How do you actually plan your weekly food shop?
Posted by TelephxneTh0t@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 68 comments
Do you properly plan meals before doing the food shop, or do you just buy the usual stuff and hope meals appear from it somehow?
I feel like there’s a weird gap between “we have food in the house” and “we have actual dinners for the week.”
Curious how people do it in real life — strict meal plan, list, online shop, top-up shops, freezer meals, chaos basket, etc.
melanie110@reddit
I book my slot every Saturday and hold it open with a banana and check out. They don’t take the money until the day it’s picked and gives me 6 days to see what we have left over.
I then pull up the weather app and check meals against the weather. If it’s hot, I ain’t cooking or slaving for an hour.
I’ll ask the kid if he’s got any preference and it’s usually salmon of some sort and build meals around what we like.
Shopping comes Saturday so if we not having a takeaway it will go Saturday to Friday. I always eat the same for breakfast and lunch so they go in. Then check cat food, litter and toiletries and cleaning stuff and add that.
Casually through the week I’ll see a meal on insta or I fancy something so that goes on the list too. Kid always takes the same lunch even though I’ve tried to move them on.
I only buy what we need some come Friday there is just dinner in the fridge and some odd bits for snacks.
I do this religiously and even do it whilst abroad so shopping comes and we don’t need to go out.
The rule is, you all have your say but if it’s on the board, it’s gospel and can’t be changed.
angels-and-insects@reddit
Affectionate_Comb_78@reddit
Then 2 days later my wife doesn't fancy any of that.
Redgrapefruitrage@reddit
This! We’ve done this for years. Makes our week so much easier when it comes to evening meals.
Capt_Capital@reddit
I'll usually pick the same lunch and dinner to have Monday to Friday and buy the ingredients so I can meal prep for the week.
on the weekends I might eat out, throw something together with random ingredients I've got left over from the week or just slap something in the air fryer.
planning and executing a weekly shop is much easier if you're not a picky eater
HoraceDerwent@reddit
what are you having for dinner that you are happy to eat 5 nights in a row?
Capt_Capital@reddit
at the minute I'm tryna lose weight so dinners are just seasoned vegetables + a protein thrown in the air fryer. can rotate the protein (chicken, salmon, etc.) through the week for variety but the meal is essentially the same.
you can do the same with paste, just rotate the type of pasta dish if you need that bit of variety. but generally I'm not fussy at all when it comes to food.
Cool_Doubt2152@reddit
I want to be this person but I struggle with the meals being dry, especially with chicken. Do you add sauce and rotate which sauce?
Capt_Capital@reddit
never had an issue with chicken being dry in the air fryer, just avoid chicken breast and go with thigh/leg or boneless thigh fillets. when you're seasoning it just cover it with a bit of olive oil instead of putting the seasoning on dry chicken.
I usually use dry seasonings (cajun, paprika, chilli powder, garlic powder, etc) mixed with olive oil and coat the chicken that way. or you can season your chicken with Nando's sauces from Tesco if thats easier, both turn out great. can use the same dry seasoning + olive oil on salmon if you're tired of plain salmon.
No-Door-3181@reddit
£25 weekly budget and pure vibes
Thalamic_Cub@reddit
Sticking to £25 a week on vibes is wildly impressive! What kind of meals do you make?
No-Door-3181@reddit
Not impressive just poor lol buy a whole chicken and roast it for the whole week, canned tuna and eggs for protein. Oats, milk and Greek yogurt. Bits of veg and fruit here and there. Meals are usually a carb (potato or pasta/rice) with a protein. Lots of tuna salads with tomatoes cucumbers etc they’re my fave. Lots of overnight oats (a 1kg bag of oats goes a long way) mixed in with yogurt and milk and whatever fruit or cinnamon and peanut butter. Lots of buttered toast, lots of guacamole toast, lots of jam toast (as a sweet treat), lots of egg on toast.
phatboi23@reddit
pretty much the same.
