On a Sunday afternoon between finishing off the laundry and baking I like sort out my weekly menus. We plan menus for ourselves and a separate one for the kids.  Whilst we love to have dinner with the kids, personally, I like to eat my dinner when it is still warm.  So, I sit with the kids and talk to them when they are having dinner and then Mr. Jenn and I have dinner once the kids are in bed.

Like many people these days we are on a strict budget and whilst I don’t spend tons of money (average shop is £43 per week) we eat very well and so do the children. Our budget includes cleaning products, toiletries, nappies, wipes and dog food as well. We find that by planning our menus per week eliminates a lot of waste which of course saves us money. It also saves on the last minute rubbish eating or just giving the kids whatever happens to be in the freezer.   If you aren’t a great cook you can still find plenty of advice about cooking online and by using places like BBC Goodfood or allrecipes.com you’ll be able to make the most of any meal.  Personally, I know I am lucky. Mr. Jenn is chef quality and therefore our meals are always fantastic. We also generally cook enough for ourselves plus a couple of extra  portions for the freezer  for quick easy meals at later dates. In addition, like most women, I like to watch my figure. Most of our dinners are not only low cost to make, but also great on the figure and are rarely more than 400-500 calories each.

Our typical menu looks like this: HM stands for homemade and the food items in the brackets are for the kids.

We like to make everything from scratch. We don’t have anything against processed foods as such; our kids like fish fingers etc but we just personally prefer to give them foods which we know exactly what is contained in them. We try our best to make sure that the children get plenty fibre, fruits and vegetables as well as the odd treat now and again. We teach them “everything in moderation” in our house.

I have a list of everything that is in my freezers and make meal plans from that. We use everything up. Example: if I have bananas that are getting too ripe, I will make banana bread and freeze it, or mix mashed banana with other fruits & yoghurt for a frozen dessert or mix in some milk and blend for a fresh banana shake for kids. We also make homemade frozen chips with left over potatoes and plain mash for use another time and freeze. Why pay £1.68 for a 907g bag of McCain Oven chips when you can pay £2 for 2x 2.5 kilo bags of potatoes and make much more and they taste loads better?  Or why spend 85p on a tin of mushroom soup, when you can buy a large container of fresh mushrooms for £1.67 use what you need for sandwiches, meals, etc and use what is left to make your own soup and you will have at least 5-10 portions with half the calories, nicer tasting, fresh and ready for the freezer? Now I am not saying you have to be an ogre or a miser and scrimp ever last penny. But what I am saying is why throw it away when you can make it go so much further. As they say “in this economic climate” every penny counts.

Now I personally use www.mysupermaket.com to plan my groceries. As I live not far from a store, I go and get the groceries as I don’t want to pay the delivery charge not to mention they aren’t usually as discerning about the quality of goods they give me but it certainly saves money. I Look for my items, make sure I am getting the best deal and print the list off and take it to the store. Not only do I see items that I don’t normally see when shopping, it cuts my shopping time and know I am getting the most for my money. Here are a rules that help me:

1. I will only buy what is on my list this way I know exactly how much my shop will cost.
2. I check to see if I can go down a level of brand I.e ASDA smart price instead of normal branded or luxury products. I test items out to see if I notice a difference. If I do I don’t bother changing, if I don’t I will get it again.
3. I check to see I am getting the best deal by checking the per 100g prices. Whilst sometimes the site will say you will save X amount by getting a larger pack, sometimes there can be mistakes. Example: I buy Simply pampers nappies. Asda were selling a double pack in the box for £9, however, if you buy them as individual packs straight off the shelf they were only £4 each. So by buying a box that already contained 2 packs I would have paid £1 more. I don’t know about you but I don’t want to pay £1 for a box I am going to just recycle.
4. I think ahead i.e. Will buying a 12 pack of loo rolls instead of a 4 pack be better?
5. I check to see if buying the fruit and vegetables are cheaper loose or prepacked. Example: Carrots are quite cheap at the moment. Whilst I can pay 98p for a 1 kilo bag, I find that buying them loose they are only 70p per kilo. Not to mention they taste so much sweeter than the pre-packed carrots too.
6. Meats- I generally tend to get a lot of my meat from the butchers. They cut the meat as I like it. My local butcher meat is all British as well as free range, which I find just a bit tastier than the general standard of meat as well it  helping the local businesses. I also find out what cuts they have on sale or look on the Internet to see recipes for cheaper cuts of meat. But remember just because it is a cheap cut of meat doesn’t mean the flavour will suffer or it will be full of fat. It’s all about the preparation and trimming the unnecessary fat.
7.  Depending on the items sometimes shopping around you can make great savings so check the papers for adverts for deals. For example; sometimes I will shop at Aldi. I find they tend to have great prices on fruit and veg as well as finding the odd treasured item I wouldn’t normally find in the standard stores.

I find that there are some things I will only buy branded. Example: I buy Hovis granary wholemeal for the kids.  The granary gives them fibre, grains, and added iron into their diets, which we all know is healthier for them than white bread. In addition since they both have had this kind of bread from a young age there are no complaints about the texture or taste and all of their sandwiches and toast are made with this bread.

We tend to buy 4x 4pints of milk per week. Most of the stores are doing 2 for £2 for the 4pints or 2 for £3.50 for the 6 pints. I am sure you can see that getting 16 pints of milk for £4 is more cost effective than getting 12 pints for £3.50.

Now I have heard a lot of people say you can’t really buy healthy when you don’t have a lot of money to spend on food but I would certainly argue that point. You can very easily buy bags of bananas, apples, pears, oranges, and other fruits for around £1 a bag or you can buy cheaper loose. I do also go to the local farmers market at times to get fruit and vegetables which can also be cheaper and helps my local farmers. You can also get frozen vegetables as well that will have retained its goodness and give you the convenience of being available when you want it. It is all about making the best of your money.  I don’t buy into this convenience food cheapness. I just can’t.  I personally see that as laziness. People can make healthier better tasting and interesting foods in the same amount of time and for less that making a readymade pre-packaged bad tasting meal. You don’t have to be a great cook. You just have to have a good recipe and the ability to follow instructions. When it comes to your kids, why not be the example and learn together? How can any parent expect their kids to learn good eating habits if they don’t set the example at home?

My children’s weekly menu looks like this:

(Breakfast: 7:30am-8am / Snack 1: 10am / Lunch: 12pm / Snack 2: 2pm / Dinner: 4:15pm)

As you can see, even on a budget, my children get plenty of fruit and veg and they have variety without breaking the bank.

Without trying to teach anyone to suck eggs I plan our menus based on the ingredients as well. Whilst it doesn’t always happen, we also like to have 1 soup, 1 salad, 1 freezer, 1 chicken, 1 beef, 1 fish & 1 pork nights per week. Obviously things change, for instance if we have a whole garlic chicken one night. The next night, the kids will have chicken and we will make something else with the chicken for our dinner. (Stir fry/ quesadillas/ chicken and mayonnaise sandwiches etc). I then freeze the bones to use for stocks later.  Or perhaps I may decide make the kids some fresh coleslaw and therefore I have extra cabbage, so I will also make them am a chicken, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and potato bake for their dinner. It will make enough for the two of them plus at least another 4 portions for the freezer and whatever is left I will use in a vegetable soup, which I will have for lunches. It is all about planning and organisation.