Sons brighten up my day

Boys spring summer clothing haul.

12:06

Keeping to a food budget & meal planning.

07:00

I've been meal planning for a while now but up until recently had been planning my meals around what I bought rather than rummaging through the cupboards fridge and freezer to see what we had to make meals from & then add any extras to the shopping list.

I now also have to plan meals around Harrys hot lunch option, so that he's not eating the same kind of thing twice a day.

Although I don't have a strict food budget I do try to keep our monthly spend under £300 and I don't just go to the one supermarket.

I also use vouchers I receive through having supermarket points collecting cards etc and any vouchers I happen to find in magazines or newspapers.

The last food shop I did took me to three different supermarkets; Tesco, Lidl and Farmfoods actually I only visited two as the Tesco shop was delivered to my door!

On this occasion I shopped at Tesco for all our meat as I had been sent 'spend at least £10 get £10 free' across their fresh meat selection, this filled up our freezer handsomely.

I did also buy meat of the frozen variety from FarmFoods, I'd received a leaflet through my letterbox with all there deals and after a friend recommended a few products I thought we'd give them a go. I went with a list - insistent I wouldn't deviate from it like I so frequently do (slap on the wrist)! and I only came out with one item not on my list - Tunnocks Tea Cakes ~ yumyum I just couldn't leave them on the shelf! I must of been getting hungry when I spotted them.

From FarmFoods I brought a 1kg bag of chicken breast, 4 Salmon fillets and a bag of peeled prawns all for £10 we've tried all three of the meats and the recommendation was spot on I'll be going back to buy them all again on my next food shop.

I then went to Lidl to stock up on cupboard essentials fruit and veg and I wasn't disappointed with what they had to offer, I filled my large trolley to the top for just over £70 I was amazed at how little it cost.

My favourite buy from them had to be the XXL bag of spuds for £3.49 - we haven't used a frozen chip, waffle or croquet all month - slimming world chips are my new fav way to use a potato!

So I thought I'd put together a few tips for meal planning and budgeting;

Know what you already have in the cupboards
Don't shop when your hungry
Write a list & try not to deviate from it
have all recipies you want to cook with you when you write a list so not to forget anything
Check prices through supermarkets online grocery ordering services
If you have time shop around for the best prices
Collect vouchers and coupons
Sign up to supermarket points schemes to receive extra coupons tailored to your frequent buys