2 month meal plan

Lexxi

I know most people here are really well stocked up and wondered if there was any advise, I was hoping to get enough stock in to see me through to January, which would be 8-10 weeks, with the exception of fruit, salad and possibly Christmas day.
I know how to meal plan and what I like etc but over the past few years I've had live in jobs so I haven't had to do it for a while, especially since everything went so dear
I've also never stocked up this much before.

I've also got a few questions too;

Where do I start with a budget for one?
Should I meal plan 7 meals and eat them each week, what's the best way? (as some meals will be at parents/out)
Is there anywhere to bulk buy, I know people suggest Asian supermarkets but I don't know what they stock, can I get brown rice or cous cous from these?
If I make up pizza dough, can I freeze it and at what point
Do potatoes and sweet potatoes need preparing before they go in the freezer
I read on here that people freeze flour to prevent bugs, do you leave it in the bag and put it in a tub in the freezer or does it need to go in something else.
I'm going to get a large tub of coffee, is there a better way of storing it so it doesn't go stale

Is there anything I can't freeze? :rotfl:

I think there will probably be more questions, I want to know that I am stocked up with food.
I want to get as organised to the nearest penny as possible.
I've found some of the meal planning and menu threads and I'm going to have a read through now. Sorry for the mega post I'm just not quite sure how to do this or if it will work

Lexxi

Can anyone help with the freezer questions, I know what I'm doing with meat and some meals but I don't know about things like chickpeas in meals or dough and I'm not going to have a fridge to start with.
I don't have anything at the moment except for a few bags of pasta and tinned fish.

I was hoping for a budget of around £300-£350, is this possible, it's extra money that I knew I was getting but more than expected, all my bills are sorted and I figured if I can do it this way and avoid the shops for two months, I will end up with extra money to pay off the debts

boultdj

Yes to being able to freeze dough[not sure of at what stage though] and I'v seen frozen ready meal's with chick pea's in so think your safe doing that as well.
Put bag's of flour in the freezer for 24 hour's inside a bag then store as normal.hth.

maman

Your coffee definitely won't go stale by January. Just keep it in the screw top jar it comes in and it'll be fine. DH drinks just one cup a day so a (large) jar lasts ages here.

I assume most of your meals will either be cooked from scratch (meat/fish portioned in freezer) or as HM ready meals (from batch cooking).

When I do our meal plan I write down 7 (or fewer if I know we'll be out) meals and always include at least one of the ready meals. That way if I miss a meal because of something unexpected it just stays in the freezer for another week. My priorities are to eat the meals that use the fresh veg/salad I've bought that week. Those made with frozen food or cans will keep.

I'd say that £25 a week should be easy enough to keep to with fairly normal meals although you might want to budget a bit extra for Christmas if you want some treats or are having guests.

alec_eiffel

Yes you can freeze chickpeas. I freeze them when they're cooked into a meal or when they've been soaked and boiled for 10 minutes then they're ready to just put into a dish I'm cooking.

We freeze pizza dough too, let is rise then either freeze it as a ball or roll it out flat then shove in the freezer wrapped in clingfilm or foil.

flutterbyuk25

Rather than go on a mammoth cook and freeze-athon, why not just stock up on non-perishables to start with? This is what I do whenever I have an unexpected £30 or so, say every 4months.

I buy things like tins of tomatoes, baked beans, kidney beans, pasta, lentils, rice, spagetti, coffee, UHT milk, squash, oats, flour. All stuff that lasts ages, way past the BB dates on them.

Then I only need to do top up shops for fruit and veg, eggs, cheese etc (I'm veggie). This way, the max I spend per month is £50 on food/groceries.

I don't meal plan as such, but I spend a few hours every other Sunday batch cooking chilli/pasta sauce/curry/soups etc and freeze them in the takeaway style plastic tubs in freezer. I also freeze cooked rice (although some people think this is dangerous, not killed me yet!), and pasta but only in a sauce not on it's own. That way I can come home from work and in the time it takes for the homemade meal to cook in microwave, I can boil rice/pasta/spagetti/pots etc to go with it, and have dinner ready within 10-15mins. Works for me.

Things like beans and chickpeas can be frozen no probs (cooked). Things like potatoes are normally best cooked first before freezing, i.e. make mash or par boil.

HTH

skader

just a thought, since you don't want to do any major shopping in the run upto christmas, why not batch bake some cakes, buns etc
i personally find if im craving something sweet, i will end up going to the shops looking for cakes etc, and always end up buying more things that i need or can eat before it will expire
if i have some homemade goodies in the freezer, i just have to defrost and and eat, much tastier, cheaper and avoids the temptation by going to the shops!