Thalamic_Cub@reddit
I have a spreadsheet. I am also autistic but that is certainly unrelated.
pafrac@reddit
We don't have a planned weekly shop. We've all got a synced shopping list app on our phones, if anyone uses something up, spots a shortage or just decides they want something, it gets added to the app and picked up by whoever's out and about in the right place.
Cool_Doubt2152@reddit
Love this idea but for dinner etc does that mean you eat the same meals every week? Or if someone fancies something for dinner do they just add all of the ingredients to the list?
pafrac@reddit
We do have some meals we eat regularly, but generally we're fairly flexible on menus. If someone wants it, they just add it. That applies to all the usual household purchases, not just meals.
AnxiousBubbles@reddit
This sounds perfect, what is the app called please?
pafrac@reddit
Anylist
itsmebigrc@reddit
Omg! This I what we do! For things like laundry detergent, I wait till it’s on special as I keep one as back up. When we use the one that’s currently in use, it gets added to the list. It massively helps with budgeting and the list helps to reduce wastage as you know what you already have in the house when ‘picking up things’.
Cool_Doubt2152@reddit
I’m crap at visualising meals in my head whilst in the supermarket surrounded by food so I need to have list of meals / any required essentials and then tend to buy a few bits in and around that in the moment
Commercial-Name-1853@reddit
I plan the week on a Sunday. Both me and my husband have the same breakfast & lunch every day so we know what that will be regardless, but on Sunday I fill out a weekly board with dinners and then we’ll go shopping for the week based of the dinners.
Special-Bank9311@reddit
My husband takes the lead in planning meals for the week to help take on some of the mental load. We don’t plan lunches and breakfasts as we usually have the same basic things for those. Then I shop based on the meal plan and the usual stuff we need. I note down any staples we’ve run out of so I get those too.
With kids, I feel like not deciding in advance would be a nightmare. Just in the sense of knowing how much time you have/need to leave aside to cook on a particular day. We know that certain days of the week are busy so we make sure we have fast meals planned in then, for example.
Dangerous_Bed2566@reddit
We plan each and every meal every week.
Gornal-Annie6133@reddit
Meal plans and shopping accordingly. That way, if you’re strict, you don’t get carried away and spend and waste your money, or end up with excessive food waste.
Fizl99@reddit
I look what protein is on special offer, plan the meals for the week around it and then order it all for delivery
AnneKnightley@reddit
I work out what meals i’m having for the whole week and make the list from that.
very_unconsciously@reddit
We have a whiteboard tucked out of the way, where we add items needed for the big shop as we go along. Then on the big day, we'll meal plan around various social events, check what we need and what we've got for each meal. Then compile a shopping list and a list for what we'll be eating on each day.
811545b2-4ff7-4041@reddit
Generally: Look at cupboards, fridge & freezer before going, check what's still there and in date. Talk about upcoming week and figure out how many dinners we need.
Go to supermarket. Look at what's in, what the dates are, and plan some meals as we walk around based on how many we need. Get annoyed at the expiry dates of stuff and agree to buy certain things (e.g. salad) during the week for specific meals. We buy the 'normal stuff' the kids might need for their lunches at school, snacks, toiletries ect. at the same time.
No real budget in mind, fortunate to not be restricted by this but we still 'buy sensibly' to avoid waste.
VictoryAppropriate68@reddit
I have weeks where I meal plan, purchase everything and my shit is really together. Other days we live of vibes and whatever I can find. Purely depends on the state of my mental health and if the suns been out
littlehamster_@reddit
I meal plan then buy the ingredients for those meals, plus snacks. Every now and then I do a meal plan based off the things left over in the fridge or freezer to use things up too. I have a spreadsheet of all the meals I know how to make and enjoy and on a Sunday I pull it up and randomise the meals to plan for the week, and on another tab I have all the ingredients needed for each meal. I got so sick of throwing out stuff that had sat in the fridge unopened till it went off, now I never just buy things in the hopes we might fancy eating it at some point.
