menu planning and shopping and.. losing hope!

kethry

Okay this is likely to be a long post so please bear with me.

I'm getting increasingly desperate.. the amount we're spending on food, no matter what i do, it just won't shift *down*. and while i've always menu planned, i haven't done it obsessively, and that's what i've done today - tried to use up stuff i already got... just worked out the shopping bill, and while, granted, i've had to estimate the price of some things.. its at 70 quid for 2 of us (and the dog) for 2 weeks. And i know some of you are feeding 4 for less than that.

so in time honoured fashion, here's the inventory of my kitchen:

freezer: Yorkshire Puddings (8), Orange lollies, Summer Fruits, Filo Pastry, Garlic mushroom quiche, Oven chips, Prawns, Trout Fillets (4), Kippers, Plaice fillets (4), Sausages (5), Spinach, Baby carrots, Tortilla pancakes, Mexican cheese, Carrot and coriander soup, Apple sauce, Lamb shoulder shops (2, very small)

Fridge: Pickled onions, Sundried tomatoes, Lard, Mushrooms (4 or 5), Oranges (4), Garlic, Bacon bits (1 packet), Cucumber (1/2), cooked BBQ chicken thighs (4), Chilli and rice, Cheddar, Ham, Cheshire cheese, Flora, Stork margarine blocks, Apples, Eggs (4), Bacon

cupboards: Baked beans, Chopped toms (2), Prunes, Satsuma segments, Olives, Cannelloni beans, Tuna, Noodles, Beetroot, Pudding rice, Ready brek, Fruit and Fibre, Porridge, Basmati rice, Pasta, Spaghetti, Baguettes, part cooked (2), Ryvitas, Chopped nuts, Whole blanched almonds, Stuffing, Cooking chocolate, Syrup, Sugar, dark brown, Sugar, light muscavado, Green lentils, Broth mix, Red lentils, Cannelloni beans, Cornflour, Sugar, demerara, Sultanas, Raisins, Currants, Custard (powder), Black treacle, Golden syrup, Glace cherries, Flour, bread, brown, Flour, bread, white, Flour, self raising, Flour, plain, white, Flour, plain, brown, Yeast, Rice, basmati, Milk, dried

I also have a huge list of condiments and herbs and spices which i won't post cos otherwise you'll be reading .. forever... lol..

menu plan for the next two weeks (cos i get paid on a two weekly basis):

breakfast, most days for me, is a mix of porridge and apple, for OH either Fruit and fibre cereal (the cheapo stuff) and natural yoghurt, or ham and cheese toasties, except on weekends when we have bacon and egg sandwiches on saturday and ham cheese and egg toasties on sunday.

Lunch: we don't often do lunch but there's usually stuff we can pick at if we want and ryvitas to eat it on.

Dinner:
Wed (22nd) - Pasta with pesto, onions, peppers, olives and m'rooms, spotted !!!!!! and custard
Thurs - bacon roll, oven wedges, cauli and brocc bake, apple tart and custard
fri - fish pie for him, fish fingers for me, cauli and brocc bake, crumble slices
sat - pizza, crumble slices
sun - spag bol, pasta, garlic bread, spotted !!!!!! and custard
mon - cheese and onion roll, oven wedges, peas, yummy scrummy slices
tues - minestrone stew, yummy scrummy slices
wed - BBQ Chicken, jacket potato, peas, spotted !!!!!! and custard
thurs - leftovers night, apple tart and custard
fri - toad in the hole, potato boulangerie, chocolate sponge and custard
sat - pizza, gingerbread
sun - chilli with rice and gingerbread
mon - BBQ chicken again, oven wedges, peas, spotted !!!!!! and custard
tues - bacon and tomato pasta, apple tart and custard

Shopping list:

[prices are sometimes estimates, sometimes taken from receipts. i shop around to try to get the best deal, which isn't always on price (i try to go for value though and not branded). BTW some things are on the list that i already have in, e.g. bacon, but i only have enough for 1 saturday so i need a bit more.]

from Asda: Granulated sugar £0.72, Fake sugar £0.65, Dog food £4.32, Milk 4 pts £1.11, Frozen peppers £1.00, Frozen pizza £4.25, Frozen cauli/broc £1.00, Cheese £4.00, Pasta £0.31, Spaghetti £0.31, Onions £0.19, General potatoes £1.00, Fishfingers £1.15, Mushrooms £1.18, Instant coffee £3.00, Self raising flour £0.27, Caster sugar £1.00, Frozen peas £1.00, Cannelloni beans £0.40, Chicken thighs £1.73, Soy sauce £1.00, Chicken breasts £2.00, Kidney beans £0.15, Leek £0.47, Apples £0.65, Cinnamon £1.00, Natural yoghurt x3 £1.14, Lemon curd £0.50, Jam £0.50, Butter x 3 £1.59, Digestive biscuits £0.50, Golden syrup £1.00, Vanilla essence £0.50, Veg oil £1.00, Orangeade x 3 £0.90, Clear malt vinegar £0.47, Bouillion £1.48

from Tesco: Ham £1.50, Poppy £0.50, Sunflower seed £1.00, Pumpkin seed £1.00, Sesame seed £1.00, New potatoes £0.98, BBQ seasoning £0.85, Coffee £0.81, Ryvita x 3 £1.56

from Aldi: Mince £1.79, Deodorant £0.59, Olives x2 £0.98, Eggs x3 £2.07, F & F Cereal £0.95, Bacon £1.00, Glace Cherries £0.89, Olive oil £2.44, Pesto £1.00, Squash x 3 £2.67, Lemonade x3 £1.05, Loo roll £1.75, Tuna x 3 £1.05

