meal planning - where do i start?

xRaindrops

Wow so using the above we could technically half all ingredients on the family of 4 meal plan and spend £50 per month? :eek:

xRaindrops

Thanks mrswive, some great recipe idea there for us to try... And yeah I really do hope we can get used to this, we would love to be frugal but I guess starting is the scary part hehe

rosie383

Technically, you could. But only if you are very open to new ideas and maybe eating things you wouldn't usually go for.
It will give you some great ideas tho, especially batch cooking. Sometimes you can spend more in the first week, but a lot less in the couple of weeks after once you have some bits in the freezer.
What I do now, is sit down with pen and paper, take down a few recipes and try them out on the family, in between things that we normally eat, then whatever we like goes in the plan.
Use site like https://www.mysupermarket.com as well and click on 'top offers'. Then you can BOGOF etc and incorporate bargains into your plan.

FairyPrincessk

The first few times I tried meal planning I got stuck on a similar problem. What worked for me (and might seem really obvious to everyone else so sorry!) is that I had to realize that I couldn't start off by making a list of what I wanted to eat. Instead, I needed to start off by making a list of what I already had/what was on offer/ what I had just gotten reduced or needed to use up and base my meals around that. That was kind of a big realization for me. When I first started doing this, I would go on recipe sites that let me search by recipe. I usually had to tweak the recipe a lot, but I discovered some really great meals that way, like spicy lentil stew with potatoes. I also learned to be a lot more flexible. If I went to the supermarket to get x,y, and z but found p and q in the reduced section I would challenge myself to use the cheaper option and come up with menu plan revisions on the spot. That has gotten easier as I've gotten a larger store of frugal recipes, but sometimes it can still be really challenging!
Finding recipes with common ingredients and building up a store cupboard also helped with variety, but that does take time and patience (and practice!).

MandM90

I second what FairyPrincess said...make a list of storecupboard things and start with a couple of meals which use those up!

Maybe you could say what meals you and DH like to eat and we could suggest ways to keep them cheap/cheaper alternatives. Also have a look on cheap meal recipes on this board too. If you are meat eater try and have a couple of meals using lentils/chickpeas instead.

FairyPrincessk

Also, on the taking a meal plan for four and halving it-don't be too hard on yourself if you try it and it still costs you a bit more than half. It generally costs more to cook for fewer people, and sometimes what is cheap to feed two people would be exorbitant to feed four and the reverse. I realized recently that some of my mother's most frugal family recipes cost me far more to make for two because the ingredients didn't store well and cost more to buy in smaller quantities. On the other hand, if I find one lone lamb chop significantly reduced I can always chop it up with lentils etc whereas feeding more it would probably be stretched just a little too thinly.

OberonSH

The bbc website is good for plugging in ingredients and seeing what you can make - be warned though that some recipes are a bit pricey, but you can adapt. I second that - make a list and make meals from what you already have. Reduced sections and the butchers on a saturday is a godsend for reduced meat!

zippychick

Hi and welcome to the board

Meal planning where do i start is a really useful thread and there is also meal planning how do you do it?

Save money by not meal planning is also a good read & meal planning which way works for you?

Just persevere with it and you will find a way that suits you. Baby steps

Tips and questions on starting out OS may helpGood luck and we will merge this later

Zip :A

bluebag

Keep posting any questions you have on here ... even if you think they are daft. We all started somewhere.

Advice on how to stretch things, make a recipe using cheaper ingredients, subtitute what you have instead of what the recipe calls for. I'm sure you get the idea.

There must be literally hundreds of years of combined experience here through all types of economy and market conditions, make good use of it.

squeaky

bluebag wrote: »

There must be literally hundreds of years of combined experience here through all types of economy and market conditions, make good use of it.

Nope!!

It's THOUSANDS !!!