I find food shopping fairly stressful because it is one of the main ways in which I can make a real difference to our monthly budget. I tend to be a scrimper by nature and I can sometimes let this creep too much into my weekly shop! J has recently instructed me to spend more, as he needs more food in the house!
Other than the cost, I enjoy planning meals and I love to cook meals from scratch. I find it relaxing and satisfying to produce something that I know I have made and my family can enjoy. Having said that, I don't always cook from scratch and we don't always have healthy food! But that's fine. I don't really feel a massive amount of pressure to home-cook everything. Although that can change when I run into someone at the supermarket and suddenly wish those ready meals would disappear!
This is how my meal plan usually looks:
- One dish that will do two meals. Eg lasagne, shepherds pie, chicken casserole.
- One dish that I haven't cooked before or is a bit more 'fancy'. When I say fancy, I mean I will spend a bit more on herbs or quality cuts of meat.
- One quick and easy regular dish. Something I have cooked loads before - usually pasta of some sorts.
- One 'naughty' dish for the end of the week. This will be for when I have no more fresh ingredients because I'm going shopping the next day. Possibly fish and chips, pizza or a bought curry.
That leaves us at 5 meals. Often there will be one night a week where we eat at our parents' or at a friend's. There will usually be a night where one of us is eating out somewhere so the other one plus Chloe will eat from the freezer (we are very good at saving leftovers).
I love family meals and planning our shopping list. This week I'm trying a whole roast chicken in homemade peri peri sauce. Yum!
Result below!
No comments:
Post a Comment