Shopping and Meal Preparation

conzy

Dunno if there is a good thread on this, if so someone point me in the right direction.

I'm spending as much as a small family on food per week ~€100

And I spend ~2 hours per day cooking / tupperwaring / cleaning

So does anyone have some tips to help me reduce my grocery costs. and prepare some meals that can be refrigerated / frozen for the week

cmyk

Cheaper cuts of meat (organ meats etc.).
Make friends with your local butcher/fishmonger.
Bulk your meals/snacks out with potatoes/sweet potatoes/oats.
Frozen veg can help with vegetable costs.

Cook in bulk, stick your meats in the oven in one go, they should keep for days. Same for roasted or mashed root vegetables in the fridge. Soups can also make good sauces to spice up an otherwise bland dinner.

There's a good thread in the diet forum at the moment, not solely on what you've asked but more ideas....diet hacks

runawaybishop

conzy wrote: »

Dunno if there is a good thread on this, if so someone point me in the right direction.

I'm spending as much as a small family on food per week ~€100

And I spend ~2 hours per day cooking / tupperwaring / cleaning

So does anyone have some tips to help me reduce my grocery costs. and prepare some meals that can be refrigerated / frozen for the week

Where are you shopping?

SunnyDub1

€100:eek:

Where are you shopping and what are buying? Post up an average weekly shop (what foods you buy) ?

dahat

Go to Aldi.......that 100 will be sliced in two

dahat

1 can mixed bean salad
1 can green lentils
2 cans chopped tomatoes
1 can baked beans
Handful of split lentils
2 large leeks
1 large onion
4 large carrots
2 parsnips
Green, red or yellow pepper
2 beef stock cubes
Salt & pepper
Mixed herbs
Water (enough to cover all ingredients)

Chop all veg and put everything in pan, cover with water bring to boil and simmer until veg are soft.

Can be left chunky or blended.

Can be frozen

This soup my mrs got from Slimming world,bloody tasty stuff and we make it every Sunday night,damn cheap to make and best left chunky.Sometimes i may add a chicken breast to it...You will get a weeks worth of soup from this amount

Duck's hoop

I spend in or around the same. Get mostly in Aldi. I eat v well mostly, don't need to buy crap out of garages at lunch etc, and I don't really see how I could do it for much cheaper. I don't waste either.

What am I doing wrong?

thegreatiam

what are you buying? post a shopping list.
I spend way less than this for me and the missus, and we always buy things we don't need from the deals section

SunnyDub1

What I done to cut back was bulk buy and freeze.

• Switch from fresh veg to frozen veg.
• Shop in your local butchers to see what deal they have on. I get 12 chicken fillets for €10 in mine.
• I get my fish sometimes in Iceland. They sell bulk frozen fish. You can get 6 plain cod fillets for €5, big bag of shrimp €4, bag of prawns €4, 5 salmon fillets €6.
• Buy your fruit from lidl or aldi. Only fruit which I really eat are berries. I buy them and then freeze - they don't go off and actually taste sweeter and better frozen.
• Recently found out that that "dealz" store sell unsalted nuts. 150g bags (almonds, cashews, walnuts, Brazil nuts) all €1.49 each.
• Make your own treats like protein bars - shop bought ones are a rip off.

Another reason I found I was overspending was because I didn't write a list. Write up a list and plan a head of what you are gonna cook for the week and that way you will only buy the things you will actually need.

wobblyknees

First and foremost have a meal plan so you know what you are going to eat. You should then be able to find ways to improve your routine if it is the same kind of routine each week. A few suggestions based on my own experience and diet in no particular order are:

- Frozen veg and berries for value and convenience
- Buy bulk meats for value
- Find out which days are best for reduced price meat in Tesco / Supervalu / Superquinn
- Buy bulk amounts of convenience ingredients and dressings such as Olives / Jalapeno peppers / Mustard / Sweetcorn
- Buy a vegetable chopper (Something that dices your veg easily)
- Buy bags of mixed salad for convenience
- Chop up peppers / onions / salad / vegetables one day per week for the week and store in tupperware
- Cook bulk amounts of meat (Six chicken breasts / roasted vegetables) and store in tupperware
- Buy bulk amounts of frozen fish for convenience

There are loads more ideas but the thing I will say, you need to find ways that are suitable to your own routine and regardless of shortcuts, you still have to be disciplined and you have to put some effort into preparing food.

tmc86

For your next shop try shopping online and see if there's a difference. You're more likely to be tempted by other things or more expensive items in the supermarket whereas online you should only be buying things that you need