How do you shop?

Corneycobs

hey everyone,

I'm trying to organise my shopping a bit more and wondered how you guys do it? Do you do meal planners and buy accordingly, or do you see what bargains are to be had and make up meals from that?

My aims are:

1. Eat more fresh produce and get more nutrition
2. Eat less meat
3. Eat less sugary foods
4. Eat less salt
5. Cut down on waste
6. Stop overbuying on 'bargains'/BOGOFs that I never use up
7. Start buying from many places rather than Tescos.

I'm thinking of doing a meal planner and shopping accordingly. How about you?

Edwardia

My OH doesn't want to know on Monday what he'll be eating on Friday so I can't meal plan in the conventional sense. Instead I keep core staples around from which we can make lots of different things and I look out for offers on them.

We went organic last year and found it difficult in a smallish town to buy enough organic food every week, even from several supermarkets. So I had to start shopping more using Abel & Cole and Ocado and by mail order. Took some getting used to but it really does save a lot of time.

Cutting down sugar and salt means cutting out processed food and sugary drinks in reality.

looneyleo

We have a family of four and life is very busy so I definately do a meal plan each week. We all pick something we fancy and I have a list of staple meals to choose from because it feels like hardwork trying to decide 7 meals in one go! I then write the list and do the shop at Asda. Time is limited so I can't shop around as much as I would like. I generally stick to the list, but if I see a bargain I pick it up and put it in the freezer for the next week, or alter the meal plan accordingly. If the budget is running tight towards the end of the month, I will have a freezer week where we eat up all the bargains!

One thing I have started to do is a tally chart as I go to keep track of what I spend. I can't get on with a calculator as I shop, but a simple tally chart as I go is brilliant. Only roughly done, so if something is £1.20 that gets counted as a £1, but if something is £2.70 that gets counted as £3.00. I am never more than £2.00 out at the till and it really helps to keep the budget on track.

Good luck!

Parisian

1. I meal plan - my meal plan must be done before Friday every week. Many of my dinners can be swapped around ie. what I plan for Friday evening, can also be swapped with what was originally planned for Sunday evening.

2. I do either one foodshop (on Friday) or two foodshops (the second on Monday or Tuesday evening) a week. I do this because I can rarely get fresh items that last the whole week, so prefer to do two shops. This also saves wastage, as I can defer buying my next bottle of milk (as an example) till my next shop and not have too much in stock/things go off. This way I can usually do quick shops in two different supermarkets (usually Waitrose on a Friday and Sainsburys for my second shop, but I am flexible). If I know I will be horrendously busy and can't do the second food shop that week I plan for this in my meal plan, and my meal plan will have less fresh items for the final days of my week ie. Weds/Thurs & uses more cupboard/frozen items.

3. I buy what's on my shopping list which is made directly from my meal plan. I also look out for special offers and buy things if they are worth it - usually the more cupboard type items.

4. I have tried out all of my local Supermarkets - as I do two shops a week, I will often deviate from my usual Waitrose & Sainsburys. I have found different Superamarkets good for different things e.g. a Tesco's near work stocks my favourite Almond Breeze & Chobani yoghurt, so every so often I will do one of my two weekly shops there to stock up. I also generally like good food, so will pop into independent shops, M&S, Wholefoods, Planet Organic etc if I come across them and have the time, and pick up a few bits.

5. I have tried online shopping in various places - Ocado being my favourite. The iPhone app is amazingly quick. However, I dislike substitutions and sometimes the expiry dates on the items I receive, and so enjoy going in store more. With a list I can be pretty quick too. Going in store also has the added bonus of seeing offers in person which I didn't always look for when doing my online shop (for some the offers are a negative - but I know what I will use and what is worth it to me from the offers available).

ps. I don't usually base my meal plans too much on what's on offer as I don't like meal planning/being ad hoc in store - but that's just personal preference. But sometimes I will switch my meal plan in store for a good offer eg. this week I had lunches planned with chicken, but saw smoked salmon on offer so just did a switch. Planning by what's on offer can also be easier if doing an online shop.