UndulatingUnderpants@reddit
Monday to Friday I eat the same thing every day, so I pop into the supermarket a few times a week to pick up the ingredients and make it for a couple of days at a time. On weekends we generally eat out or buy stuff to make new recipes. I also batch cook 4 portions of 4 different meals and freeze them for my teenager, again, I usually grab the ingredients when he's running low on these so that I can make them.
OkTechnician4610@reddit
I don’t plan meals anymore it’s just what I fancy doing on the day. I used to plan & cook ahead but I could guarantee what ever I had in fridge ready to go no- one wanted.
Savings-Syllabub-871@reddit
Bit of both honestly. I usually have 3-4 meals in mind before I shop, but nothing strict. Like I'll think "right, we need a pasta night, something with chicken, maybe a curry" and buy based on that.
The rest is just staples and hoping it works out. Freezer is my safety net though, always got some mince, chicken breasts, or fish fillets in there so if the week goes sideways I can still throw something together. I've tried the full weekly meal plan thing but it never survives contact with reality. Someone's working late, leftovers pile up, or you just can't be arsed to make the thing you planned for Tuesday.
The "chaos basket" is real. Random veg bought with good intentions, now in a race against time. I've started just asking ChatGPT "what can I make with X, Y, and Z" and it's surprisingly good at solving the "we have food but no dinner" situation.
rosywillow@reddit
Check what’s on offer at Sainsbury’s using their app (most convenient supermarket for me), check cupboards and the freezer spreadsheet, meal plan taking best advantage of offers and what I have in stock, make a list, shop once a week.
Jamie2556@reddit
That’s really good, I don’t do the checking what’s on offer part but now I think I’m being foolish to not think of it. Will start copying you now.
Practical_Awareness@reddit
If I run out of something specific that I use often (eg milk, chicken, apples) then it goes on a shopping list. I make sure I buy the things from my list and then everything else is based on what I fancy that week. I try to vary what veg I buy so I get a bit of variety, meat is often chicken plus something else, and I'll look at sauces and sides to see what sounds good. Then I just make meals based on what I've got in.
I saw something on tiktok which I've started using to try and bring some variety:
anonoaw@reddit
I sit down on a Friday and plan all our dinners for the following Monday-Sunday. I also plan some vague things for lunches for the week too.
When planning, I have my work calendar and personal calendar in front of me. On meeting-light work from home days I can get dinner prepped during the day and then finish it off when I finish work so I can have something a bit more labour intensive. On busy days or office days I know it needs to be something quick.
I’ve been doing this for 5 years now so it’s quick. I have a general rotation of recipes that I know everyone in the family eats and then if I’m bored and fancy something new I’ll browse my cookbooks or online for some new inspo. Generally we have one vaguely Italian thing, one vaguely Mexican thing, one vaguely Indian thing, and one vaguely British thing a week as a stater so it’s easy to pick meals.
Once I’ve planned my meals, I make my shopping list. I also have a list saved on my phone of the stuff we need every week (milk, nappies for the baby, loo roll, kitchen roll, fruit etc).
Then I place an online order to be delivered on Sunday morning. Where possible we get the same slot every week (730am-830am - it gets it out the way so we can still have plans on Sunday, and we’re up anyway cos we have young kids)
Throughout the week as we run out of stuff or think of something we want, we add it to a list on the Alexa. I have a recurring reminder on a Saturday afternoon to check the Alexa and add anything on the list to the online order.
dartiss@reddit
We have our weekly shop delivered, so I plan a dinner menu for the week, add the specifics for those items for the list, and on "the usuals" that we need every week. There's a blackboard on the kitchen on which we write ad-hoc items and they get added on as well.
FluffyOwl89@reddit
We do a meal plan and then do an online food shop based on that plan. We also have a list of things we buy weekly, and a list of things we need to check whether we need more. We also have a shopping list on our Alexa app, so if we run out of something or are running low, we tell Alexa to add it to the list. If we need anything urgently mid week, then we’ll pop to the supermarket and pick it up.
baby_oopsie_daisy@reddit
I write down what we are having for the week and stick it on the fridge. I then plan my shopping list around this and also check the fridge, cupboards etc for what we already have in so I don't end up hoarding five packets of spaghetti
thelajestic@reddit
Yeah I plan. At the weekend my husband and I sit down and plan breakfast, lunch, dinner & snacks for the week ahead and make a shopping list based on that.
