Frequent shopping saves me money

Rosa_Damascena

calleyw said:

Don't get why meal planning is so hard.  Just pick six main meals and then have them when you want them.  Don't need to get bogged down in monday is x and tuesday is y.  It helps you shop for what you need and then use it.

Shopping everyday or every other day wouldn't work for me as I would end up buying extra stuff.  So try and limit shopping to once a week.

If it works for you good.  But for most people with work, families and everything else it wouldn't

Your post suggests a reliance on ready meals. I don't cook but even I can see processed food every day is not ideal from a health perspective.

maman

I didn't read @calleyw's post that way at all.

My meal planning consists of 7 (or fewer if planning to eat out) dinners written in the corner of my shopping list. Ideas come from what meats are in the freezer and what fresh stuff needs using up. Then I add to the list any ingredients I need to buy for those meals.

Any ready meals included are HM from my own batch cooking for busy or CBA days. Then I make sure that I have all the ingredients I need for breakfast (eggs, oats, bread etc). Lunch is usually LOs from dinner.

It suits me but perhaps not for everyone. 🤔

YoungBlueEyes

Teapot55 said:

The other thing that needs to be mentioned is whether you buy according to your menu planning or whether you decide your menu based on what you’ve found in the shops. 

This ^^^

I used to be a meal planner. Now I buy ys things as and when I see them and freeze them. Tomorrow's dinner is whatever I defrost today, which is usually decided by how much room I need to free up so I can stash the latest ys things I've bought.... And round it goes.

Mnoee

Rosa_Damascena said:

calleyw said:

Don't get why meal planning is so hard.  Just pick six main meals and then have them when you want them.  Don't need to get bogged down in monday is x and tuesday is y.  It helps you shop for what you need and then use it.

Shopping everyday or every other day wouldn't work for me as I would end up buying extra stuff.  So try and limit shopping to once a week.

If it works for you good.  But for most people with work, families and everything else it wouldn't

Your post suggests a reliance on ready meals. I don't cook but even I can see processed food every day is not ideal from a health perspective.

It really doesn't! We have 8 or so dinners we regularly eat, some are batch cooked and frozen, some are mostly fresh food with defrosted meat, some are all fresh... But absolutely 0 things we eat are 'ready meals'. We decide the night before what we eat and defrost as necessary, if something fresh is short dated I'll declare 'fajitas tomorrow, the pepper is looking grim!', but it's not strange to have a 'menu' of things you normally eat and the stock to make them.


Edited to add: I'm very much a stocker/planner type person as I don't drive due to disability and had the choice of a house near a supermarket or a house near the GP/pharmacy and bought the latter.

I can see either working well, depending on your lifestyle and preferences. 

luvchocolate

YoungBlueEyes said:

Teapot55 said:

The other thing that needs to be mentioned is whether you buy according to your menu planning or whether you decide your menu based on what you’ve found in the shops. 

This ^^^

I used to be a meal planner. Now I buy ys things as and when I see them and freeze them. Tomorrow's dinner is whatever I defrost today, which is usually decided by how much room I need to free up so I can stash the latest ys things I've bought.... And round it goes.

This is me too. I live a 5 minute walk from Sainsbury's and lidl and have saved a lot by picking up y.s meat and fish. 

maman

I do both. I meal plan and write my shopping list accordingly. But, if I see a good offer or YS item I buy it, either changing my plan or for the freezer/store cupboard. Most of the fish and meat in my freezer was a good price from shopping that way. 

Unlike OP, I don't have the time for daily shopping but I can see how it works for some people. 

mac.d

maman said:

I didn't read @calleyw's post that way at all.

My meal planning consists of 7 (or fewer if planning to eat out) dinners written in the corner of my shopping list. Ideas come from what meats are in the freezer and what fresh stuff needs using up. Then I add to the list any ingredients I need to buy for those meals.

Any ready meals included are HM from my own batch cooking for busy or CBA days. Then I make sure that I have all the ingredients I need for breakfast (eggs, oats, bread etc). Lunch is usually LOs from dinner.

It suits me but perhaps not for everyone. 🤔

Your last sentence absolutely spot on. 

For example, although work (& weather) means I can't always walk to the shop, and while I batch cook a couple of my fave meals and freeze them, I much prefer going shopping 2 or 3 times a week. I'd rather spend my time walking to the shop than working out a meal plan for the entire week and batch cooking.

Also, to get the 'benefit' of frequent shopping, you do have to be the type of person that doesn't pick up lots of extras, otherwise you'd end up spending even more, and there's lots of people who'd struggle with that!

wild666

I only shop once a week in my local Lidl, my first port of call is the fresh meat section to see if there are any meats reduced by 30% or 70%, last week I filled my freezer with chicken and mince after they opened on the 27th the chicken was £2 for a kilo and the mince was 90p for a 500g pack, I got 5 kilo of chicken and 1 kilo of mince, there was loads more but my freezer was fairly full and I didn't want to buy too much and not fit it all in. 

GaleSF63

YoungBlueEyes said:

Teapot55 said:

The other thing that needs to be mentioned is whether you buy according to your menu planning or whether you decide your menu based on what you’ve found in the shops. 

This ^^^

I used to be a meal planner. Now I buy ys things as and when I see them and freeze them. Tomorrow's dinner is whatever I defrost today, which is usually decided by how much room I need to free up so I can stash the latest ys things I've bought.... And round it goes.

Me too!   .

MrsStepford

I do the bulk of the shopping online, be that from ASDA, Iceland, Sainsbury's, a Lincolnshire farm or Scottish butcher. OH cooks but he doesn't want to know on Monday what the supper dish will be on Friday. That bins the idea of (a) meal planning (b) batch cooking, out of the window.

Previously, I would find myself doing a £40 shop to buy £20 of fruit and veg. 

Using Milk & More has changed the way I shop. There's no minimum order, so I can just order the things I want three times per week. It all arrives before OH leaves for work at 07:00 so he can arrange the fridge. We have an organic veg box every three weeks, comprised of 8 different veggies for 16.50 which is reasonable for organic veg and the quality is fantastic, from Wholegood. OH is happy to do produce top ups on his way home at ASDA (ASDA and Aldi are cheapest places for organic veg). produce

If I find offers, he will pick them up too. I buy meat from a farm and sausages and haggis from a butcher. Most of our cheese comes from Iceland and I pick up any useful offers on loo rolls, tissues, kitchen roll, APD, shampoo etc from them. 

Even though Milk & More isn't the cheapest, I find that doing small orders with them means that I'm not bulking orders up which saves money. I

Years ago, we used to trundle off to a supermarket on payday and buy everything, including UHT milk, for the whole month.