My first real shopping list - will this be about right?

Kimberley

A Question?

Things like fruit and Veg and meat i'd prefer to select myself as some things can be damaged. I know that when i've gone to buy Grapes, most of them were squashed or bruised.

My question is, if you buy them online are you certain that the person doing your selecting, is picking the best ones? I mean wouldn't the supermarket send you the ones their instore customers reject?

I've never bought online for this reason. How does it work and do you get a good selection?

Skintmama

If you are not happy with anything you have had delivered you just phone up and they are deducted from the bill. My personal thing is when I have food delivered with very short date codes for the product, like bread that needs eating by the next day. I always phone to have these deducted and then put them in the freezer. It annoys me if fruit or veg is very short code so always complain and get the money off. Somewhat ramblingly I am saying that if the goods are poor in any way, at least with Tesco you will not have to pay for them.

Kimberley

Skintmama wrote:

If you are not happy with anything you have had delivered you just phone up and they are deducted from the bill. My personal thing is when I have food delivered with very short date codes for the product, like bread that needs eating by the next day. I always phone to have these deducted and then put them in the freezer. It annoys me if fruit or veg is very short code so always complain and get the money off. Somewhat ramblingly I am saying that if the goods are poor in any way, at least with Tesco you will not have to pay for them.

Yeah but then anyone could just say that You could phone and say the fruit is bruised or something I know honest people won't though.

Ok thanks :beer:

apprentice_tycoon

With Tesco you can add a note to each item on your order like 'with long use by date' for the picker to see as they go around the store. If you said 'please check the grapes are OK' I'm sure that they would

Kimberley

apprentice_tycoon wrote:

With Tesco you can add a note to each item on your order like 'with long use by date' for the picker to see as they go around the store. If you said 'please check the grapes are OK' I'm sure that they would

Oh right thats good then

dooj

I would also suggest shopping weekly. I shop on a monday evening (about 6 ish) which seems to be a quiet time, i only ever shop from a shopping list which saves me wandering about looking confused and i make my shopping list from a menu plan which includes everything me and OH need for both lunch (to take to work) and dinner for the week. I alsways do my shopping list at home this way i can check what i already have in the cupboards. I usually do 2 meals a week in my slow cooker (i hate coming in from work to start cooking meals that take ages) this is soup and curry. Chopping and peeling veg for the soup takes a while but i do it whilst watching telly and a least i know i have both dinner and lunch for work for the effort. Curry made in slow cooker is just a bought sauce and chicken breast (just put it in hole)put in slow cooker in the morning and it is ready wen i get in (only have to cook rice which doesnt take long (14 mins in microwave)) I sometimes add a tin of lentils or chick peas to curry then have microwave popadoms or defrost some nan bread to go with it. Other meals i have are stir fri made from frozen stir fri pack, 3 min noodles and buy one get one free frozen prawns (as they are already cooked) which have been defrosting all day in the fridge. If i make too much soup or curry i freeze it for the following week which means i only have to cook some meals once a fortnight.
I never cook in advance or shop on a weekend as weekends are for fun only. If i make food on a weekend it is pizza which just means adding stuff on top of a pizza base (i actually make my own but quicker if you dont) or chicken or beef in slow cooker then quickly steam some veg (microwave steam veg is the quickest)

Hope this is helpfull to you.
I freeze bead in bundles of four slices so i only need to defrost what i need, dont freeze a ful loaf as it defeats the object and will just stick together wen you try to prise it apart and then eventually it falls apart.

kbarty

have to say I don't rate the Delia "how to cook" books myself. I got the first 2 when I got my first house and I've done maybe 3 things in the whole books. Shepherds pie, toad in the hole and scrambled eggs!!

Now what I wish I had in front of me when I was just starting out was the River Cottage Family Cookbook. It's really simple stuff and actually explains about basic ingredients and how they work. I love it.

I want basic good food, not fancy stuff, which is why I can't stand the Delia books!

nabowla

I've come to this thread quite late but I'm going to add my tuppence-worth anyway!

Meal planning is an absolute lifesaver, especially if (like me) you are cooking for one. I normally sit down for 10-15 mins on a Sunday and plan the meals for the week ahead. It took me over an hour the first time I started planning but I've got much quicker (and some weeks I just dig out an old plan from a couple of months ago and re-use it!). Planning really helps me to cut down on food waste, eat more healthily and keep the grocery bills down. As an example, this week's plan is:

Breakfasts: Porridge, fruit juice, tea
Lunches: HM soup (made on Sunday, half kept in fridge and half frozen into individual portions), oatcakes, fruit
Mon dinner: Slow cooker meal (prepared Mon AM). Cooked enough for two meals, ate one portion and put other portion in fridge.
Tues: Pasta, HM sauce (made a huge batch, used one portion and put five portions into individual bags for freezing), fresh veg, fruit
Weds: Reheated slow cooker meal
Thurs: Fish, new potatoes, fresh veg
Fri: meal out
Sat: meat (fresh from butcher's - whatever's on offer!), fresh veg, new potatoes

The point of going into this much detail is to show you that, with a bit of planning, you can not only create a shopping list but also avoid cooking some nights by thinking ahead! I only had to cook once (on Sun) to make enough soup for all five lunches this week. I didn't cook at all on Weds evening but still ate a HM meal (far cheaper than microwave meals from the s'market). I've also got the basis for another five pasta meals sitting in individual portions in the freezer for use over the next month (always freeze in individual portions, that way you don't waste anything when you defrost). I know you don't like pasta but you can do the same with a HM curry sauce, chilli con carne sauce, casserole.....the list is endless!

On the shopping front, I knew exactly how many portions of fresh veg I needed to buy - I used to find fresh veg for one quite hard because of the quantities, but it's much easier now that I think 'how many portions will this item serve?' I knew that I needed only five pieces of fruit (one for each packed lunch) and that I wouldn't actually get round to eating all the fruit if I fell for the BOGOF offers. I knew how much milk I needed (milk can be frozen and defrosted, so you might want to buy several one-pints and freeze them rather than buying one large bottle and throwing half away because it's gone off). It's so much simpler with a plan.

As for cooking techniques, you'll find lots of help here - feel free to ask as many questions as you like. We all had to learn to cook at some stage! Your mum should also be a good resource, why don't you ask her to show you how to cook your favourite meals next time she visits?

Above all, good luck!