Food plan for a week

autumnbelle

Hi Im looking for advise. I am currently trying to do up a food plan for a week on a budget. We are saving for a house so Im trying to limit weekly shop to €70. There are two adults and a two year old. I failed last week and ended up spending 100e not including nappies.
Maybe its not realistic amount but Im trying again this week. Last week I bought daily so this week I am aiming to do a week shop tonight.
Would any of you have a sample of your food plans for the week. Or ideas of healthy low cost recipes.
Thanks in advance

kylith

Are you vegetarian, or would you consider becoming vegetarians for a while? Vegetables are much cheaper than meat.

ace_irl

It can be cheaper to bulk buy meat and freeze it. We use the wholesale butchers near us and it works out much cheaper for chicken. Buy once a month and then divide them into to sandwich bags of 2 or 3 fillets and leave them out the night before they're needed.

Try buying vegetables and fruit that's in season as it's normally cheaper. If they have any veg reduced, buy it, chop it up and freeze it for when it's needed. Same with fruit.

I always try buy multipurpose food that can go in a number of dishes to bulk them out like peppers etc. Veg is a great way of making food stretch a bit further. If your're making a spaghetti bolognese add mushrooms or whatever to it to cut back on the amount of mince used.

I always make soups from left over veg that's gonna go off soon and then freeze whatever isn't eaten for lunches. You can make a big pot of soup for less then €5 and get about 8 servings out of it which would be at least two meals each for yous.

Dial Hard

Base your weekly menu off the Super 6 meat and veg offers in Lidl and Aldi and you'll automatically be saving money. If there's a meat you particularly like on offer, buy in bulk and freeze. Pulses are a fantastically cheap and nutritious way to bulk out dishes. Keep an eye on the 30% meat section in Lidl. If you pick up a whole chicken here you'll feed the three of you for three days, easily.

Don't be afraid of cheaper cuts of meat. Chicken thighs are a fraction of the cost of fillets and are far, far tastier imo. Low and slow is your friend with the cheaper cuts of beef and lamb.

Lots of butchers do combo packs that are excellent value. Again, your freezer is a great ally here.

The Irish Times had a great article on how to eat well on a budget the other week, I'll root out the link and post it later.

Loire

Here's something cheap and tasty that could be added to a weekly plan. I make this regularly and it's always a hit

Bag of pasta
small carton of cream
tin of chopped tomatoes
cup of grated cheese

Boil the pasta until there is still a bite in it. Drain. Put into a pyrex dish. Add the cream, chopped tomatoes and cheese. Mix well and pop into an oven at 180 for 20 mins or so

I usually add whatever else is around too, like frying off some chopped mushroom, cherry tomatoes, sliced brocolli etc. I also add cooked chicken diced / diced cooked sausages.

Loire.

kylith

Step 1: Draw up a menu for the week. Base it on nice, cheap plants, with a bit of meat.
Step 2: Own brand, own brand, own brand. Organic and name brand stuff is all well and good, but if you're on a budget then you can't be having with that. Check out the reduced section too. They can be a goldmine.
Step 3: Stick to your meal plan!

RhubarbCrumble

Dial Hard wrote: »

Base your weekly menu off the Super 6 meat and veg offers in Lidl and Aldi and you'll automatically be saving money.

You beat me to it, that's just what I came here to say. Definitely a good suggestion.

igCorcaigh

Budget Bytes website; it is American though.

I think your best bet is to minimise waste by planning to use certain ingredients across a few organised meals. You don't want going off spinach in your fridge at the end of the week, so plan to use it all up.

Cook in batches and freeze portions also to minimise waste and facilitate meal planning.

Learn to love lentils also, if you haven't already. You can stock up on grains and pulses cheaply from the Indian stores.

Staph

An important element of eating/buying on a budget is limiting waste. Buy the veg you use often and any veg/fruit that you buy on a deal have a plan of how to use it. So if you don't eat sweet potatoes often and buy some in a super six deal, have a plan of what you'll do with them over 2/3 meals.

If you bring lunch to work, can you heat left over meals? For sandwiches, I often cook a piece of ham or roast a chicken and use this for lunches. Cheaper than packet ham. It doesn't all have to go into sandwiches, I use the ham in quiche and the cold chicken in a pie with mushroom and onion for dinners. Always design your meals to use up your perishable items and as others have said you can freeze batches for the future.

vicwatson

Minced Beef is always on offer, great for burgers, spag bol, lasagne, meatballs, chile con carne etc its versatile and goes a long way for the money

Meeeee79

Would definitely recommend making dinners that can double up as lunch.