I often plan in something that will create leftovers which are portioned up and frozen, and can then be planned in to a future week of food. We always review what we've got on during the week when making the plan, so freezer food is often planned in for days we know we'll be busy or are likely to be particularly tired.
The shopping is all bought in one go, top up shops are only really done if we couldn't get everything in the first shop or forgot to add it to the list etc.
Sometimes we end up having a takeaway instead of what's on the plan, but in that case I just shuffle everything on a day, leaving one less day to plan for the following week.
Some weeks we leave a day blank on purpose - like this week I'm planning to pop to the shop on Friday and just see what inspires me for a nice Friday night dinner.
sookietea@reddit
We’re exactly the same. Neither of us eat breakfast so it’s just cereal for the kids and we’ll plan our nice brunch’s for the weekend. Lunch will be something we can batch make that’s healthy and easily transportable for work. And every dinner is planned based on the following week’s activities. I.e. usually do a two-nighter for Monday Tuesday because I tend to wfh on a Monday and can cook but Tuesdays are long days for us all. If the kids have an activity or sport in an evening, we’ll work out which one has capacity to take them and one which one can cook and how much time they’ll have.
As you say, it’s not so proscriptive that we can’t run a meal on to the next day if something pops up but it saves us a ton of money and it’s incredibly satisfying to see a near empty fridge at the end of the week knowing we haven’t wasted food.
Accurate-Herring-638@reddit
Meal plan. Partner and I sit down once a week and plan meals for the rest of the week. We also decide who will cook which nights, based on work schedule, hobbies, other commitments and so on. I thought I'd miss the spontaneity of deciding what I feel like eating on the day, but it's great. One less thing to think/text about during the day.
Commercial-Bat-4534@reddit
I am very lucky and on jabs so I just think about what foods I feel like and either pick them up from Aldi or do a delivery. This is every couple weeks.
I used to be quite strict and plan and budget every wee, my boyfriend is a "check what we have and make something" person so I've adopted that habit and spend a little less on shopping now by only buying exactly what I'm missing and nothing else.
Where we differ is because of my strict budget planning days I have a lot of ingredients already so i don't need to get anything from the shop as often as we do when we're at his lol.
Anyway I'm going to start freezing pesto now.
Familiar9709@reddit
The best is to plan meals and to buy key ingredients instead of making fancy meals "with names" restaurant style.
The former allows you to make a good list and you have nothing missing. The second to actually eat healthy meals and not overcomplicate things, e.g. gousto style that you need a million ingredients per meal.
Disastrous-Theme-208@reddit
Life on my own and have some meals at work as work in hospitality. Go supermarket once a week, buy similar stuff every week that requires little work(can never be bothered to cook properly as do it for a living). Always know what's in the house and have a like plan in my head of what I'll have each night.
Kapika96@reddit
Look round the shop and grab anything I think looks nice. Some rudimentary planning in that I may pick up stuff to make a specific meal, but most of the time I don't have anything in mind like that.
My go to meal is just meat + fruit in a frying pan though, so it's not particularly hard to make something out of whatever I buy.
CoppyandPuzz@reddit
I have no plan or schedule and only make a list of specific essentials I’ve run out of like teabags. I just buy the foods I like and have similar meals every week unless something in particular takes my fancy.
Dissidant@reddit
General household, cleaning, toiletries and hygene stuff monthly
Non-perishable and frozen stuff every 2 weeks
Fresh stuff weekly though I will snag bananas/nuts if I pass a fruit n veg because they never last 😀
Pretty structured its the system I grew up on and it just stuck, plus we both cook/eat mostly the same stuff
Past-Bicycle5959@reddit
I top up all the general "must always have some in" stuff like dried pasta, baked beans, cheese, bread, bananas, oats, milk, eggs etc
Then I meal plan for 5 different dinners and a few varieties of what my typical lunches will be.
