Can anyone help with my shopping list

CAFCGirl

Good Afternoon everyone!

Having been a member for over a year now, theres one thing that I still can't seem to 'get'!
And thats meal planning!
I seem to be a great one for thinking, but it's the actual doing that always lets me down!

So I decided I would shop online so that I wouldn't get tempted and waylaid by all the tricks of the trade. Considering I work in retail, you'd think I wasn't a sucker for it!

So basically I've done an online shop on asda. Bearing in mind, this is for one person,although the BF is around quite a bit. I'm doing some stocking up as well since I recently moved and pre-moving tried to eat a lot of what was in the house.

I'm trying to get breakfast/lunch and dinner within this:
Bit of background, I'm not great with the old 5 a day so I'm trying to ease myself in. And I'll confess to not liking/thinking I dont like a few things, but I'm trying!

The List
Apples .5kg 79P
Strawberries 1.48
Bananas 1kg 85p
Lemon/Lime 15p each : 30p
Kiwi Fruit 2 30p
Potatoes 96p
Mushrooms 62p
Onions (bag of) 68p
Carrots .5kg 35p
Parsnips .4kg 59p
Sweet Potatoes .5kg 74p
Cucumber 42p
Spring Onions 30p
Peppers (red/yellow) £1.56
Beansprouts 38p
Milk £1.32
Eggs £1.00
Cathedral City cheese £2.00 (on offer)
Fromage Frais 2x8 packs £1.96
Bread 54p
Pitta bread 34p
Beef mince 3x500g £3
Chicken (whole) 2 for £5
Frozen sausages £1.33
Frozen chicken breasts (bag of) £3.98
Oven chips £1.16
Pasta 3kg £1
Savoury Rice 5 for £2
Apple juice SP 4 x 1l £2.32
So far that totals £38.53 according to Asda but doesnt include any of the special offers.

I've got a few bits in the cupboards already like sauce jars (sausage casserole) about 7 tins of chopped toms, lots of herbs/spices, flour, sugar etc.
I'm planning on getting into some batch cooking esp with mince meals.Hopefully the roast chickens I'll be able to stretch.

My plan is for this to last me at least 2 weeks, and then some things will last a little longer, and some things I'll need top ups etc, like milk and veg.

Is there anything that sticks out that I shouldn't have. Sometimes when I look at it for £40 I think "Yeah thats pretty good", and then other times I think it's a bit steep.

Anything mentionned is gratefully received

sammy_kaye18

Hi hun

Must admit I dont shop at Asda (Mr T here) but your shopping list looks really good. Plenty of veg and fruit etc and plenty to make meals with. Now its just down to the meal planning itself.

The only thing i was looking at is that

Beef mince 3x500g £3
Chicken (whole) 2 for £5
Frozen sausages £1.33
Frozen chicken breasts (bag of) £3.98

is this seems alot of meat for two weeks i was thinking. You can always cook one chicken adn use it as a rubber chicken for sandwiches, stir frys, curries etc or whatever you eat and have a frozen one in the freezer , why not swap the bag of chicken breasts for a joint of beef or a bit of pork/gammon instead to do a casserole with etc and that way you have a little bit of diversity rather than alot of chicken. the mince can be used for everythign adn anythign and the same with the sausages.

Another observation is you have no breakfast cereals or anything else. although plenty of fruit to make smoothies i guess. But how about 48p smartprice porridge oats. That way you could always have it as porridge, make some sort of fruit flap jack or use it in bakign if you do much of that etc.

Fromage Frais - not sure which yoghurts you have but how about instead of payign for small yoghurts, why not buy a few big natural yoghurts and making you own thigns to go in with it?? you could puree down fruit and mix that in, put some on top of cereal (weetabix is yummy) chunks fo banana in it, use it as a dip for fruit platters etc. smartprice 500g are 38p and not sure but you might be able to freeze it too.


Just a question is it your preference for sweet potatoes or could you have normal white potatoes?? 2.5kg is only £1.68 and would last alot longer btu you might not be a potato person = you can use these big ones as jacket potatoes too though

ok cant think of anything else hope it helped though and i dont seem a nag or anything but just a few suggestions for you hun

x x x x x

CazW_2

I think the best thing to do when meal planning is to actually think of what meals your going to eat... so.. for instance... you have beef mince and pasta.. so spag bol sticks out as a meal but you have no sauce.. (of course you may already have this at home??) but what i'm trying to say is.. look through your fridge/freezer and cupboards.. and see what you already have... what meals can be made?.. then think about what you want to eat for the next week and but the ingredients for thoes meals... obviously with things like pasta they keep well and it works out cheaper to buy big packets so mabee once a month do a 'stocking up' shop with thngs like toiletries , washing powder and dry goods like rice, pasta, cereal ect then just buy the fresher stuff each week.

you said you hoped the list would last 2 weeks... to be honest... even in the fridge most frest fruits and veg wont last for 2 weeks so you might be better reducing the quantities so you don't end up wasting half of it?

sorry.. i rambled a bit there..lol

hope this has helped a bit??
Caz

reverie

Fromage frais - Agree with Sammy, could you buy big pots of yoghurt (or fromage frais) and add fruit to flavour? (If it works out any cheaper obviously).

Oven chips - Very easy to make your own with potatoes.

Savory rice - Could you just use normal rice with a stock cube and/or herbs?

HTH.

CAFCGirl

sammy_kaye18 wrote: »

Hi hun

Must admit I dont shop at Asda (Mr T here) but your shopping list looks really good. Plenty of veg and fruit etc and plenty to make meals with. Now its just down to the meal planning itself.

