Help with new shopping planner! Please

pippamannequin

Hello everyone Hope you don't mind me asking for help with the more experienced of you but Im so unorganised at the moment :rolleyes:
Ive just moved into a new house after leaving my husband and my finances are all over the place..:rolleyes: :rolleyes:
Anyway I know I need to do a shop tomorrow, and I have 2 boys aged 12 and 14, both different in what they eat and awkward to cook for
Previously as a family id cook meals, meat and potatoes and veg of some sort almost every night, now I just dont have the budget.
So heres what I have to spend a week ....£30 on food
Here's what they eat:
Spag bol but not lasagne ,
Pizza
pork ,chicken, beef ,lamb,
eggs
bacon
veg (peas and carrots)
nothing too hot or spicey
any potatoes but not keen on chips
nothing with any veg or spice variation (a few onions is about it)!
rice
plain pasta
so far Im finding ive done spag bol, pizza, roast chicken, but ive got no incentive and for the first time im lost with how to get into a routine of cooking and a shopping budget without throwing half of everything away
I need a good meal planner and a good shopping list!!
Breakfast is fine, always cereal or toast, lunch is only the weekend
HELP me please!!! Not helping either that im not eating or have any incentive to eat

angchris

hiya :hello: i cook for 3 as well, i tend to come in at about £25 a week for the total shop and my other half and teenage son can eat for england! my 2 most valuable kitchen appliances are my breadmaker and slow cooker. i use the breadmaker for making my own pizza bases once or twice a fortnight, they work out much cheaper and i literally empty my fridge of bits that need using up. the homemade bread works out at about 30p a loaf so its well worth investing in a breadmaker.
just remember the kids dont care if they have meat or no so long as they are fed every night in fact my lad prefers jacket spud with cheesy pasta even if you just cut out meat once or twice a week you will decrease your food bill, theres nothing wrong with the good old trusty beans on toast for tea once every now and then.
my family love spag bol, i buy the largest tray of mince i can find and make a vat of it in my slowcooker..i really bulk it out well with grated carrot and loads of red lentils (v. cheap) and neither of them have noticed yet :rotfl: i usually have loads leftover so it gets frozen and resurfaces a week or so later and by adding kidney beans and chilli powder it then becomes chilli and i still normally have leftovers after that so i make up a couple of lasagnes for the freezer :j
at the weekend i buy a very large chicken as the smaller chucks are all bones, after dishing out the sunday roast (with portion control on the meat ) i bag up the rest of it into meal sized portions and freeze, by making it into "something" rather than eating it as it is makes it go much further. i make chicken n mushrooms pies, egg fried special rice with shredded chicken, chicken n veg soup etc etc.
don`t throw leftovers away..always use them up as its saving you money even if you end up eating differently from the kids hey who cares at least everyone is fed and bubble n squeak is delish anyway
potato and pasta bakes are easy to make cheap and filling and are also nice eaten cold out of the fridge
instead of buying biscuits and cakes get your lads to make some muffins/flapjacks etc once a week
with regards to your mealplanner if you keep your storecupboard stocked up with a few essentials you should be able to rustle up a meal when you find your yellow stickered bargains :j my cooking is shall we say organic :rotfl: i never know what im having from one day to the next, its normally whatever i can find cheap that will feed us. i always bulk buy reduced stuff and freeze whether it be reduced ham off cuts from the deli or reduced to clear milk i eventually work my way through it.
i always buy full fat milk then when its a 1/3 gone a quick slosh of water from the tap when no-one is looking tops it up, what they don`t see they don`t know about i`d say that tip alone has saved me loads as my son drinks it straight from the container :rolleyes: and has loads of cereal.
lately i have found that if i do my shopping at tescos online i buy just what i need...i don`t have the chance to throw choccy bars in the trolley also if you have a look at the vouchers and codes section on here i always seem to get vouchers/codes off my shopping :j my last tesco shop was just over £50 and i found a £10 off voucher so even after adding the £4 delivery charge i was still £6 up on the deal :beer:
buy in bulk if you can its much cheaper, make your own food instead of buying convienience although its time consuming its invariably cheaper and tastes better.
good luck im sure you will manage fine, just decide which meals are family favourites and work from there...angchris