost 0/154lbs
    2014 grocery challenge £350 jan
  • Billie-jo
    Billie-jo Posts: 1,221 Forumite
    Have done a meal plan for seven days which is -

    Roast pork & veg
    LO pork - possibly pork & chips
    Spag Bol
    Bacon butties
    Roast lamb & veg
    HM Mushroom soup & hm crusty bread
    Meat & potato pie with veg


    This is by no means written in stone though and depending on what OH decides could change. However if the plan is adhered to I will only need to buy the lamb, mushrooms and some fruit & veg for main meals. We had the roast pork tonight.


    I have done rough meal plan for all of Jan but it still needs some moving around yet else we could end up with chicken for 4 days running followed by minced beef for another 5 days
    MARCH £62.38/250
  • betterlife
    betterlife Posts: 897 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    my problem is im a creature of habit, but also get fed up with the same old thing, i have 4 children so dont always try too many new things incase no-one likes it, (then its spent time making and money wasted! and hungry family lol) i try to make most things from scratch, and although my children are`nt mega fussy eaters theres still the odd thing they dont like, so if one night i decided to do jacket spud, my eldest son does`nt like them so i do potato waffles for him, or everyone likes hm soup except my daughter, im not one to panda too much, but its foods ive tried and tried them on and if they really dont like it, i have to give them something else. i love cooking but get fed up with deciding what to have for tea every night! i do try and cook most things from scratch, but also bit myself in the bum when i have no fast food as such in the house when i cant be bothered to cook or last minute changes! i really need to get organised this year not only for my budget but i work from home, which is great but i still have to walk kids to school in morning and then again to pick them up, so my work day is normally 9.15am - 2.20pm (as i post orders on way to school) some evenings i have to work aswell. i will follow this thread and hopefully it will give me a good kick up the bum :)
    One day I will live in a cabin in the woods
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