Lexxi

Thank you for all the replies, Skader don't worry, there will definitely be cake, cookie dough and treats being stored

I have worked out that I need 8 weeks worth of meals - 7x8 = 56, oops I've just realised I've got confused, I thought I had 56 week days and 16 weekend days, I've planned an extra fortnight :rotfl:

maman wrote: »

When I do our meal plan I write down 7 (or fewer if I know we'll be out) meals and always include at least one of the ready meals. That way if I miss a meal because of something unexpected it just stays in the freezer for another week. My priorities are to eat the meals that use the fresh veg/salad I've bought that week. Those made with frozen food or cans will keep.

Thanks for this, I was wondering how to plan out 8 weeks of meals but think if I keep a list then I can plan a week at a time then

alec_eiffel wrote: »

Yes you can freeze chickpeas. I freeze them when they're cooked into a meal or when they've been soaked and boiled for 10 minutes then they're ready to just put into a dish I'm cooking.

We freeze pizza dough too, let is rise then either freeze it as a ball or roll it out flat then shove in the freezer wrapped in clingfilm or foil.

The chickpeas idea is brilliant, I have some rice and cous cous dishes that I wouldn't want to put into the freezer but take a whole can of chickpeas, if I get dried and freeze them as you do they will be ready to just go in, or do dried to order which I hadn't thought about.

Anyway I have done a meal plan but I haven't costed it or done a shopping list yet, I included a few extra meals just in case I had a day where I didn't fancy anything or needed extra food. Having just realised I have an extra 14 meals there is plenty of scope to cut the budget down when I get to working out the cost. If anyone has cheaper ways of doing things let me know.

Ready meals
Turkey meatballs in red pepper sauce x 5
Mediterranean cod (aubergines, garlic and tomato) x 5
Pies (chicken, mince and stewing steak) x 10
Bolognaise sauce (can make into lasagne) x 5
Pizza dough x 5

Made fresh - enough for 4 of each
tinned fish in tomato with mash or pasta
Tuna pasta bake
ham, egg + chips
sweet + sour chicken
Fajitas
Indian cous cous (coconut, tomato, cous cous and chick peas)
Spicy rice (rice, spice and chickpeas)

Sunday dinners x 8

Satrday takeway, going to include 1 pizza and 1 ss chicken in this
Fried chicken x 2
Fish + chips x 2
Curry/indian x 2

Does that sound relatively balanced? I have fruit for breakfast, still working on lunches, leftovers and sandwiches are what I usually have.
I was thinking ready meals would be made up in the freezer, made fresh and takeaway I would have things in ready to make as needed, like frozen peppers or wraps, tinned stuff etc.

troll35

I have a month's menu planning done (rather than 2 months). I started out by making a list of all the meals I can make splitting them down into types of meat/fish/vegetarian. This came to about 40 different meals and that didn't include things like pizza, which we usually buy ready made. I then arranged the meals week by week, giving us a variety of meals, factoring in things like using up a joint of meat. Because I make sufficient things like stews, casseroles, chilli, bolognese etc to do more than one meal I am gradually building up a stock of freezer meals which will come in handy on future days where I have less time.
Personally I would find it difficult to bulk make the number of meals needed to feed us for more than a month and freezer space to store them would be hard to find. (I have the freezer part of our fridge freezer and a small separate chest freezer).
I still shop week to week though.

foxgloves

Re all your freezer questions, keep a look out in charity shops for freezer books. There were loads of them about in the 1970s so lots of them turn up in charity shops now. I bought a little paperback freezer guide for 75p from a charity shop & it might look a bit dog-eared & dull, but it's been so useful since I've discovered budgeting! it is just an alphabetical list of loads of different types of food & the best way to freeze them. It really surprised me just what can be frozen, actually, as I even looked up candied whole peel after buying quite an expensive tub of this for a Christmas cake & the book said to double-foil it & freeze for a year.....which meant I didn't have to buy any new for the following year's cake. Yay! I think it's worth using your freezer as much as possible especially if you make a double quantity & pop the extra one in for eating later in the month. I'd definitely say that as a former Big Spender turned Thrifty Budgeter, our freezer is one of the greatest tools in my money-saving arsenal.

quintwins

You can freezer pretty much anything so for that reason i'd do a list of say 15 meals you like and eat often and do a big online shop and freeze for 4 of each meal, then i'd freezer the raw ingredients. Then the first time your eating them make up 4 meals worth and freeze the extra.

Nearly all veg can be frozen most needs parboiled first, you can freeze potatoes, either parboil and freeze ready to finish boiling or make roastioes/wedges or cook and mash and freeze in portions (don't add milk or cheese)

Dairy can be frozen, if freezing cheese i'd recomend grating first, i but the value pre grated bags and just drop them on teh floor to loosen them.

I've never had a problem with my flour and i bulk buy when on 3 for 2.

Try and have a few quick meals incase you've had a long day to save on the takeaway.

Smellies and toilet roll will keep so don't forget them or you could end up with an extra trip out.

£350 seems abit excessive to me but only because i could feed my family of 5 on that for 2 months, i would say hold some back and only take enought cash with you to buy the fresh items you need so your not tempted by other nice things in store.