Any thoughts .... i would be very grateful.. i've been labouring for the last 6 hours on this lot... (oh and i've waded through the recipes thread, the existing menu planning thread and just about everywhere else i can think of for ideas to cut it all down.. )

thanks!!

keth
xx

angchris

hiya keth, seems to me you eat well on what you buy and have a pud each night too! maybe cutting out the desert or make a cheapo micro sponge a couple of times a week with golden syrup/chocolate/jam and the white label sachets of custard (the type you just add water too 12p i think) are fab and just enough for 2:D when i make spag bol etc there is always loads leftover to freeze for another day, why dont you try batch cooking and freezing as it works out much cheaper especially if you are only cooking for 2. maybe try scouring the supermakets for reduced stuff and making meals around what you can find for example for tommorrows tea we have a huggeee chicken pie (reduced to 30p) mashed spuds made out of a bag of bakers (reduced to 20p a bag) and carrots (10p a bag)that i bought last week but still look fine. its just a case of picking up cheapo stuff when you see it (i clear the reduced shelves then worry about what im gonna make with it when i get home ) we eat really well and spend hardly anything on shopping compared to some folks, mealtimes can be very unusual in this house sometimes once i made a huge "pak choi soup pie" sounds odd but tasted great with bacon bits onion pak choi a tin of cambells soup and mash on top it cant of cost more than £1.50 but fed us all for 3 days:D
would it be possible for you to make your own pizza`s? they really do taste much better than shop bought and sooo much cheaper even if you cant be bothered to do it from scratch a pizza base mix is 58p in tescos. how about giving homemade flapjacks a whirl you have the brown sugar oats and syrup to do it i normally throw in seeds and nuts and dried fruit as well and they taste delish! or what about a fish pie with the prawns,plaice and kippers?? fry an onion add sweetcorn or peas and fish, then make a white sauce season and top with mash.
when you have done your meal plan the next thing to do is to sit with a cuppa and decide how you can make that meal cheaply yourself rather than buying packaged stuff, it might only be a pound or two a day you save but this soon mounts up over the course of the month,
to be honest i cant mealplan longer than for the next day, every evening i go to my freezer and stand there looking bemused for 5 minutes wondering what i can make out of the 99% reduced stuff thats there i have loads of frozen bits n bobs that just dont quite make a meal by themselves but eventually i will buy something to pad it out with iyswim(i have a big fosters 7 ft catering freezer and it is always rammed) and i make sure i use it all eventually nothing is wasted. i find that if i dont plan for the next day we end up either getting takeaway through lack of planning ie nothing is defrosted or i buy full price food because i had to nip to the shop to get something .
best of luck im sure you will be fine... angchris

sammy_kaye18

Hi Hun
just a few ideas - do you have an Iceland near you?? becaue alot of frozen stuff in tehre could save you a few quid - ok other ideas

from Asda:
Granulated sugar £0.72, stays the same in which ever shop
Fake sugar £0.65, presume this is sweetener - do you really need it? or could u just go without?
Dog food £4.32, is he fussy? how much does this get you?also dried or tinned?a big 6kg bag of complete dry dog food in tesco is only £5.98 or Gusto for working active dogs is £5.50
Milk 4 pts £1.11, Iceland is only £1 for 4 pints but other than that its the same price everywhere really
Frozen peppers £1.00, again Iceland possibly cheaper - could you look for reduced veg and cut it yourself?
Frozen pizza £4.25, wow thats alot!-adn my bf lives on pizza - could you make your own? or again Iceland! Tesco frozen value cheese and tomato bases are only 48p could you not add your own topping?
Frozen cauli/broc £1.00, iceland?
Cheese £4.00, Tesco value Mild cheddar is only £3.70 for an extra large block
Pasta £0.31,
Spaghetti £0.31,could you not go to tesco and buy a large bag (3kg) of Pasta for £1 and use that instead?
Onions £0.19,
General potatoes £1.00, £1 for 2kg in Asda - why not try Tescos value ones - 2.5kg for 79p
Fishfingers £1.15, Value fish fingers in tesco (10)- 49p or birdeye 8 for £1
Mushrooms £1.18,
Instant coffee £3.00, tescos classic - £1.98 for 300g, decaff £1.98 for 200g, freeze dried tesco gold - £2.54 for 200g
Self raising flour £0.27, same in tescos
Caster sugar £1.00, 1kg caster sugar - silver spoon - 75p
Frozen peas £1.00,
Cannelloni beans £0.40,
Chicken thighs £1.73,
Soy sauce £1.00,
Chicken breasts £2.00,
Kidney beans £0.15,
Leek £0.47,
Apples £0.65,
Cinnamon £1.00 45p tescos own jar
Natural yoghurt x3 £1.14,
Lemon curd £0.50, 42p tescos own
Jam £0.50 34p tescos own,
Butter x 3 £1.59,
Digestive biscuits £0.50, 24p tescos own digestives(400g),
Golden syrup £1.00, 66p lyles own in tesco
Vanilla essence £0.50, vanilla flavouring 31p
Veg oil £1.00,
Orangeade x 3 £0.90,
Clear malt vinegar £0.47,
Bouillion £1.48

