weekly shopping list

olivia84

hi there, new to the site so apologies if i am in wrong area or this question has been covered before! i was wondering if anyone could let me in on their weekly shopping list/budget? my boyf and i currently spend alot of money on junk/takeaway food which has to stop! however, i am not the best at planning and tend to go to tesco with no list, no plan of action and end up buying stuff i don't need etc. if i had a weekly menu plan for breakfasts, lunches and dinners, food shopping would be that wee bit easier. does anyone buy the same food shopping every week and have the same meals every week? this is what i'd ideally like to do but i have trouble thinking of good tasty meals and this is when i reach for the takeaway menu! i'm also vegetarian but can adapt most meals to suit me. things i can make and freeze then cook from frozen would be ideal as well. also i was wondering what people thought about liddel/aldi? i've only been to these stores a couple of times but i tend to buy alot of tesco value stuff and i think these types of products are actually cheaper than liddel etc. anyone else think the same?

thanks alot in advance x

Bitsy_Beans

I do meal plan (well evening meals anyway) but its not the same every week. I basically made a list of all the foods we like to eat, allocated one dish per day and came up with a 6 week meal plan. Some prefer to do it on a weekly or monthly basis but this way works for me.
So I check what meals we are having for the week and only buy the stuff that I need to make those meals.
I don't like Aldi/Lidl because they don't stock enough variety and some of their tinned goods (like baked beans) contain more salt and sugar than Sainsbury's Basics range. I love mr S's Basics, most of what I buy is from that range. Plus I have the added bonus of being able to still spend similar amounts to Aldi but not having to do a separate trip to buy say creme fraiche from elsewhere. i bulk buy my meat from Costco which is lovely and far better than the stuff sold in the supermarket.
HTH

Butterfliesarepretty

I wish I could buy from costco but its only for traders and not single people like me. Nearest one to me is manchester.

sugarcultsweetie

If you're buying basic, fresh own brand produce (e.g. veg, chicken) I honestly don't think that there's a massive difference betwwen major stores - for big buys, such as a bottle of branded vodka, it's worth checking mysupermarket.com for special offers, but otherwise it's more about shopping sensibly and frugally (e.g. remember that city prime position "express"/"metro" supermarkets are more expensive, and stock up on freezable clearance food)

The main thing - freezers are your friend! Like you say, you enjoy the convenience and speed of takeaways, so always have a supply of yummy frozen curries in your house and you won't bother phoning out Invest in a modest set of herbs and spices to cover cooking a handful of favourites, and you can even precook rice during the day - run a just-boiled kettle over cooked rice in a sieve, works wonders!

olivia84

thanks everyone for your tips! thinkin soups and curries for the freezer and hopefully cook from frozen durin the week x

wannabe_sybil

Years ago I had a three shelf freezer as part of the fridge freezer. On the top shelf went burgers, grills, sausages, fish fingers etc. In the middle shelf were frozen peas, frozen beans, frozen sweetcorn, etc. On the bottom shelf were frozen chips, frozen waffles, frozen roasties (not recommended) etc.

Effectively when we both finally dragged ourselves in from work we took an item from the top shelf, and item from the middle shelf and an item from the bottom shelf and had a reasonably (okay, only faintly reasonably) balanced meal.

If you shop at first with care and buy healthy options then it is a thought free exercise in meal making. Also baked beans can be done in the oven but I recommend that you put them in an oven proof dish.

Also, have a look at some of the recipes in the Old Style Board, have a browse there, they are lovely people over there and I am sure that you will be able to find oodles of ideas for meals and freezing there.

I hope this helps.

Edited to add - this is not the most cost effective way to feed you and your other half but it is cheaper than a takeaway. Also frozen veg is very healthy.

olivia84

sybil - that is a great idea!! - sorry took so long in replying - i'm a bit of a lurker im afraid x this would definately give us alot of variety x