Hope that helps x

Tiglath

I keep a stock of meat and fish portions in the freezers, bought monthly at Costco and bagged into portions; I keep track of what we've got on my spreadsheet. Toiletries/loo roll is bought monthly. Weekly we shop for veg and lunch stuff, maybe pick up bargains if we see any, and milk a couple of times a week. Local shops/market. I generally know a couple of days in advance what I'm cooking, depending on whether DH is home or not - if I'm on my own I'm happy with beans on toast. I take a pack of meat out of the freezer in the morning and put it in the microwave to defrost during the day; if I'm using the crockpot I bung it all in in the morning and it's perfect by the time I get back from work.

Corneycobs

Great replies, thanks all!

Ilona

I buy as cheaply as possible. Shop at 8pm in Tesco - yellow stickers. Cherry pick offers/bargains from all shops (discount stores). Don't buy meat at all. I don't meal plan, I make my meals with whatever I have in. I don't follow recipes, I make up my own using what I have in my cupboard. I eat everything I buy, never throw food away. I can live on £15 a week spend, easily. I eat lots of veg.
Ilona

[Deleted User]

I tend to have several weeks at a time where I do as little shopping as possible and run down my freezer a bit. I have been doing this during this month and cut right back on my shopping bill.I buy fresh fruit and veg as required and also bread and milk but I can make what I have streeeetch quite a bit anyway as I have had about 50 + years of practice :) I usually keep a small piece of card or paper (usually the back of a Christmas card ) by the kettle and as I run out of stuff I will write on there what I need ,but often I try to adapt what I have in store if I can rather than making a special journy just to buy a couple of bits Once I have at least 10 things to buy on my list then I will source where's the cheapest place to get it from.That way I can keep the costs down.I suppose about 25% of my food budget is spent on fruit and veg and I do like to make a lot of soups as this can streetch a smaller meal into a more filling one if you have a soup to start with.I also only ever use cash and have a seperate purse where my weekly money for food is kept apart from the rest so I know when the pursde is getting empty then its time to resist the lure of the supermarkets (I do this as much as possible anyway )
Buying stuf in season as we used to do years ago helps as well I don't want to eat a strawberry thats been grown on the other side of the world in January I would rather make a filling rice pud on cold days to fill up with and have my strawberries in July from the farm down the road.I also keep a keen look out for reduced stuff and more or less know whens the best time to look for them but will only buy it if its really reduced and not just 20p off.I run my kitchen and cooking as I would run a buisines with as little waste as possible as I then will spend less and have more cash at the end of the month to spend on what ever I fancy for myself or my grandchildren.I have by carefull budgetting a weeks holiday in the spring with my oldest friend and a fortnight in August with my family.All paid for by carefully managing my most important asset 'My cash':):):)

[Deleted User]

Ilona wrote: »

I buy as cheaply as possible. Shop at 8pm in Tesco - yellow stickers. Cherry pick offers/bargains from all shops (discount stores). Don't buy meat at all. I don't meal plan, I make my meals with whatever I have in. I don't follow recipes, I make up my own using what I have in my cupboard. I eat everything I buy, never throw food away. I can live on £15 a week spend, easily. I eat lots of veg.
Ilona

Hi Ilona, apart from i do eat meat, you sound the same sort of shopper as i am. I also buy a lot of YS products (although dont go at 8pm). Does your £15 per week include toiletries and cleaning products? Im trying to stick to a budget of £15 per week (theres only me) but ide like to include the occassional bottle of wine

lil.smartie

Pack of chicken breasts individually wrapped, same of small rump steaks, pack of mince, supply of herbs/spices/oil/soy sauce etc to make marinade/dressings potatoes, pasta, rice, wraps and veggies and my picky husband, 19yr old step son, my 4yr old daughter & I get a variety of meals each week!

Kate

louby40

I meal plan on a Friday and we shop Saturday morning. We do main shop at Lidl and then another shop at Tesco to buy stuff I can't get at Lidl. We are 2 adults and 2 kids (4 kids when OH daughters stay every other weekend)

I shop to the plan but will buy stuff if it's on offer. We've saved about £130 a month doing this (used to spend £400-£450 doing a Tesco online shop)

We both work fulltime so it saves a lot of time knowing what we're having each night. Tonight I've done our tea for tomorrow (slow cookers) whilst doing tonights tea.

My OH wants to cut out rice and pasta this week as an experiment to see if it's hindering his weightloss so have had to come up with some alternative meals!

Louise