from Tesco:
Ham £1.50,
Poppy £0.50, 38p for 100g
Sunflower seed £1.00, 39p for 100g
Pumpkin seed £1.00, 69p for 100g
Sesame seed £1.00, 29p for 100g
New potatoes £0.98, is this the 2.5kg for 98p?
BBQ seasoning £0.85, jar is 59p
Coffee £0.81, notice this is your second lot of coffee??
Ryvita x 3 £1.56

from Aldi: have no idea on how much you get in any of these as dont shop at Aldi not one near enough!
Mince £1.79,
Deodorant £0.59,
Olives x2 £0.98,
Eggs x3 £2.07,
F & F Cereal £0.95, could you buy a cheap muesli from Tesco and add your own fruit and veg if you have it in the house? could have a variety every morning then
Bacon £1.00,
Glace Cherries £0.89,
Olive oil £2.44,
Pesto £1.00,
Squash x 3 £2.67,
Lemonade x3 £1.05,
Loo roll £1.75,
Tuna x 3 £1.05

hope that sort of helped in some way!!

sammy_kaye18

Lmao

This is how unbelievably bored i am - my little boys still not up - adn im sat wide awake on my todd plannign my tescos shop today

anyway

i added all your shopping up as you'd put it with your estimate and it came to
£ 70.87

then i added up the suggestions id made (i kept the aldi stuff the same becasue i have no idea on quantity there) and with the changes id suggested (all from tescos as its the only shop i can get too!!) it came too
£43.30

so a saving of £27.50 near enough - plus if you keep poochy on the same food as hes on now you'll save even more becasue my suggestion was £1.66 more!! (so it would be nearer £30 in fact!!)

goonlord

My initial thought was to agree with Angchris - do you really need a proper pudding every night? What's wrong with a yoghurt or a piece of fruit? Loads healthier and much, much cheaper.

Maybe just save the 'proper' pudding for Sunday?

pudding06

Lemonade x3 £1.05
Squash x 3 £2.67,

this seems a lot to pay for lemonade and squash - have you tried the asda smartprice ones?

also lidl had their pesto at 44p
sainsbury's had frozen mixed peppers at 69p
smartprice fish fingers are only 24p for 10
aldi digestives 25p
just some thoughts - pudds

pandaonmyshoulder

I've found the cheapest place for milk at the moment is in Farmfoods 2 x 4pts for £1.60 you can feeze it too.

Pasta as the Op said £1 for a large bag at Tesco.

Potatoes I buy a 10kg sack at Morrisons for £2.49.

Peppers (fresh) pack of 3 are half price at Aldi at the mo'.

Granulated sugar is 69p at Wilkinsons.

Chicken portions always seem expensive to me so I buy a whole Chicken from Aldi for just over £2.00 and I can get 3 meals out of it and we are a family of 6.

lynzpower

I also agree thats a lot of drinks for 2 weeks, orangeade, squash coffee, lemonade

We usually buy a couple of Orange juice, squash when we run out, milk and tea or coffee and occasionally hot chocolate.

newlywed

I stopped buying fizzy drinks and fruit juice and just buy squash. A carton of juice doesn't last one day in our house but squash lasts a whole week or more.

I just buy them occasionally when they're on offer as a treat now. Kids haven't complained yet.

As you already have cheese and ham bits, then buying a plain pizza base and making your own pizza works out easy and cheaper.

cupid_s

Making pizza bases really isn't difficult. We make ours the night before and leave it in the fridge to rise a bit and then you just have to roll it out and put topping on. It costs us about 20p to make 2 biggish pizza bases and they are much nicer.

For veg, if you have enough room in the freezer, can you go to your local fruit/veg market buy bulk stuff and freeze it. I've seen massive boxes of peppers being sold for £1 and literally there must be at least 20 in there!

rosy

This is maybe not going to save much but if you buy semi skimmed milk you could buy full fat and dilute it 50/50 with water ( works for us and does add up as we go through 4pints per day!!! ). I know you lose some nutrients but you'll be getting plenty elsewhere. At 4pints per week you'll save about 50p a week ( but then that's about £25 a year! )Also agree with pandaonmyshoulder, buy a whole chicken rather than breasts.