Help with an old style weekly shop!

epskie

Somebody kindly directed me onto this forum. I would really appreciate some advice/hints on doing a weekly shop.

I've fallen into a terrible and costly habit of going to Asda every single day and it's costing me a fortune. Can anybody help me out? What sort of things can I buy so that I can make a meal every evening?

I have a Husband and two sons (11 and 6) and we both work.

Many thanks in advance

Dipndo

Check out the grocery challenge thread its fab,loads of ideas and help

BitterAndTwisted

Consider setting aside a couple of hours cooking-time on the weekends and make batches of meals for the fridge and freezer. It shouldn't take too many weekends until you have a week's worth of evening meals. It all takes a bit of organising and self-control to stay out of the supermarket every day but the rewards might make it worth it.

Nargleblast

When you get a day off, sit down and do a meals plan for the next 7 or 14 days. Check out what you have in the cupboards, fridge and freezer, and design some of your main meals around those things. Make a note of ingredients you need to make the meals, and that will be the basis of your shopping list. Sounds daunting perhaps but it gets easier with practice. For example, if you plan a roast chicken dinner one day, plan for a pie or curry using the remainder of the chicken the next day, then chuck the carcass in the freezer ready to make some soup or stock on your next day off. (If you have a humunguous great chicken, there are people on here who could tell you how to make several meals from it - the famous "rubber chciken")

Nargleblast

And if you have access to a good market or greengrocer, it is worth buying fruit and veg in small lots a couple of times a week - you can get bargains once you have struck up a relationship with the trader, and the stuff is often tastier than supermarket fruit and veg.

YORKSHIRELASS

Mealplanning is fantastic. It takes a bit of practice but once you get there it not only saves you money but makes life so much easier too. I do it fortnightly now and rarely shop in between.

What I do is sit down and make a list of teas for the next two weeks, taking into account anything that we are doing on an evening. I hate this bit but have a list of teas to choose from to make it easier.

Then I work out what I already have in the freezer then work out what I need to buy to make my chosen meals. As Nargleblast says you can get really clever and link teas together but I have a hubby who takes a food flask to work so he cleans up any leftovers!

If it helps this fortnight goes like this:

HM Pizza and Wedges
Mince Beef hotpot and Yorkshire puddings
Chicken and Ham Pie
Stew and Dumplings
Meatballs and Tagliatelle
Fish and Chips
Sweet Chilli Chicken and Noodles
Lasagne
BBQ or Chicken Fajhitas
Steak Pie and Mash
Chicken Curry
Shepherds Pie
Roast Chicken

This is 13 because we are out for tea one night! You will see that we are quite big meat eaters but all meals are padded out with veg and salad. Nearly everything is cooked from scratch and I use the slow cooker wherever I can.

I have two sons as well, mine are 11 and 13 and I have cut my shopping bills from £400 + to £280 a month by mealplanning.

epskie

Thanks for the responses - brilliant!

We are a big meat-eating family too so that's really helpful
So bread and milk? Do you freeze your bread?

YORKSHIRELASS

Yes I freeze bread and sometimes freeze it in half loaves in summer. Its also surprising how long fruit and veg will keep in the fridge. I buy big bags of family apples and they will keep in the fridge for two weeks. Dread to think what they do to them to make them last that long but anyhow!

Milk also keeps for ages in the fridge but I havent got enough space for two weeks worth so this is something I have to shop for in between.

To be honest its the stuff you need for other meals/packed lunches that takes a bit of working out but I have got it down to a fine art now.

For instance I know 5kg of spuds and a 1kg bag of pasta will last us a fortnight.

If I run out of something I will try and not rush straight to the shops for it. If we have run out of one breakfast cereal than the kids will just have to have another.

I dont believe in stockpiling food, its wasted money in my opinion but I know others will disagree.

I also divide things like crisps up and hide the next weeks supply to stop OH and the kids devouring them all just because they are there.

Another good thing about this system is that you hardly ever throw food out because you only have what you need. I freeze all my meat and then every night before bed I look at the next days menu and take out what I need. Any leftovers can be frozen and used up later. Leftover bolegnaise or chilli makes great pizza topping for example.

Good luck, I had no idea about mealplanning before I came on here and used to always get stressed about finding something for tea when I had been at work all day.

epskie

I've taken the advice of the posters on here and made a weekly meal plan. I did the shop for it last night and it came to £110.

Is this extortionate for a family of 4 plus dog?

Thanks all

McKneff

It really depends on what you bought and what your meal plan consist of.

epskie

Yes I suppose that would help, haha.

Fresh cooked meals every night including - chicken curry, shepherd's pie, gammon and wedges, roast dinner etc. We are big meat eaters. It did also include breakfast things, fruit and some cleaning products too.