The only thing i was looking at is that

Beef mince 3x500g £3
Chicken (whole) 2 for £5
Frozen sausages £1.33
Frozen chicken breasts (bag of) £3.98

is this seems alot of meat for two weeks i was thinking. You can always cook one chicken adn use it as a rubber chicken for sandwiches, stir frys, curries etc or whatever you eat and have a frozen one in the freezer , why not swap the bag of chicken breasts for a joint of beef or a bit of pork/gammon instead to do a casserole with etc and that way you have a little bit of diversity rather than alot of chicken. the mince can be used for everythign adn anythign and the same with the sausages.

Completely understand your point. My aim was to make extras up for the freezer and to use for lunches. I've taken the bag of frozen chicken off after staring at the screen for 5 mins!So hopefully it will then mean that the next fortnight I wont be buying quite so much as I'll have stocks of meals in the freezer

Another observation is you have no breakfast cereals or anything else. although plenty of fruit to make smoothies i guess. But how about 48p smartprice porridge oats. That way you could always have it as porridge, make some sort of fruit flap jack or use it in bakign if you do much of that etc.
This is mainly because I've got cereal in the cupboard, and mix this up with having toast some mornings, and then hopefully smoothies too

Fromage Frais - not sure which yoghurts you have but how about instead of payign for small yoghurts, why not buy a few big natural yoghurts and making you own thigns to go in with it?? you could puree down fruit and mix that in, put some on top of cereal (weetabix is yummy) chunks fo banana in it, use it as a dip for fruit platters etc. smartprice 500g are 38p and not sure but you might be able to freeze it too.
lol, this is mainly coz I'm not exactly good with fruit. Veg I can handle! Although I am dribbling at the description. I'm currently working through a "oral fixation", whereby I dont like texture, generally my food is pretty crunchy. So I'm trying to get myself through that one but easing in with this like the yoghurts, some bananas.


Just a question is it your preference for sweet potatoes or could you have normal white potatoes?? 2.5kg is only £1.68 and would last alot longer btu you might not be a potato person = you can use these big ones as jacket potatoes too though
I've got sweet potatoes and white potatoes in there too. I confess to loving and i mean LOVING potatoes, esp sweets'. Again I would buy in larger quantities for the cost effectiveness however they seem to sprout quite quickly and go off since I'm not using them as much

ok cant think of anything else hope it helped though and i dont seem a nag or anything but just a few suggestions for you hun

x x x x x

Didnt seem like nagging at all hun! I appreciate all the suggestions you made. Esp' considering your posts that I've read, your advice is fantastic.

pudding06

smartprice pitta are cheaper, and less additives in general.

could you get a value/smartprice pack of peppers instead. I used to buy them and theyre great for cooking.

i agree with others, will it keep? remember youre not choosing it so you are relying on others to select the best use by dates.

pudds

CAFCGirl

CazW wrote: »

I think the best thing to do when meal planning is to actually think of what meals your going to eat... so.. for instance... you have beef mince and pasta.. so spag bol sticks out as a meal but you have no sauce.. (of course you may already have this at home??) but what i'm trying to say is.. look through your fridge/freezer and cupboards.. and see what you already have... what meals can be made?.. then think about what you want to eat for the next week and but the ingredients for thoes meals... obviously with things like pasta they keep well and it works out cheaper to buy big packets so mabee once a month do a 'stocking up' shop with thngs like toiletries , washing powder and dry goods like rice, pasta, cereal ect then just buy the fresher stuff each week.

you said you hoped the list would last 2 weeks... to be honest... even in the fridge most frest fruits and veg wont last for 2 weeks so you might be better reducing the quantities so you don't end up wasting half of it?

sorry.. i rambled a bit there..lol

hope this has helped a bit??
Caz

Thanks for the point.
The fruit I'm hoping I'll get through within a week with the smoothies etc. The veg I'm planning on adding into the meals I'm making to put into the freezer.
So I guess what I mean is I hope it lasts two weeks for fresh meals, and then some carries over, i.e make a portion, freeze a portion.

I've been through the cupboards and found all the jars/packets etc. Hence why theres quite a bit of mince I've got spag bol mixes, shepards pie mixes, cottage pie etc.

Skint_Catt

Personally if you are on your own (albeit with boyf popping round) I'd do a weekly shop/budget instead.

Plus as above, I would work out the meals first, then buy only the ingredients to make those for each meal!

Good luck!

Catt xx

ti1980

To me it looks like too much fruit. If you have to throw some of it away then you might as well throw the coins straight in the bin!
I shop for one mainly and I get fruit every few days as I found that when I tried to do a week or a 10 day shop, I would either have no fruit left by about day 5 or have too much and it starts going off.
Your list looks good to me though.

nikibella

Hi
I agree with those who wrote before me. If you are single as I am it's a bit of a waste to prepare too many meals in advance. It's a huge work and you never know if you are home and what you want to eat that night. I used to buy more stuff, but I am learning to buy less and be more flexible. Since I like to eat fresh foods like salad milk etc. and they don't keep for too long, every time I need them I also buy the items I need and that are on my list. Then, for instance, if I find a package with 3 meat slices I eat one and freeze the other 2 in separate portions wrapped in clingfilm, so that I always have something for emergencies, or if I prepare a casserole or any dish that needs cooking, I make may be 2 or 3 meals and freeze what I don't eat in the following 1-2 days, so that I have variety without having tons of food in the freezer that needs to be eaten and may be I will get bored with.

kiwi88_2

Hiya CAFCGirl

I hope it's been a no spend day again for you :rotfl: :rotfl:

A menu planning link, in fact, one of the main ones that's helped me and I haven't read it all yet :rotfl:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=346932