any sucessful meal planners out there?

sammiboo

I tried this a while ago and got out of the habit of doing it.

Our food bills have crept up shockingly so thought it was about time we kicked ourselves in !!! and did something.

Last friday I planned every meal for this week and the OH shopped for everything we needed.

From day one we havent stuck to it, things cropped up etc. i am utterly rubbish.

Ealier in the week our gas ran out and OH had the card and was working late, so in the end we had soup for tea with bread as it was too late to cook a proper meal. We have been eating at parents etc. So feel embarrassed that we havent stuck to it.

How does everyone else get on?

Muppet81

Hi Sammiboo,

Sadly I am not here to offer advice but to commiserate with a kinderd spirit.

I have really got to grips with my spending inmany ways but when it comes to food and wine .... I am alost cause

I read posts from some wonderful people who manage to spend £25 a week and feed there families and I admire them greatly.

My OH and I spend approx £400 a month on food, wine, household bits and bobs. This includes a couple of inexpensive eating out trips.

I try each month to meal plan and to cut back but it never works. I am hopeless

Perhaps we ought to have a little challenge between us to bull ourselves up a bit?
Pam

sammiboo

Sounds like a plan Pam

I have been trying to set myself weekly shopping spend targets and put in my sig what I spend each week...

My OH was sent to do the last shop and ended up spending £70 for the week. Which is a lot for us, when i try and Spend £200 for the month. He didnt stick strictly to the list

Muppet81

Good idea to put it in my sig. Just might shame me into taking control. I just love good food and wine ... that is my problem. Plus OH eats meat but I don't. We usually end up doing two meals at each evening meal time which makes it expensive. Only so many spag bols he will eat in a week. OH thinks he is very ahrd done too if he can't have a glass of wine with his meal (always 2 glasses in reality) and a couple of beers a week. He is not a big drinker but it sure adds up.

custardy

easy way to do it is make all(or most) of the meals in advance eg sunday so you have the bulk done ready to reheat/finish off saving time and effort during the week.

i know how pushed for time you are sammi

lynzpower

I have managed it ( pretty much) and this is how I do it.

Theres 2 of us and a dog.

Dog has the same food everyweek, and although the prices do fluctuate, they seem to be coming down. So, its 40p a tin 40x7 =2.80 for her food every week. We have it pretty much right that we use 6 pints of milk per week, so I buy 3x2 pints and stick the rest in the freezer. These are our "fixed costs" - youll have some too, so think about what they are.

Now, the way I do it is this:

Take an a4 sheet of paper and divide it into a grid 7 days vertically, with 4 columns. One colum for breakfast/ lunch/ tea. And the last one is for snacks/drinks/ booze/ sundry stuff like that.

I then go through my cupbards and write down in each box what we are having- and then in a different pen or capitals or whatever, Ill write down any ingredients I need to turn it into a meal. So if Ive got mince/onions and potatoes in that can make a host of different stuff - chilli jacket potatoes/ bolognese/ shepherds pie, HM burgers & wedges. I then think - what can I turn this into THAT NEEDS THE MINIUM AMOUNT OF STUFF BUYING TO MAKE IT INTO A MEAL.

If you need to , you can check online what the costs will be ifg you are using supermarkets, and see if there are decent bogofs you will use. this will help you get an idea on costs of each shop. If its going to bust budget, think about having say an eggs based dinner instead of a meat based one. Cheaper.

Breakfasts - in our house are cereal or toast. So I check whether ill need any BMing kit, or cereal when I go. When I go, I buy the cheapest cereal I can, that we like. this with the milk has got us sorted. We dont eat a box a week, so we certainly wouldnt need to buy another box the week after. Youshould have an idea what your consumption is, so work with that.

Lunches, will any of your meals make a leftover meal for lunch at any point, if so write it in the correct box. If not, again, choose the cheapest, OH can have tuna for sarnies, its cheaper than ham!

I do generally do our shopping for about 125 a month. 25 pw and a surplus of 25ish for any yellow label meat or fish I happen to see in the supermarket. Ill buy these, then turn it into a meal later in the month. From doing this ive been able to get a few weeks where Ive only had to buy milk & veg. it does level off .

Buy the bare minimum. I shake all my bottles ( toiletries/ bleach etc) can I get away with not spending on this 15p bottle of bleach this week, can it wait till next week?

Dont forget, do check the vouchers board. Ive had stacks of toiltries from the H&B glitches in tescos, and get all sorts of money off vouchers I can use for my shopping too.

As an example Last night we had jacket potatoes, veggie burgers & pitta & salad . pots were from a value bag, veggie burgers were on bogof, the pittas were reduced to 20p and out of the freezer. Salad was one lettuce ( round,they are cheaper) and some spring onions & peppers from the bottom of the fridge on thier way out. if you have stuff in you dont know what to do with or just random ingreedients, ask on the OS board, they will help you use it up.

Ive been able to even save about 40 quid last month out of the shopping budget ( astounding really) by using up the stores and using vouchers.

it can be done. theres millions of threads in the OS index about meal planning, and a grocery challenge on there, thats really lively & helpful

Good luck!

lynzpower

Muppet81 wrote: »

Good idea to put it in my sig. Just might shame me into taking control. I just love good food and wine ... that is my problem. Plus OH eats meat but I don't. We usually end up doing two meals at each evening meal time which makes it expensive. Only so many spag bols he will eat in a week. OH thinks he is very ahrd done too if he can't have a glass of wine with his meal (always 2 glasses in reality) and a couple of beers a week. He is not a big drinker but it sure adds up.

Could you not do a predominantly veggie meal ( eg moroccan veg casserole, curries/ stir fry) and do him a big of meat on the side, such as chicken legs or thighs? Certainly less hassle!

Muppet81

Hi Lynzpower,

Thanks for such a helpful post.

Sadly, OH will not touch chicken now. We got 6 ex battery hens to provide us with eggs and as we now love them to bits, OH will cannot being himself to eat chicken.

Shot myself in the foot there.

He also does not eat fish - bit limiting really.

lynzpower

Muppet81 wrote: »

Hi Lynzpower,

Thanks for such a helpful post.

Sadly, OH will not touch chicken now. We got 6 ex battery hens to provide us with eggs and as we now love them to bits, OH will cannot being himself to eat chicken.

Shot myself in the foot there.

He also does not eat fish - bit limiting really.

yeah but youve got stacks of free eggs! :j

Id love hens.... maybe one day eh....

Kate1983

The way I do my meal planning is as Lynzpower says, plan a meal for every day based on what's in the cupboards.
I usually cook a chicken for Sunday dinner then the leftover meat makes at least 2 more meals throughout the week eg. chicken pasta bake, chicken curry etc.
When I have done my shopping list I go on the ASDA website (I shop at ASDA) and do an online shop (only I don't order anything, just select the items) to make sure that I am within budget.
Then I go shopping.
My food budget is now £150 for 2 (not as good as Lynzpower unfortunately!)
Hope this helps!
Kate

Muppet81

You are inspirational. I will try my best :T