First time moving out... First food shop... Old Style!

TinyBoots_2

Hello Ladies (and gents)

I am moving into my first house (rented) on Saturday, and whilst I'm probably the most excited I've ever been.. I'm a little nervous about my first food shop.

We have to stock the cupboards with essentials, as well as making sure we have enough food for meals for the week... What is the best way to go about this? A meal plan would be my first plan of action, but what essentials do I need to buy?! or should I buy things like vinegar etc as and when I need them, rather than stocking up on my first shop?

I'm so scared, and so excited!! :eek:

Fire_Fox

Welcome to MSE! Can you cook? What kitchen equipment do you have - gadgets, baking stuff, utensils? Have you seen the MySupermarket website where you can compare offers and prices and 'write' your shopping list?
http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/

TinyBoots_2

Hey Fire Fox Thanks! I'm a long time lurker, but figured I should sign up and ask away, join in, get into the spirit of things!

We don't have anything yet! We're going to get everything on Saturday, I have a list of bits I need, which is on my laptop (I'm at work)! Is there anything you can recommend?

And I can't really cook anything from scratch, except pasta... I'm ashamed to admit it! But I've never needed to until now... Although I'm getting the Economy Gastronomy cook book for my birthday on Wednesday So following a recipe shouldn't be too hard... but without one I'm doomed!

Fire_Fox

If you can't yet cook then you could consider buying a slow cooker - I think they are available for £8 from supermarkets, or try a charity shop or nick one off a relative! There are loads of slow cooker recipes on this board to start you off, but basically you can just chop, throw everything into the bowl raw, switch on and leave for six hours or so. :T

MSE ingredients to chuck in a slow cooker (not all at once!! ) would include pearl barley, dried red or yellow lentils, porridge oats, dried green peas, rice, stock cubes, dried mixed herbs, garam masala, chilli powder, Mexican spice mix, tinned tomatoes, tinned kidney beans, baked beans, tinned chick peas, potatoes, onions, carrots, celery, parsnip, red cabbage, mushrooms, frozen garlic, pork or turkey mince, sausages, turkey drumstick, whole chicken, shoulder of lamb. Get value/ smartprice/ basics if it is available - you can always try a higher level if you don't like the cheap stuff.

Do you have a freezer?

heavenleigh

Do you have a budget for your first shop? if so it will be easier to give advice on the essentials :0)

TinyBoots_2

Fire Fox - Yes we have a freezer My mum makes loads of batches of chili, bolognase etc, so I was hoping to do the same once I'm clued up on freezing meals. Will definitely look into a slow cooker. What sorts of meals can you slow cook? I've never understood how slow cooking works

heavenleigh - Well seeing as we've never ever done a shop before, our first budget will be very high, for two of us we're setting the maximum at £60 per week... Once we know how much we're spending then we're going to obviously bring it down a hell of a lot! What would you agree would be a good budget for two people who work during the day (will take sandwiches/soup etc)?

Thank you for your help, you guys have no idea how much this is helping me calm my nerves x

CCP

Welcome, and congratulations on your new flat!

Fire Fox's list looks pretty comprehensive for most meals, with or without a slow cooker - the only things I can think to add are flour, sugar and eggs (useful for all sorts of things, not just baking), pasta, and possibly cheese and milk if you're likely to use them.

If you don't have any cooking equipment at all then I think the basics are a saucepan with a lid (and possibly a frying pan, too, although that may not be essential if you don't eat fried food), a baking sheet for cooking stuff in the oven, oven gloves for retrieving the baking tray (I never think a cloth is as good or safe, although it would do in an emergency), and a cook's knife. Most things can be cheap but I would recommend getting a decent quality knife as cheap ones can be quite flimsy and the only thing you end up chopping is your fingers (yes, speaking from experience here! ).

I'm sure someone else will pick up on anything I've missed...

TinyBoots_2

Thanks CCP!

My OH's mum picked us up some oven gloves this weekend... Was something I hadn't even thought of to be honest! It's crazy how you get bogged down with kitchen utensils like spatulas, mixing bowls, baking trays etc, then forget the items like tea towels/oven gloves!!

Linda32

Hiya, its exciting isn't it, we bought a cheese grater on our first big shop, more years ago than I care to remember lasted years as well - from Kwik Save, that shows you how long ago it was.

Anyway, £60.00 is fine for two of you out at work all day, does that include wine or whatever? I'm nowhere near as good as the peeps on here at keeping up with batch cooking etc. But we would be fine on £60.00 not to include wine

I'd stick to actual food first, rather than the sauces/vinegars etc, maybe buy just one of these a week until you get set up. By these I mean tartar sauce/cranberry/ketchup etc.

Do try to get a batch of sandwich boxes, Tesco/Wilkinsons/Asda etc, just about all of these are freezer safe, (it well say on them), these can then be used for your batch cooked meals, and also for taking sandwiches etc to work, I never use food bags for that. - Remember to re-use your bread bags as well. Also when you buy fruit/veg from the supermarket (assuming you do), don't wrip open the bag, cut the tops off so you can re-use the bags.
Don't buy loads of different cleaning things either, just one multi purpose spray is fine. (You can use vinegar but I think you have enough to be going on with without that complication) :beer:

Best of luck, let us know how you do.

Butterfly_Brain

Bless you - congratulations on your own little home.
Have you thought about looking at the recipe thread or the weekly meal plan thread?
Recipes are only a set of instructions and if you take things step by step cooking will come easy. ( I bet all of us has had a kitchen disaster at one time or another - I know I have:rotfl:)
Equipment for a kitchen can be costly but if you get one thing a week or even cadge some bits off of family and friends, it won't be too bad.
I find wilkinsons and Asda are the best for cheap starter equipment.
Have a look in your local library for Rachel Allen's Home cooking and Bake it has good easy to follow family meals.
Jamies ministry of food is another good one plus you can get slow cooker recipe books too (If I think I might like to buy a book I get it from the library first and see if it is good)
Check out local charity shops for cook books too.
Get into the habit of shopping in Aldi/Lidl?Asda they have some good deals.
I find Tesco very expensive and only go to sainsbury for a few things that I can't get anywhere else.
Good Luck in your new home x

TinyBoots_2

Linda... yes! So very very exciting! A bit daunting though... I know no matter how hard I try to plan things something will go wrong.

Yes the £60 will include everything food/drink wise... So that's wine/beer too! I had to laugh at my OH though, he's very much a mummy's boy and has NO idea about how much things cost... So he suggested that we make it £100 a month on food. Which we probably could do once we have an idea of how much we're eating during the week, and become more in-tune with bargains etc... But for now that's not going to happen, especially as he eats like a horse!!

I've noted the cleaning suggestion... I'm the type of person to go mad on cleaning products (I'm the same with makeup, hair products), I buy something for every need... So this will be a big learning curve.

I will be an Old Styler soon though

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Thanks Butterfly Brain! We were going to go to Morrisons as they were the cheapest near our house, not sure if there is a Lidl near us, but will keep my eyes peeled Hopefully the cooking comes naturally... If not, I can always get my OH to learn and see how much better he is haha! x