Make 4 portions, 2 for dinner and 2 for lunch. That way you can easily bulk up recipes with veg and get 4 portions out of it. Much cheaper than buying ingredients for separate lunches and dinners. You'd make a beef stew for 4 portions for about €8.

Would also recommend making a big pot of soup on a sunday and freezing it for any days you dont have your left over dinner for lunch.

Do you have a slow cooker? If you do you can get cheaper cuts of meat that still taste delicious when cooked in slow cooker. You'd pick one up for about €50.

Dial Hard

Dial Hard wrote: »

The Irish Times had a great article on how to eat well on a budget the other week, I'll root out the link and post it later.

Here we are: http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/food-and-drink/bulk-buy-go-own-brand-how-to-eat-well-on-a-budget-1.3276770

Pistachios & cream

+1 for a menu plan.
Firstly do an inventory of your freezer, fridge and cupboards and write it down. Use this as the basis for next weeks menu. you will probably be amazed at the amount of food you actually have. I assign days to mine but in reality i'm flexible based on schedule and what we fancy so for 7 days i might have 10 options.

I also bulk cook items like chilli, Bolognaise sauce, pulled beef, Pulled pork, asian meatballs and curry and freeze them in meal sized portions. By adding fresh veg and rice/pasta etc i have a quick frugal meal ready quite quickly. I usually bulk cook 1 tem per week

I have a freezer in work so i also make soups and leave them there for easy lunches which saves a fortune.

Another meal i often make is Pasta surprise, pasta with a sauce made of bits of whatevers in the fridge, bits of veg, maybe chorizo or bacon bits. Saute them all together with some tomatoes and herbs and you have a meal out of hardly anything. Quiche, omlettes and risotto are other meals that can be made out of small bits in the fridge.

My meal plan for this week was as follows

Monday - BBQ beef sandwiches - Made beef in the slowcooker at the weekend and froze the rest
Tuesday Teriyaki pork meatballs, rice and greens - Meatballs were in the freezer
Wednesday Chilli nacho bowl - Chilli was in the freezer, i used leftover rice from the night before, and made guacamole andtopped with cheese
Thursday Stuffed Turkey, roast carrots & Mash - Had more time for cooking tonight so made a bigger meal
Tonight - Thai pork lettuce wraps - made a big batch of the pork last week so just need to defrost this and add toppings
Saturday - At a friends for dinner
Sunday - Roast beef (this will provide an extra meal for during the week)

ellejay

+1 with the meal Plan

I'm not a Tesco fan but their Online Delivery service for €3 is very good.
I use it whenever I can get a slot for €3. Sometimes the drive and time wasted to get a bargain isn't worth it.

I tend to stock up on cupboard / dry goods when I'm in Aldi.

Another good tip is to freeze your leftovers.
e.g. I usually have pastry left over when making a Apple Tart so I freeze it. So when I've enough in the freezer I take it out to use for a Quiche. The filling for the quiches is usually left over ham.
If you freeze left over chicken you could use it for vol au vents (sp)

I've done out a meal plan below and a shopping list that comes to 66.24 but it doesn't include nappies I'm afraid.
I've assumed you would both eat breakfast at home and bring a packed lunch to work. Also They're meat and 2 Veg type dinners, - doesn't appeal to everyone.
I've also assumed your 2 year old will just eat a little portion of whatever you're eating.

I'd say you might already have some of the ingredients so probly this would come in cheaper for you.

Also, I've a slow cooker, not sure if you do, so I tend to do big pots of stew / Spag Bol etc. I didn't include those type's of meals.

Good Luck, with a bit of planning you can do it!

