Timesaving moneysaving for this mummy please!

Jo_R_2

Hi all

I was somewhat of an OS'er but fell off the wagon somewhere a few months ago With two kiddies to look after by myself after ex left, and working a lot, somehow time flew past, I got horrendously disorganised and forgot to look after myself. Thus one poor depressed mummy who has a terrible memory and never remembers to make shopping lists or meal planners anymore.

However, in an attempt to make myself feel more in control, I am zapping my money situation and am wanting to return to my previous OS way of living. I used to religiously make meal planners on a weekly basis, do a shopping list accordingly and have a food budget for the month - when ex was living with us we got down to spending around £140ish per month so I am guessing I could shave some off that now it's three of us?

One of the problems I do encounter is cooking for one - although I do cook for two maybe twice a week when my beau comes round I used to freeze portions of tomatoey sauce, make soup, that sort of thing but I find now that time is at a premium and if I'm honest, a lot of the time I'd rather crash out and fall asleep on the sofa than spend an hour cooking HM cakes and whatnot like I used to.

What I'm after are tips on how I can start with baby steps to get back to where I was. Stuff like, I know I can make extra portions when making said tomatoey sauce and freeze it, which I know hardly takes any extra time at all.

Something I have been thinking about is doing a big monthly shop for groceries, thus leaving me a weekly budget for fresh stuff. I haven't tried it like this before but I think I'd prefer knowing that each week I only need to worry about fresh things rather than a whole shop IYSWIM? So working on this premise I need to get in gear for a monthly meal planner - with some decent 'meals-for-one' (gawd) that aren't wasteful.

Any timesaving and moneysaving hints along these lines would be fab thankyou :T:j

MrsB_2

How about doing your big monthly shop online? I find trawling round the supermarket a nightmare, so doing this makes life much easier. You can also then use the "discount codes and vouchers" board to make it a better bargain.

Essex-girl_2

I now do 1 large monthly shop online as MrsB suggests. I use Tescos & always use a voucher generally found on MSE. I then pop to the local shop or Asda for fresh bits each week - it definately works for me. I dont do a monthly meal planner just weekly but as far as storecupboard essentials go we generally use the same each month.

There are lots of meal planner threads on this board if you do a search but I often meal plan after my large shop as I like to find out whats on special first. Now when I actually visit a supermarket I use the small trolley or even better a basket & I cant get tempted as I cant carry it all.

redruby

Hi jo,

How old are the children, you said that you were cooking for one, are the children tiny ? Otherwise could they not eat what you do? you could always cook the dinner and then jazz yours up a bit especially if your beau is visiting.
Also when cooking things like a shepherds pie, chilli, or spag bol, I always cook an extra lot, which does the three of us the following week.
It all depends how old your littileys are really.

x

r.mac_2

could you actually plan to cook for two, then put one portion in the freezer so you have a 'ready meal' for another night. This works well with things like chilli, spag bol, lasagne, stew, tomato sauce for over pasta.

alternatively, my standby is pasta with some pesto from a jar kept in the fridge and if there is any spare veg that stirred through too.

Hth

belfastgirl23

Just to second (third?) the online shop suggestions. You'll always get a code to cover delivery costs. It saves time from going shopping and you can do a rough menu plan when you're doing the shopping as well. You get a chance to compare prices properly (I'd imagine if you take the children shopping this would be a problem for you!) and no pester power either. And you can search all offers as well.

the other great thing is that Tesco stores all your favourites after the first shop (so anything you've ever ordered shows up on your favourites list) which makes it a lot more time efficient after the first couple of shops.

Finally just a tip, I usually book my delivery three weeks in advance (to get the cheapest delivery price) and put in random stuff to make it up to £50 or whatever cost I have a code for. You can change your order at any time until roughly 12 hours before delivery so if you realise that you need something or want to cancel something you can. The only thing to remember is that you do need to put your voucher codes in when you first order...

And believe me, we all fall off the wagon for a while from time to time. Good luck with climbing back on!

Jo_R_2

redruby wrote: »

Hi jo,

How old are the children, you said that you were cooking for one, are the children tiny ? Otherwise could they not eat what you do? you could always cook the dinner and then jazz yours up a bit especially if your beau is visiting.
Also when cooking things like a shepherds pie, chilli, or spag bol, I always cook an extra lot, which does the three of us the following week.
It all depends how old your littileys are really.

x

The girls are one and three and when I'm not at work and we're eating together they will eat what I eat (or I'll eat what they eat LOL!) It's the days they're at nursery when I eat by myself of an evening as they will have already had tea when I pick them up.

And I fourth (?!) the online shop idea, I have been doing that recently just because it's a nightmare taking the girls shopping, little one wants carrying all the way round (thank god for baby slings) and the oldest wants to stop by the toy section, then the biscuits aisle, then the bakery... I think with a bit of organisation I could make that work for me.

Also r.mac I like the idea of planning to cook for two - can I ask a silly question and say what's the best container to freeze portions in?

whatatwit

For freezing, a lot depends upon how you intend to re-heat...if you want to nuke it in the microwave, you will need some of those plastic ones, like you get from take-aways......for oven use, the foil ones are good.....

r.mac_2

Jo_R wrote: »

Also r.mac I like the idea of planning to cook for two - can I ask a silly question and say what's the best container to freeze portions in?

I use a misture of take away containers which I have washed out and kept and I also have some tupperware which I bought cheaply from Ikea a number of years ago.

Some things are fine in sandwich bags that seal up and if I am making lasagne I make it in a freezer/microwave/ovensafe single portion rectangular shaped dish I bought from asda for 97p last year. :T