Meal Planner Help

cazspatch

Im starting to sort out my debt and monthly spending - starting with food.

I am looking for the MEAL PLANNER as this weeks effort has already ruined as ive run out of stuff dsoo have to go to the shops - dangerous.

Found out im good at baking - did my first bread and cookies but i am awful at cooking on the cheap and from scratch and knowing how to store/reheat & use leftovers

Any halp would be great thanks x

D&DD

Well done on sorting out your debts Grocery shopping is one area you'll find you can really save money in.There are loads of tips on here and always lots of people around to give advice.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=346932
This may help with the planning
D

GrillMonkey

cazspatch wrote: »

Im starting to sort out my debt and monthly spending - starting with food.

I am looking for the MEAL PLANNER as this weeks effort has already ruined as ive run out of stuff dsoo have to go to the shops - dangerous.

Found out im good at baking - did my first bread and cookies but i am awful at cooking on the cheap and from scratch and knowing how to store/reheat & use leftovers

Any halp would be great thanks x

No you're not you probably just lack practice. Cooking on the cheap from scratch can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make. You've made bread, a lot of people don't attept this because they think it's not easy.

Have a search through this forum, there are many posts about meals for 50p, £20 food budget for a month, £10 for 20 days etc with many simple cooked from scratch recipes.

Jot down the recipes you like and deside what you want to eat each day and from that write your shopping list. Mysupermarket.com is a great site for planing your supermarket trip giving you the cheapest prices, and you can spread your shopping over a couple of supermarkets if that works out cheaper. I don't buy from mysupermarket but only use it to get the best deals before I set off to the shops.

Before you go make a list of what you already have so you're not buying duplicates.

Check out the special offers on long lasting products such as Soap, Shampoo, toilet rolls etc and when they are cheap stock up with a few months worth.

If you're not accustomed to cooking from scratch then your first shop may be a little more expencive than normal because of buying things that you wont be buying every week like flour, spices, dried pulses, yeast, salt etc. But don't be put of by thinking that a 30p loaf of bread is cheap than a bag of flour because in the long run it isn't. Once you have all these things then you shop will reduce.

If you can, buy in bulk. a 5kg bag of sugar is cheaper than 5x 1kg sugar for example.

If you have enough freezer space then cook in bulk and freeze in portions, this will save you energy and be a god send on those "lazy days".

Also have a look at this thread... http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=8736367#post8736367 many many cheap and easy recipes here