A question for all you bargain menu planners

canidothis

For many years Ive planned my shopping around 7 meals that I fancy eating the following week, it works okish but Im still spending more than I would like - Ive read that many people shop for bargains then plan their weeks menu - how do you stay disciplined to only buy enough for 1 week and how do you know you've got enough? Also are you all fab at working out which meals would stretch into another day whilst standing in the meat aisle? I definitely need the comfort of my settee to work out what meals might stretch - anyway I would love to know your tricks on how to menu plan AFTER shopping or is the question how do you shop before menu planning - thank you

in_debt24

canidothis wrote: »

I definitely need the comfort of my settee to work out what meals might stretch thank you

Me too!

I think most people plan before BUT not all of us have the time so i would say buy basic foods because these are the ones that stretch. With meat i would say.....

Mince 500g is enough for 2/3 meals if you add a spag bol/chille sauce.
A whole chicken could be a roast/sandwiches/curry/Fajitas

Always have tinned fruit/veg, rice/pasta, storecupboard stuff. That way you can make the best out of what you've bought!

Hope that helps a little bit. :hello:

clutterydrawer

i usually only buy bargains that I can preserve in some way. eg I might get a trolleyful of reduced veg, but if i don't work it all into that week's meals, I'll make soup and freeze it.

Same with meals that stretch - i don't plan them to stretch, just if there happens to be some left I put it in the freezer and use it next week.

zarazara

I i started by writing down what we were actually eating for 1 month,then re-appraised it. we were eating too many costly meals so we started with 1 frugal day a week eg beans on toast for dinner,HM soup for lunch. I buy everything carefully now, I stretch meat with pearl barly and lentils in stews,I do rubber chicken and make soup with the carcass. I try to buy whoopsied veg and fruit. we eat less meat than before and also have 1 vegetarian day a week. we budget for a roast dinner on a sunday. a typical menu is
Sunday, roast dinner and HM pud eg rice pud
Monday ,left overs from sunday perhaps with added potato eg bubble and squeak
tue , pasta and HM tom sauce
wed. shepards pie and veg, the mince being stretched with the addition of lentils and pearl barley
thur HM veg soup
fri HM oven chips and a poached egg
Sat HM curry and rice

lunches are either HM soup or sandwiches
breakfast is porrige or toast with marmite or jam
fruit for snacks
I dont buy buscuits,crisps or cheese
I bake scones [ really cheap these] flapjack and sometimes a cake. I bake raisin bread and bread for sandwiches

stingy_rach

Another idea that I use sometimes is to register to shop online and use that to browse for that weeks special offers. I create a basket around the offers and then print it and take it with me shopping. That way I avoid the temptations of the supermarket but know in advance what is on offer.

ChocClare

I do a mixture - when I shop online I always do as stingy rach suggests and see what's on offer - starting with the bogofs, then the 3 for...

However, life does not always conform to plan and therefore I tend to keep a storecupboard of stuff I always have in. Obviously, that way you start with your bogof, use one and freeze or store the other - gradually you build up so you have your own minimart at home (well, perhaps not quite that well stocked!). You know what you have in, so you can plan meals around that and adapt. For instance, when I went to Mr T's on Monday, they had a whole trolley of broccoli reduced to pennies. I bought a big one, went home and combined it with an onion (from the cottage in my garden), some risotto rice (which has been sitting in my cupboard for months), some vegetable stock (Marigold Swiss bouillon, always in stock) and some cheese (the end of a bit of parmesan which has been in the fridge for MONTHS for flavour, plus some cheese bought when it was on special offer last year). If I'd had to buy all those ingredients, it might have been expensive, but effectively, THIS WEEK, that meal cost me 13p, which is what I paid for the broccoli.

If you go online on Tesco grocery every week and see what's on special offer, you'll start to see a pattern developing. The same things come round again and again on offer. The wonderful Tightwad Gazette taught me many years ago ONLY to buy things (or most things) when they're reduced. So Pilgrim's Choice Mature Cheddar was cheaper than Tesco's own last November, and I bought a couple of packets every week while the offer was on - they last for months anyway. By the time I've worked my way through that lot, another cheese will probably be on special offer. I'm just too mean to pay full price! Similarly, I use Olay Total Effects as it's the only moisturiser I like - and I know that Tesco has it on offer every 3 or 4 months, so I only buy it then. I presently have a ton of washing powder as my brand was reduced until recently. It's full price now and will be for about two months - but I don't care, because I've got enough to last me!

