Living in the black

Yellow_mango

Grocery shopping done. Came in at £98. That included some beer, wine, cat food and cleaning products. And enough food to cover us for the week. And some.

I’m starting to figure out my issues with grocery shopping. It’s not what I buy, it’s how much. I have no idea about portion control. And I have a need to bulk buy everything and stock up. Even when we have a full cupboard and freezer, I don’t seem to be able to get just what we need. I do have a large family, and they do eat a lot. But I don’t think I’m getting it right.

DancingInTheRain

Yellow_mango wrote: »

Grocery shopping done. Came in at £98. That included some beer, wine, cat food and cleaning products. And enough food to cover us for the week. And some.

I’m starting to figure out my issues with grocery shopping. It’s not what I buy, it’s how much. I have no idea about portion control. And I have a need to bulk buy everything and stock up. Even when we have a full cupboard and freezer, I don’t seem to be able to get just what we need. I do have a large family, and they do eat a lot. But I don’t think I’m getting it right.

I know exactly what you mean about not getting it right, I feel my grocery spends are far too high for 4 of us and also like to know I've got well stocked cupboards 'just in case', certainly a work in progress.

Having said that £98 is a great start for your new budget and journey.

katsu

How about looking through the cupboards and freezer etc and then working out what meals you could make for a few days from what you have? Maybe you can start planning out some meals and then that will feed into your shopping?

Yellow_mango

This is a challenge I have living with a family.

I grew up on a very low income. Everything was made from scratch, from next to nothing. And stretched as far as it could possibly go. I could happily live from our cupboard / freezer tor literally months. I have no issues eating the same thing for days on end. And there is virtually nothing I won’t eat.

My family do not share this view. They don’t like cupboard meals. They won’t eat lentils or beans or most vegetables, or meat other then chicken breast, or eggs, or leftovers or any kind. They constantly moan that we have no food, because their favourite thing isn’t ready to grab from the fridge. It drives me insane.

So I guess what I haven’t learnt is how to shop efficiently for the way they like to eat, or found a compromise that works. I’m buying things I don’t particularly like that are out of my comfort zone. I don’t have time or skills to cook from scratch the meals they like, and they won’t eat the meals I can cook. So i end up just going for way too much convenience and frozen food, because at least they eat it.

Wow. Something else I am apparently far more stressed about than I realised! That hit a real nerve!

Yellow_mango

A nice day today. Went for a walk and ended up at a pub by the river. Nearly £20 on drinks but pleasant none the less. Then had to stop off at the shop for some dog poop bags. Also a subscription came out of the wrong account so I need to reimburse that. Once I’ve fixed that we’ll have £80 from the £200 weekly budget to last until Friday. Should be do-able.

Payday on Friday too, so can start putting something into the savings pots. £77.86 in the house find at the moment (DH came home with some wine on Friday night so it took a bit of a hit from that).

enthusiasticsaver

Yellow_mango wrote: »

This is a challenge I have living with a family.

I grew up on a very low income. Everything was made from scratch, from next to nothing. And stretched as far as it could possibly go. I could happily live from our cupboard / freezer tor literally months. I have no issues eating the same thing for days on end. And there is virtually nothing I won’t eat.

My family do not share this view. They don’t like cupboard meals. They won’t eat lentils or beans or most vegetables, or meat other then chicken breast, or eggs, or leftovers or any kind. They constantly moan that we have no food, because their favourite thing isn’t ready to grab from the fridge. It drives me insane.

So I guess what I haven’t learnt is how to shop efficiently for the way they like to eat, or found a compromise that works. I’m buying things I don’t particularly like that are out of my comfort zone. I don’t have time or skills to cook from scratch the meals they like, and they won’t eat the meals I can cook. So i end up just going for way too much convenience and frozen food, because at least they eat it.

Wow. Something else I am apparently far more stressed about than I realised! That hit a real nerve!

Get them involved in preparing meals and planning them. What about batch cooking a bolognese sauce and making lasagne or cottage pies and maybe freezing a few for the week. Learning to cook is a life skill so your kids will need it for uni unless they plan on living off convenience food there too which is expensive. Stir fries are quick and easy and cheap.

Yellow_mango

Get them involved in preparing meals and planning them. What about batch cooking a bolognese sauce and making lasagne or cottage pies and maybe freezing a few for the week. Learning to cook is a life skill so your kids will need it for uni unless they plan on living off convenience food there too which is expensive. Stir fries are quick and easy and cheap.

I’m quite sure they will happily live on nothing but bread whilst at uni :rotfl:

Actually they’re not too awful at cooking. But they could / should definitely do more that doesn’t involve taking stuff out of the freezer and putting it in the oven! I will see if I can get them doing a meal a week each.

My DH hates mince. Which puts a bit of a downer on things. BUT he will eat Quorn... so maybe I could do two lots of all the above, one with meat and one with Quorn :-)

enthusiasticsaver

While I know sometimes we like to prepare food our family likes to eat taking into account their different likes and dislikes in practical terms that would mean preparing two or three different things which I would not and will not do. As I say the family kitchen is not a restaurant and I am not a chef. Sharing the cooking with people doing a meal a week each (I did that with my DDs when they lived at home) either eating what is on offer or sorting themselves out may be an option. Now my DH shares the cooking with me doing 60% but him doing 2 or 3 meals a week. My DD2 does that with her DH who is not only gluten free but hates all meat other than chicken. As she has two little ones as well she does meals her DH will eat most of the time but as her DDs love spag bol/shepherds pie on those days he has to do himself a salad or a baked potato or something. I will always say to DH this is what I am cooking so if you don't want that you have to get your own tea. When he cooks I would have to do the same except I am not as fussy as him. Similarly my DD1 is vegetarian and whilst I don't mind that DH wants meat so if she is here (she lives elsewhere) I alternate and they have to muck in if they don't want what is on offer. Don't make life too hard for yourself.

Yellow_mango

You’re absolutely right of course. And I now have a plan. Love a good plan.

I am coming to terms with the fact that strict meal planning just doesn’t work for us. There are just too many last minute changes to schedules / routines / energy levels etc.

So instead I’m going to embrace and formalise the approach we’ve kind of fallen into. I will keep a list of all the food we have in various categories stuck on the fridge. So we can mix and match any number of combinations as required.

It will also serve to highlight just how much food we actually have at any given time. And just how many meals we can make from it. No more complaining that we “don’t have any food”...

Yellow_mango

In other news. Another trip to London today. I’ve decided that expenses would be a good use for my credit card. I should be able to get them paid before the card statement is payable. So it won’t throw out my budget so much.

Apart from that it’ll be a NSD :-)