Bi-Weekly Shop and Meal Plan

Well, yesterday I did the first of the new frugal budget bi-weekly shops at our local Lidl.

Can I just say – what a fantastic shopping experience. Somehow, because the store is smaller, you can see over most of the shelves and there is less choice, it was just so….EASY. I don’t want twenty brands of conditioner to choose from, it just bewilders me. I don’t want to work out whether the BOGOF offer I am presented with, is cheaper than just buying the cheapest brand. I don’t want the cuddly, squeezy marketing stuff that makes me feel like a supermarket brand is supposedly looking out for my best interests. I just want reasonably priced, reasonable quality and acceptably ethical food. I have to say, Lidl had all of those. I may be late to the party, but I’m converted!

 

Our bi-weekly shop (excluding milk and fresh veg top-up for week 2) cost £86 – this is all food, toiletries and cleaning products. I know that  same trolley would easily have cost £120 in Morrisons. I had budgeted £150 for this so I am well under budget and it will work out about £50 a week with the top up bits. It was so cheap, I even managed to buy a few things to make the frugality a bit more exciting, like parmesan cheese, black olives and wasabi peanuts. How Ed Milliband met with such uproar for claiming his weekly shop was £80 I don't know - if he shopped in Lidl I think this is quite realistic frankly!

 

Armed with this bounty, I came home and made a meal plan. You would think that planning before you go and only buying what you need would be more frugal, but actually no – I went with a rough idea, but other frugal bloggers suggest seeing what is cheap and then planning when you get home. Having this list means I don’t have to think about what to cook every night.

In the next fortnight, we can look forward to:

 

Dinners

Quorn and cauliflower homemade currry padded out with vegetables, poppadoms and rice

Home made chicken kiev, salad, homemade coleslaw and few homemade chips

Pepper and courgette fajitas with kidney beans

Homemade pizza x2 nights

Venison sausage casserole with jacket potato or mashed swede and cabbage

Homemade meatballs with pasta and tomato sauce, broccoli

Beef, port and mushroom slow-cooker stew, cauliflower cheese

Goats cheese, pea and mint (or whatever else is around) risotto, sprinkled with parmesan

Spicy tomato and sardine pasta

Prawn green thai curry with rice

Grilled minty lamb steak, mash and veg

Pesto pasta

Fishcakes with sweet chilli dipping sauce and mint yoghurt dressing

Homemade falafal and salad

Omelette, chips and mushy peas

Quorn mince lasagne

Leftover veg pancakes with cheese sauce

 

Lunches

Leftover quorn and cauliflower homemade curry

Tuna and mayo jacket potato and salad

Cheese and bean salad wrap

Leftover venison sausage casserole

Leftover beef port and mushroom slowcooker stew

Leftover goats cheese, pea and mint risotto

Leftover spicy tomato and sardine pasta

Leftover prawn green thai curry

Leftover falafal and hummous with crudetes

Cheese and spinach frittata/quiche

 

Breakfasts

Eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms

Sourdough toast

Cereal and Yoghurt

Homemade banana muffins

Homemade apple and cinnamon muffins

 

By the time I got home, it was late, so I shoved a previously made and frozen portion of veggie lasagne in the fridge for us, which we ate with leftover salad – which took all of ten minutes to prepare.

Going to the shops, even if it is just to pick up a couple of items mid-week, is an invitation to accidently spend £30 and this is where our budget has accidently spiralled out of control in the past. By buying in advance I hope that I have removed this temptation. Now time to batten the hatches for a fortnight!