Want to save $ on groceries?

I know I should do it but I HATE menu planning. I hate the idea of only having the ingredients in my cupboard for the meals I plan to cook...because I am indecisive and like to change my mind.

How do I save money on groceries without menu planning as that seems to be the key?

NZ piper we are the same- I don't know what I'm going to feel like eating tonight let alone in 3 days time. BUT we do need to cut back on food shopping as our bills are getting way out of hand.

I can't bring myself to meal plan either. Instead, I tend to have a shopping list that says "meat, veges, ..." and get whatever is on special. I do try to think about how the meat and veges I buy will work together, but often I end up changing my mind about how I cook things when I get home. All the staple items that keep for a long time (cans, rice, etc), I just purchase when they are on special. My pantry is always pretty well stocked but I don't pay full price for almost anything in it.

Then each night I just cook what I feel like. I do have to pay attention to what fresh veges need using but that is the only limitation.

I never planned meals, but bought what we usually did.
I found in winter I used the crock-pot so had it organized early in the morning & did not have a lot to do to finish the meal off.

Lately due to the heat, busy with kids & can not be bothered attitude I have left the dinner decision to later in the day & have had a mad dash attempt to cook & feed everyone or get takeaways which is such a wast of money.

So I am going to plan meals, not necessarily a day to day thing but make sure I have at least 2 weeks full of interesting & different meals to make.

I want to do healthy, fun, filling foods & not just meat, potatoes, veg & pasta.

I am also planning a date night & family night 1 a week, so DH & me have Friday night together & an adult meal.

Saturday nights as family nights with home made pizza or somethings the kids really like.

So what ideas do you have for meals?

We are loving pizzas at the moment. I put potato slices, egg, capsicum, tomato relish, cheese etc on them and they are soo tasty. Never would have thought egg and potato would work so well on pizza but they do and tomato relish is a really tasty alternative to tomato paste.

Quiches are good and pretty easy which I've started doing.

Pasta frittata bake is yum and easy and fast. Its just like a normal pasta bake but you basically put some beaten egg all over the top. Gives it a slightly different taste and its very filling. Plus it gives me as a a vego a protein alternative and DH doesn't need meat with it.

We have some kinda cheesey pasta (sour cream and chives, mac n chees out of a packet) with some side vege and meat. Daniel loves those days lol

Roast vege - kumara, spud, red onion, carrot, sweet corn, capscium, leek etc. We chop them up quite small so they cook faster and put in a roast sprinkle and italian herbs from greggs. Its already in a nice size for toddlers. And any left overs from that goes inside some filo pastry parcels the next day for another dinner option.

We are doing corn and vege fritters too. They are cheap and really easy and just add whatever meat is in the freezer and coleslaw if we have cabbage in the fridge.

Home made fish n chips is really cheap

Edited by kebakat

I envy you guys with vege gardens. Ours just got flattened from chopping down some trees so what little there was in there is very squished

I used to use foodtown online shopping.

Think later on I will write out a weeks meals & then fill in there online list & see what it will cost.

I so want a veg garden, we are going to clean out a little area to grow some veg.

I don't buy chicky nuggets & a lot of processed things, I make my own, & will stop buying sausages also.
I used to buy fish fingers till DS1 found a piece of blue plastic in one, turned out to be a bin liner they use when making them....so put me off.

Im like Bizzy, when I go the supermarket I have a rough Idea of what I want to do. I am not very creative so I just buy packet stuff!
But we have Roast lamb once a week cos its so yummy, and I always use frozen vege, we usually have baby beans and carrots, we have chicken sticks a lot, and things like fish cakes and chicken tenders. I find if I buy the frozen stuff it lasts us a few meals, and its easier for me at the moment.

Near me , there is an asian supermarket ,
Two weeks ago I got
A pumpkin
5kg bag of potatoes
bag of carrots
bag of apples
bag of bananas
bag of pears
bag of onions
3 avocadoes
2 punnets of strawberries
a cabbage
a bag of frankfurter sausages
3 beef eye fillet steak

and altogether it cost me .....$33 .
Suh -weet.


now combined with that , and the fact that we are going to start meal planning , we should start saving a bit on groceries

Kelly thats impressive! I need to have a look at this online shopping thing, is it worth it after delivery costs?
We've just decided to have a 'frugal' year, there are some wants rather then needs for the new bubs and we are saving for a 3 room tent as well, ours is shrinking at the speed our family is growing!

This year, I WILL stick to a budget. Yup aha.