................Breakfast.....................Lunch.............................................Dinner
Monday......Porridge......................Ham & Cheese Wraps.........................Roast chicken, R Potatoes, Carrot Parsnips Mash, Broccoli and Mushy pea's
Tuesday......Shreddies...................Egg mayo Sandwiches........................Ham, Cabbage Carrots & Potatoes.
Wednesday.Boiled Eggs & Toast.....Chicken Wraps...................................Homemade Burgers, Mushrooms, Onions, Chips / Potatoes.
Thursday.French Toast /Eggy Toast..Tuna Onion Mayo Sandwiches.............Roast chicken, R Potatoes, Carrot Parsnips Mash, Broccoli and Mushy pea's
Friday......Rashers & Beans, Toast?...Ham & Cheese Wraps........................Pork Chops, Carrots, Turnips and Potatoes
Saturday.Cereal...........................Grilled Rashers, Sausages, Eggs, Beans, Sautéed Potatoes.....Chicken Pie made from sml Chicken and mashed potatoe. Sauce made from roux and chicken stock.
Sunday......Scrambled Eggs...........Grilled Rashers, Sausages, Eggs, Beans, Sautéed Potatoes.....?? I've run out of idea's for Sunday!

Tesco Rooster Potatoes 7.5kg ( will last 2 / 3 weeks)....5.29
Tesco Whole chicken 2kg ...........................5
Tesco Milk 3litre .......................................2
Tesco Flahavan's oats 1kg .........................2.29
Tesco Tray of 18 Eggs ......2.85
Tesco Tesco sliced bread 0.69
Tesco Wraps 2.1
Tesco Tesco Mayonnaise 1.5
Tesco Sml Ham 700g in 3 for €10 offer 3.33
Tesco Beef Mince 500g 3 for €10 offer 3.33
Tesco Pork Chops x 4 3 for €10 offer 3.33
Tesco Chicken Sml 1.5kg 3.75
Tesco Tesco Thick cut Rashers x 2 3.6
Tesco clonakilty sausages 454g 3.5
tesco Tomatoes 0.89
Tesco 1 x pepper 0.69
Tesco Onions 0.99
Tesco Mushrooms 433g 1.29
Tesco Garlic Bulbs 0.89
Tesco Broccolli 0.99
Tesco Turnip 0.79
Tesco Parsnips 550g 0.99
Tesco Carrots 1kg 0.99
Tesco Cabbage 0.99
Aldi Chedder Cheese 2
Aldi Ham 3
Aldi Beans 0.4
Aldi Shreddies 1.29
Aldi Marrow Fat Peas 0.49
Aldi Stir Fry sauce sachet 0.5
Aldi Medium Noodles 1.3
Aldi Butter 2.2
Aldi Tinned tuna 1
Aldi Puff Pastry 1.2
Aldi Chicken Stock Cubes 0.8
.......................66.24

autumnbelle

Wow thank you all so much, the replies are a great help

Paddytheman

Meeeee79 wrote: »

Would definitely recommend making dinners that can double up as lunch.

Make 4 portions, 2 for dinner and 2 for lunch. That way you can easily bulk up recipes with veg and get 4 portions out of it. Much cheaper than buying ingredients for separate lunches and dinners. You'd make a beef stew for 4 portions for about €8.

Would also recommend making a big pot of soup on a sunday and freezing it for any days you dont have your left over dinner for lunch.

Do you have a slow cooker? If you do you can get cheaper cuts of meat that still taste delicious when cooked in slow cooker. You'd pick one up for about €50.

Aldi had slow cookers for €20 a couple of weeks ago, 3 year warranty too, they have them about 3 or 4 times a year. Chances are Lidl would have a similar offer from time to time.

tina1040

Paddytheman wrote: »

Aldi had slow cookers for €20 a couple of weeks ago, 3 year warranty too, they have them about 3 or 4 times a year. Chances are Lidl would have a similar offer from time to time.

I have this one
http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/6992679/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7CKitchen%2Band%2Blaundry%7C14418476/c_2/3%7C19780844%7CSmall%2Bkitchen%2Bappliances%7C14418587/c_3/4%7Ccat_14418587%7CSlow%2Bcookers%2Band%2Bovens%7C14418592.htm

Loire

ellejay wrote: »

I've run out of idea's for Sunday!

I've started buying and cooking 2 chickens on a Sunday and making enough veg for Sunday and Monday. It's just a re-heat job then on Monday (which suits us as we're hectic with kid's stuff).

beertons

I started making a food diary/plan in 2013, and it's still going. Have you a slow cooker? Make use of the super 6 deals in Aldi. I go to the butcher, and get 6 items off a multi buy list for 25. I could get 10 days, out of those 6 items, via lots and lots of veg.