I do a big shop, spend quite a lot despite trying to budget.
Then I make 1 of the meals on that meal plan, decide each day that I don't fancy what I planned for myself any more and go out and buy something different, and throw away a ton of food a couple of weeks later.
I just don't learn.
verybadgay@reddit
I have a big list of meals on my phone. I go through and see what I feel like making/have time to make that week, and then check the ingredients against prices at Tesco. I tend to plan around offers so I’ll pick whatever meals align with decent deals on the ingredients and go from there. I don’t meal plan for the entire week because some nights it’s only me and I just have whatever’s there.
I make sure I always have staples like rice, eggs, spices etc. For things like crisps, biscuits, treats, I go to discount supermarkets every few weeks and stock up.
ooh-sheet@reddit
I have a general idea of what I’ll eat and a rough plan of family meals when the hubby is home, but the rest is just winging it on takeout, ready meals, whatever the kids fancy
saywherefore@reddit
I check if any staples need replenishing, maybe think of a specific meal or two. Then head to the shop and see what takes my fancy. Generally I’ll pick an item, work out what it would go with to make a meal and then get those things as well. After a few meals’ worth of this I run out of steam and bung some random extra items in to assemble meals from down the line.
cari-strat@reddit
For many years I couldn't get the art of shopping weekly right. I eventually made a concerted effort to identify what we liked, used and ate regularly, and how much was the most of it we'd use in an average week, and from there I started to sort my list. It was refined over time and now it's basically fixed in my head
I try to ensure we have enough non perishable stuff in the larder and freezer to give everyone a choice of what to eat for several weeks, plus a week's worth of drinks, snacks etc and fresh stuff like yogurts, bread and fruit/veg.
Everything lives in a set place in the cupboards and freezer, so now I basically just check what we have before I go shopping and fill any gaps.
I don't plan meals. I have two autistic kids with very specific food preferences, plus me and my husband who both have different likes and dislikes, and we have activities in the evening so we may need to eat at different times. I often cook several different things every night to accomodate everyone.
It took a while, but this works for us.
miss-minus@reddit
Ouch. Burnt me face.
BreadWonderful8656@reddit
A shit load of chorizo
PKblaze@reddit
A mix. Some stuff is planned, specifically Wednesdays and Sundays. Then we just pick up whatever we fancy. Sometimes that's preplanned other times we just get whatever we want to have that week. The majority of our shopping is just restocking so we just go off of what needs replacing.
louwyatt@reddit
I like to always plan out a food plan for the week, then buy the ingredients for it. My girlfriends quite fussy so can't exactly make it up as I go along.
Plastic_Length8618@reddit
On Saturday mornings i leaf through recipe books and decide on three or four dinners, plus the cake of the week, then write a list and fill my panniers in the supermarket.
The rest of the meals are more ad hoc assemblages from the local shops.
e-pancake@reddit
throughout the week I add things I realise I need to my basket on the tesco app and use that as a list in the shop. combined with a general gist of what I like to eat I usually string enough together to eat lol
Bksudbjdua@reddit
I go to the shop after work and pick up bits usually
N64Andysaurus92@reddit
I do my shopping on Saturday so on Friday night I make a quick meal chart for the week and plan every meal for each day. I will browse Sainsbury's website too to gage prices to keep on budget and see what's on sale and see if there's anything new as well as look at calorie information as I'm on a diet and make any adjustments to my list/plans. And then I go out and buy exactly what I need the next day. Which results in no waste as everything is gone by Friday evening and the fridge is empty and then it gets it's weekly wipe down and clean.
1995LexusLS400@reddit
I don’t. I work near a supermarket, I do daily shopping and go on whatever I want at the time.
alberoTranquillo@reddit
I buy the same shit every week minus anything I already have leftover fromt he last shop
DiskBytes@reddit
I find I have to plan meals, to minimise food waste really. Buy what I'm going to use, and use what I buy.
BaBaFiCo@reddit
I just buy what we need at the start of the month and then nip to the shop in-between.
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