Help with meal planning

thegirlinthegreenscarf

Hi


One of the things my husband and I are really bad at is meal planning. We eat the same meals over and over, we probably throw out more food that we should, do "top up" shops mid week and sometimes eat out or get a take away up to twice a week on a bad /busy week. We don't drink much (a bottle of beer/glass of wine at the weekend being our limit), we don't smoke or go out much (what with having a 6 yo and all) so a take away is what we do to relax as a treat or just as a way to manage the work/household/parenting/homework demands.
I have read the Michelle Mc Gragh book on the no spend year, and although she is to be commended, I do think its a bit extreme. I think as a family we should aspire to one take away or meal out every 2-3 weeks and cook the rest of the time. I have often commented lately that I don't even always enjoy the take away once I have had it - and we would have been as well making our own.


What I am asking for here is help with meal planning - all copies, suggestions, tips, websites, speadsheets, ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING would be appreciated as well as any "fake away" recipies.


Obviously, every family is different and what works for once family will not work for another, but at this point I am so desparate to save some money.

Fireflyaway

Start by making a list of the meals you like then add to that. I found the BBC website has lots of ideas.
Food is a great area to save money. I used to go to tesco out of habit now it's aldi all the way! Its cheaper but even if it were not, I prefer the selection and just navigating around a smaller store a lot less stressful.
I thought about meal planning but decided against it because I like to be spontaneous. I do like to stick to a budget though. It's surprising how much you can get for your money if you are mindful. Don't just Chuck stuff in the basket, ask yourself will you definitely use it. Is there a cheaper alternative etc.

thegirlinthegreenscarf

Fireflyaway wrote: »

Start by making a list of the meals you like then add to that. I found the BBC website has lots of ideas.
Food is a great area to save money. I used to go to tesco out of habit now it's aldi all the way! Its cheaper but even if it were not, I prefer the selection and just navigating around a smaller store a lot less stressful.
I thought about meal planning but decided against it because I like to be spontaneous. I do like to stick to a budget though. It's surprising how much you can get for your money if you are mindful. Don't just Chuck stuff in the basket, ask yourself will you definitely use it. Is there a cheaper alternative etc.

I totally agree - I shop in Tesco out of habit - but do go to Aldi as well. I will definitely look at the bbc website for ideas. OH is reluctant to have a meal plan as he does not like to be tied, however since he works late more often than not and is therefore unable to shop/cook - sometimes he is lucky to make it home in time to see our 6yo before bedtime - I kind of need to go with what is best for us as a whole..If I have had a busy day and our DD is overtired, it makes it so much easier to say "just bring something in with you" With our DD having the obsession that I think all children have with Mc D/Pizza hut it can be very tempting. But if I have a plan I will stick to it! I have tried to make plans before, but between DD having school lunches (and you never know what she is going to choose, as well as all the other variables I really do struggle. Thanks again!

D_M_E

If you have a local weekend market nearby, make it a day out for DD and get her to suggest what she thinks she would like to try that's new to her on display and experiment with the various ingredients she chooses, and enlist her help with the cooking.

She will learn from the experience as will, I suspect, you.

Lydia42

Hi
Pop over to the 'old style' board. There's lots on there about meal planning and budgeting for food as well as challenges. I've just started as my food shopping is ludicrous and i desperately need to get it under control if i am to pay off debts.
I'm currently working on a stock take of my cupboards and freezer before i start trying to meal plan more.
Good luck!

determined_new_ms

I am a fan of always having a few pizzas in the freezer for those *just cba* days. It's worth splashing out a few quid for a decent one rather than blowing £20-30 on a takeaway.

Definitely base meals - breakfast/lunch, dinner & snacks around things you like. If I don't we just end up with a load of stuff nobody really wants to eat at the end of the shopping cycle and reaching for convenience food.

When I cook a roast I generally par boil extra potatoes and freeze and freeze some meat in gravy for a quick roast at some point. 30-40 mins and its on the table

sourcrates

Moved to appropriate board.

thegirlinthegreenscarf

sourcrates wrote: »

Moved to appropriate board.

Thanks! Where did you move it to? X

frugalmumof3

Sometimes a fixed meal plan can be hard to stick to how about you write a list of 7 meal ideas that you all like, shop to that but don't assign a particular day to it?
Also you mentioned fakeaway recipes - we love the Takeaway Secret book by Kenny McGovern I got a cheap copy on ebay, also I find instagram and pinterest useful for meal ideas and recipes.
I know what you mean about takeaways we're a family of 5 and sometimes you just can't be bothered, order but then don't even enjoy it that much and then feel guilty because of the cost.
Good luck finding something that works for you x

suki1964

I don't have a meal plan set in stone, everything is flexible

But I choose carefully what it is im buying at lidl when Im shopping

I choose the main first, be it a whole chicken, fillets, eggs - whatever, then I choose what veg is going with it. So if Im wanting cabbage for Sunday dinner, I buy a big one, cook the lot, then Ive the start of bubble and squeak which will either go with leftover roast, or with sausages or even just poached eggs. There will be no waste, nothing will be thrown away

So I tend to pick perhaps 3 meat items a week, one fish and one quasi veggie ( eggs or cheese based anyway ) and theres usually a left over meal in there and Saturdays is fend for yourself day as we tend to be busy and I don't want to be tied to a time to get a dinner sorted

So say I have chicken roast on Sunday. Thats only half a chicken used. The other half, at some point in the week will be used either in a pie, in a curry or a sweet and sour. Because I know curry or sweet and sour is going to be a possibility, I pick up a pack of spring rolls and a pack of naan bread - both dumped in the freezer, one or other will be used, next time Ive only one the one to buy. I make my own sauces but jars work and once again, buy one of each, the one you don't use is there for another time. Both of those meals are fake aways

so with my roast I buy veg - cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, broccoli, parsnips, potatoes. I cook the lot in one go. Half the cabbage will be in a bubble, half the cauliflower will be a cauliflower cheese, the carrots and parsnips will get used in bubble or just reheated.( Im a lazy cook as well btw, life too busy to be tied to a cooker) I always have peas and sweetcorn in the freezer and Ive been known to open a tin of carrots mid week if needs must

If I want salad, its the same mind set - how am I going to use this all up before it goes mank. So I tend to keep to the bare basics, lettuce , tomatoes, cucumber - as those get used up in sandwiches and I add stuff like grated carrot, sweetcorn, pickled cabbage, roasted peppers from a jar, olives - etc etc. Ive even cut up apple and grapes and thrown them on to use up

Today my fridge is EMPTY other then milk, cheese, some tomatoes, beetroots, half a red pepper and jars. Tonight is a chippy tea, home made. Fish bought frozen and left out to defrost this morning, hand cut chips, peas from the freezer. Ive not thrown one bit of food away this week. A lone cold sausage I found in there this morning was sliced up and added to the last pickings of the roast chicken mixed with mayo, sweetcorn and pepper, and became DH sandwich filler today

So I don't really meal plan, I plan not to throw anything away

But I hope some of that helps

bouicca21

Like suki I concentrate on not throwing stuff away rather than meal planning. This week has to be super frugal. Accordingly it's pork kidneys in tomato chili sauce with rice, lamb heart casserole with baked potato and spinach, and lamb shank with sweet potato puree. I've the rest of a cauli, a bacon rasher, mushrooms and a pepper, so that will the makings of a cauliflower cheese. That's a week more or less done. No idea what I'll do after that.