How to meal plan to save money and waste
Planning before your food shop can be really important if you want to stick to a budget and reduce waste. Here are some ideas to help you plan your meals and shopping lists effectively.
- Consider what you already have at home and what is going off. Perhaps you already have food in the freezer? Or some store-cupboard staples you could use to rustle up a dinner?
- Choose your main protein and carbohydrate sources first and work around those.
- Pick a vegetable and think about how you can use it in different meals to help you reduce waste.
- Remember any leftovers can be frozen or used as lunches.
- Write out your shopping lists by food types (eg. proteins, carbohydrates, dairy etc). This not only helps make sure you don’t miss anything, but helps keep you focused in the supermarket so you stick to your meal plan.
Here’s an example of an evening meal plan and a shopping list. It can be adapted to be vegetarian by swapping out meat and fish. This is just one example to show how the same ingredients can be spread out across meals during a week and can be adapted across many meals and preferences.
You can download your own weekly meal planner here.
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Monday
Lentil spaghetti bolognese – onions, chopped tomatoes, peppers, carrots, tinned lentils and pasta
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Tuesday
Fajita wraps – chicken, onions, chopped tomatoes, peppers, sweetcorn, cheese and wraps (can add mayonnaise instead of sour cream)
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Wednesday
Chickpea curry and rice – chickpeas, peppers, peas, curry sauce and rice
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Thursday
Tuna jackets – tuna, jacket potatoes, mayonnaise, sweetcorn, and onions
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Friday
Wrap pizza – tomato puree, cheese, peppers and onions
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Saturday
Chicken pasta bake – chicken, onions, chopped tomatoes, mayo, sweetcorn, and pasta
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Sunday
Mince and lentils in gravy – small packet of mince, lentils, gravy, onions, peas, sweetcorn, carrots and mash potatoes
Shopping list for meals
Proteins
Chicken thighs
Tinned lentils x2*
Tinned chickpeas*
Canned tuna *
Mince beef
Carbohydrates
Tortilla wraps
Pasta*
Potatoes
Rice *
Vegetables
Onions
Peppers
Peas (frozen/tinned)*
Sweetcorn (frozen/tinned)*
Chopped tomatoes *
Carrots
Dairy
Margarine*
Cheese
Other
Curry sauce
Tomato puree *
Mayonnaise
*could be an item you already have in the store cupboard.
More information
For general information about a range of issues relating to diet, nutrition and CF, we have a series of leaflets that have been written by CF dietitians.
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