When I first started 'food shopping' I was only buying for Tim and myself. I didn't know the difference between a leek and a spring onion. I would go to Tesco and just grab things off the shelves with the image of my mother in my mind on what she use to buy. Salad, potatoes, ham, WINE, chocolate and so on. The bill would usually be between £80-£100. A bit expensive just for a couple who would end up eating 3 takeaway's and throwing the food in the bin by the end of the week (never the wine and chocolate). We both worked all hours and shifts and the thought of cooking sometimes gave us bile at the end of a 12 hour shift.
How wasteful on money, time and energy that food shop was.
Over the years our circumstances have changed with jobs, money, children and just day to day life really. We have been through some hard times financially and some flush times where I have been able to buy the Especially Selected Lemon Cheese Cake from Aldies. It is to divine. Here's a little relationship advise while I'm on the topic. Find someone who can make you laugh through the hard times and marry them. Anyways I couldn't afford to food shop the way I did and there is nothing I hate more than throwing away food. We started to have children and I wanted to feed them good home made food like I had as a child but it all seemed so complicated and expensive. So I did quiet a bit of research... Well I still do on the topic. By all means I'm not an expert here.
I've learnt a few thing over the years and have a few tips to share with any of you who can relate and feels stuck in a rut with food shopping.
1. Meal prep
I can't not express this enough. It makes your life a thousand times easier. Plan your breakfast, lunches and evening meals. I'm deadly serious!
Write out a list of your meals and stick them on your fridge each week. Make sure to check your diary when planning your meals. You don't want to be cooking a new recipe the night your son has football training and you won't be home until gone 6pm.
Write out a list of your meals and stick them on your fridge each week. Make sure to check your diary when planning your meals. You don't want to be cooking a new recipe the night your son has football training and you won't be home until gone 6pm.
From there you can make a food shopping list. This will save you money and time. Just run into the shop with your list grab what's on there and get out. Your more likely to eat healthily and meal prepping will be less stressful. Googling what to make tonight on your lunch break in work, realising you don't have half the ingredients means a pit stop at Tesco on your way home. Wasting time and money. Planning is key!
I plan for 6 days each week. I cook homemade meals but sometimes I do cheat with a jar. I may work from home but it's still hard to get to my kitchen. We always have a take away once a week. We may grab something out one day for lunch or there is always something left over. Going onto my next tip.
2. Cook in batches when you can.
Double what your cooking. If your making a lasagna or cooking a chicken. Make double. You can freeze one lasagna for a weeks time and make chicken sandwiches for lunch boxes the next day. This saves you so much time. If the kids have driven you insane all day and you have absolutely no energy to make a meal tonight. No problem pull that lasagna out you froze two weeks ago and you have a home cooked meal ready to go.
3. Buy a slow cooker.
These bad boys are a mums ultimate life hack. Throw all the ingredients in the slow cooker in the morning. Remember to switch it on!! (Yes I've done that) and it will sit there cooking all day while you go to work or take care of the kids all day. Now not every slow cooker recipe is nice. Never attempt to cook a lasagna in one. Trust me! My go to slow cooker meals are a gammon joint, beef stew, and a curry. I have a handful of slow cooker meals we actually like and doesn't taste of 'slow cooker' if you get. Il share them recipes on another blog.
4. Buy frozen veg and fruit.
Jamie Oliver has said himself that there is more nutritional value and freshness in a frozen vegetable that a fresh one. The reason is that the frozen vegetable gets frozen at his peak of freshness and goodness. The fresh kind may be sitting in a warehouse and shop for a few more days. These frozen vegetables are all chopped up and ready for you in your freezer. You can even get frozen chopped onions. What a day to be alive! And if you don't end up cooking that Wednesday's meal you planned because you'r child had the bug and all hell broke loose. No problem. You won't be throwing away the vegetables at the end of the week that's rotted in your fridge. There in your freezer still fresh as ..
5. Shop around or online.
What I mean here is either shop in Aldies and farm foods or Tesco or do a food shop online at Tesco. Now I've tried the two methods here. You save money both ways but you save more time shopping online but you get more for your money if you shop around. What works best for me and my family is the shopping around. So I shop in Aldies and farm foods once a week on a Sunday. I get most things in Aldies and get my tinned beans, frozen veg and butter in farm foods (I only buy clover butter). When I shopped online I spend the same amount but my cupboard and fridge seemed so empty. Although everything was there for my meal plan it was lacking in a few extra bits I would get in my budget. Life with kids can be so unpredictable having a few extra tins of beans, eggs, easy to grab snacks in the fridge is always handy.
6. Try something new each week.
This will broaden your recipes so you don't eat the same thing week after week and get bored with food and life. You might find something you love or hate along the way. If it's hate make sure you have a frozen pizza ready to go in the freezer instead. Although this won't save you money, it will save your sanity when your starving and your meal tastes horrendous, shrug it off, eat a pizza and try again next week.
7. Try a meat free day once a week!
Trust me here. I have 3 boys and a Tim who adores meat. They have tried a few of my recipes and adore them. Maybe not so much my 2 year old who lives off pancakes and air. But that's another story.
Cauiflour tacos,
Vegtable stir fry,
Vegtable sushi,
Butternut squash soup
Sweetpotato and chick pea curry.
The list goes on and Google is your best friend here. Do not knock it until you try it. Veggies and potatoes are so cheap but they can make a delicious meal. Vegetarians and vegans do not just live off salad. Do some research. Which lead me into my next tip.
8. Join a slow cooker group on Facebook. Subscribe to a vegetarian youtuber, Join any community that will share their ideas with you on food. There are some marvellous clever people out. Find them!
If anyone would like some recipes or a sample of my meal plan and shopping list. Comment below and i'l pop them up. I hope these tips have helped some of you. Now get planning!
Be Brave
Jade X
6. Try something new each week.
This will broaden your recipes so you don't eat the same thing week after week and get bored with food and life. You might find something you love or hate along the way. If it's hate make sure you have a frozen pizza ready to go in the freezer instead. Although this won't save you money, it will save your sanity when your starving and your meal tastes horrendous, shrug it off, eat a pizza and try again next week.
7. Try a meat free day once a week!
Trust me here. I have 3 boys and a Tim who adores meat. They have tried a few of my recipes and adore them. Maybe not so much my 2 year old who lives off pancakes and air. But that's another story.
Cauiflour tacos,
Vegtable stir fry,
Vegtable sushi,
Butternut squash soup
Sweetpotato and chick pea curry.
The list goes on and Google is your best friend here. Do not knock it until you try it. Veggies and potatoes are so cheap but they can make a delicious meal. Vegetarians and vegans do not just live off salad. Do some research. Which lead me into my next tip.
8. Join a slow cooker group on Facebook. Subscribe to a vegetarian youtuber, Join any community that will share their ideas with you on food. There are some marvellous clever people out. Find them!
If anyone would like some recipes or a sample of my meal plan and shopping list. Comment below and i'l pop them up. I hope these tips have helped some of you. Now get planning!
Be Brave
Jade X
