Weekly meal planner and cost

bigmaz

Hi guys

We are spending too much money on our food shopping. And our dinners aren't always that varied. Just wondering if people can write here, or copy and paste as examples of a weekly shopping list and meal plan to see How we could feed a family (2 adults, 2 kids 6&8), and see how little people are spending but still having a varied meal plan.

Hope that makes sense, thanks

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HappyMJ

How much do you spend?

I aim to spend £25 per person per week...not just for food but anything you can buy in a supermarket including toiletries, soap, toilet roll, deodorant, razors, bleach, floor cleaner, washing up liquid etc...

I aim for each day's meals to cost around £3 per person. So if I see a nice bit of salmon but it's £3 per portion I'll leave it for another day as my budget per day is £3. I'll go under on a few days to be able to have more expensive ingredients on other days.

My meal plan is basically breakfast - toast with bacon or egg or sausage, lunch - soup, leftovers, sandwich or salad. Dinner - rice or pasta with plenty of veg and a portion of meat. Sometimes a pizza.

bigmaz

Spending well over £100 per week

HappyMJ

bigmaz wrote: »

Spending well over £100 per week

For 4 people that's not too bad.

There's not too much change to be done.

Stop buying pre-prepared anything. Cook everything from scratch. Pasta sauce is a silly one. It might look cheap at £1 but a tin of tomatoes and a few herbs and spices and you've got your own pasta sauce.

Stay away from branded items. Of course there are some things that must be branded. Mine is Vegemite...nothing comes close.

Try serving less meat. It's the most expensive portion of a meal. Meat only has to be about 3-4 ounces. Many people serve much more than necessary.

bigmaz

I was meaning I am spending well over what your budget is, hehe.

bigmaz

My wife is adamant we would spent even more money not buying jars, frozen food etc. Just trying to prove that's not the case. That's why I thought it would be handy if I could show her an example meal plan and shopping list for it so she can see it's not the case

GwylimT

We are a family of four to feed, one nut allergy, two coeliacs who are also lactose intolerant, so even if it is something we wanted to eat processed food is a big no no.

Breakfasts
Saturday and sunday omlettes with chestnut mushrooms

In the week porridge with rice milk and slices of banana

Dinners

Saturday
Courgettie bake
Courgettes
Beef mince
Yams
Butternut squash
Tinned tomatoes

Sunday
Cooked chicken thigh and chips
Six chicken thighs
700g of potatoes
Salad leaves
Toms
Raddishes

Monday
Salmon stir fry
Four salmon fillets (which we marinade in honey, soy and balsamic the night before)
Bean sprouts
Broccoli
Onion
Cabbage
Peppers

Tuesday
Butternut squash soup
One squash
Ginger
Red chilli
Coconut cream
Veg stock made from odds and ends from last week

Wednesday
Shepherds pie
Lamb mince
600gish of potatoes
Carrots
Peas
Tinned toms
Seasoning/dried herbs

Thursday
Halloumi salad
Halloumi
Salad leaves
Avocado
Raddishes
Toms
Peppers
Spring onions

Friday
Goat curry
Goat
Various spices
Onion
Potato
Egg plant
Brown rice

We make big portions so left overs can be used for lunch, my daughter is young enough to get free school meals.

Just checking my bank statement, our shopping this week was £79.83, our meat is from a butcher, our fish a fishmonger and our fruit/veg a green grocer (apart from frozen peas). Obviously things like rice, seasoning etc aren't purchased each week.

Apart from whats above we also bought oranges, apples and some soya yoghurts.

Hard_Up_Hester

Check out the blog by A girl Called Jack, loads of cheap recipes on there.

mashedavocado

Perhaps not helpful in relation to budgeting, but I've recently started filling out a monthly meal plan for February. It's actually not as hard as I expected and it's quite good in that you can see just how often certain meals are repeated. Having it there in front of you somehow makes it easier to vary the menu, if that makes sense.

My intention is then to take each week as it comes and decide what veg to have with each meal (so, for instance, I might have written "risotto", but when it comes to writing my shopping list for that week I'll need to decide whether it's butternut squash or mushroom or whatever).

What kind of meals do you normally cook? Do you eat a lot of meat? Are either (or both!) of the kids fussy eaters? Do you buy meals at work etc?

Feral_Moon

I tend to do things the opposite way. I'll buy whatever looks good or is on special offer etc whilst out shopping. I'll have a rough idea what dishes I might want to create so will also grab any specific ingredients I need to add.

Then when I get home I'll start making a list of meals I can make with the food I've bought. This allows me quite a bit of flexibility to chop and change (I might see a recipe on tv I fancy trying) or stretch to feed more mouths when necessary and anything I won't immediately use goes straight in the freezer. There's no waste in my house lol

When I cook, I still make family size meals (unless it's a single portion of meat/fish) and freeze the extra portions so I have my own supply of ready cooked meals. My budget varies from month to month as I bulk buy store cupboard ingredients when things start running low and shop irregularly but probably averages £50 a week, which covers everything including alcohol and Tassimo coffee pods, which are my special treat.

Effyb4

Our meals for 4 adults and one teenage boy this week are:
Veggie shepherd's pie (from freezer)
Peanut chicken stir fry
Lasagne (Make double and freeze half)
Roast chicken, parsnips, carrots, roast potatoes and peas
Green garden veg pie
Bacon and broccoli pasta (bacon from freezer)
Corned beef hash


The weeks shop came to £68.40 (including delivery charge and cat food) I expect to spend another £20 on bread and milk top ups throughout the week.


All meals are home made from scratch.