Meal Planning : Am I really the meal planning type?

I was recently asked to be involved in a campaign with Morrisons.  They have reduced the prices in their stores to new everyday low prices.  As part of the campaign they asked for bloggers to go in an experience the store, prices and plan some meals.  So confession time : Planning for meals, is really not something I do.  I’ve given it a go before, but its lasts a week, two at the most, and then I revert back. But maybe if I see it in black and white on a receipt, and that I am going to save money, this time I’ll make the change?

So before I headed off to Morrisons, I made a rough list of what I needed.  Breakfast, Lunches for me, as the rest of the family eats either at school or work.  Some snack, drinks, and 5/6 main meal ingredients.  Now I ordinarily do an online shop, and this usually comes in at £140 per week.  This includes everything including toiletries and cleaning products.

I added two recipes for the week from the Morrisons online site

Creamy sweet potato curry rice and nan

Mid week tortilla and salad

I also did some family favourites

Veg lasagna /chicken lasagna (Leftovers for another day) with salad

Veg shepherds pie and steamed veg

Home made pizza with a balsamic tomatoes and beetroot salad.

I also added onto my list on anything we had run out of, bleach, toilet roll, condiments, milk and cheese etc.

My Experience

I then headed down to my local store to see what I thought.  I don’t shop at Morrisons, mostly because they didn’t (until recently) do home delivery, and I’ve always found them quite limited for vegetarians.  I’m the only veggie in the family, but if I wanted to pick something up that was perhaps prepared, as I was cooking meat for everyone else, they never seemed have anything.

However as soon as I entered the store I was instantly won over the amazing array of vegetable, salads and herbs.  Many unusual, but above all great quality and fresh ingredients to choose from.

One thing that did surprise me as I was wandering around was how many staff they had around the store. I think I saw one member of staff on every aisle I went down.  Filling shelves, and helping people find things.  There was also an array of yellow stickers on all of the shelves, showing which items were reduced.  There must be thousands of reductions judging by the tickets.  I tried to go for a selection, some branded, so Morrisons own make.  I also went for some of the new reduced items.

I was tempted by the Nutmeg Childrens Clothing (obvs) but resisted the temptation.

My shopping came to £110, and that included two magazines and a bottle of £19 Mountgay rum.  It was a little pick me up OK?  So a £30 saving on my normal shop, and it felt like I had bought, as much if not more than I usually buy.

 

 

There were certain things like branded diet coke and some of the salads and vegetables that seemed much cheaper than my usual shop, so much so that I noticed the price as I was shopping.

You can find both the creamy sweet potato curry and the mid-week tortilla recipes on the website by clicking on each of the names. The cost per serving I worked out as being incredibly good value for money.  The curry was £2.59 per person including the nan and rice.  The tortilla £1.24 including the salad.  Everyone enjoyed both of the Morrisons recipes.

So with a potential saving of at least £30 per week (£1,560 per year) am I tempted to meal plan and shop at Morrisons. I’ve got to say YES, I definitely am!

 

Thank you to Morrisons for the £80 worth of vouchers to spend on this weeks bank holiday shop, its been an interesting experiment…and the the rum is very good thank you. 😉

This post is an honest review of my experience.