It does mean that you have to invest a bit so that you've got a stock. However, once you have, you don't have to worry, because you've always got the ingredients on hand to make up a cheap as chips meal. And also, it means that when, like us, you've just had to shell out thousands of pounds in one week to pay DH's tax bill :eek::eek: (hey, we love January 31st), then you can eat from stock without spending very much at all.

Meal planning while walking around the supermarket doesn't work for me, I'm afraid - at least, not on a weekly basis. If the meat counter has lots of reduced stuff, then I'll buy it and put it in the freezer, but that's usually for NEXT week's (or month's) meals. My meal planning usually starts with a) what have I got in the fridge that needs eating up/incorporating into something else b) what have I got in the storecupboard ditto and c) what have I got in the freezer ditto. You often find then that you've got the main ingredients, and then only need milk and veg or maybe a sauce or condiments to get you through the week.

Rambling as usual. Hope it helps, anyway.

PollyFlinders_3

I can't stand in the supermarket and work out what will last me exactly a week. I also can't guarantee what day I'll next be able to go shopping.

What works for me is to keep a reasonable range of basic "main" meal components in the freezer - mince, chops, sausages, some kind of fish, and a joint, and then to buy perhaps one or two other "main" items every week or two, based on what's on offer. Every so often I have built up enough in the freezer to spend a couple of weeks only buying milk and fresh fruit. I also have an allotment so am lucky to always have frozen fruit and veg available in the freezer.

I sometimes wake in a cold sweat at the thought of how much money I have tied up inside the freezer so then have a purge and make myself use something from the freezer every day for at least week...

OrkneyStar

stingy_rach wrote: »

Another idea that I use sometimes is to register to shop online and use that to browse for that weeks special offers. I create a basket around the offers and then print it and take it with me shopping. That way I avoid the temptations of the supermarket but know in advance what is on offer.

I tried to do that too, but since our Tesco is only wee (not a metro though) a lot of the offers online are not in our store! Works in part though! I just make sure I buy whoopsies when I see them, IF I know I can use/freeze them, and stay away from shops when we have all we need!
I also work on the system Polly mentions, keeping always steak mince, stew, chick breasts, sausages, some sort of fish, forzen veg (peppers, mushrooms, peas etc), chips- in the freezer, eggs, butter, cheese- in the fridge, plenty spuds, pasta, herbs, spices, flour, baking stuff- in cupboard etc, so my shopping is either restocking these stores (as something is used) or a few specific things that I only buy for certain meals, eg cream, salad etc, plus FV.

canidothis

Its amazing how many ideas can be picked up on these forums - I consider myself a fairly intelligent organised person but had never thought about checking online for any offers before going shopping:o

I think im so hung up on not going over my weekly budget that it might be restricting me - if i see a bargain thats not on my list I find it difficult to buy as not only will it make my weekly budget go over Im likely to forget I bought it and wont add it to my mealplans - blimmin hopeless eh?

But thank you for all of your ideas keep em coming as it makes great reading xx

EC12345

stingy_rach wrote: »

Another idea that I use sometimes is to register to shop online and use that to browse for that weeks special offers. I create a basket around the offers and then print it and take it with me shopping. That way I avoid the temptations of the supermarket but know in advance what is on offer.

I also do this. It really helps.

Money_maker

I sometimes go on mysupermarket.com to check out offers - may make the difference in which supermarket I shop at. If I meal plan before I shop then all works out well. If I hoof it then the dinners that week are a disaster (and I'm usually disorganised!).

I do find, however, that we dont get many leftovers unless we have a large joint or whole chicken. The food stretching doesn't go very far with a family of 5 which includes 3 blokes (2 of which are teenagers with a bottomless pit for stomaches). I do feel that the stretching folk are either couples or 2+1 or 2+2 small children.