Meal planning is a sure fire way to reduce the cost of your supermarket spend.
With a little bit of forward thinking, you can use up anything you’ve already got, avoid food waste, and not get so tempted to pick up anything extra you see while you’re walking around the shops.
Not sure how to start meal planning? Read up on our meal planning tips and grab a free template.
Some of the difficulties with getting a good meal plan in place is working out what you actually want to eat in the first place.
Yes, there are all the normal things like spag bol and pasta bake, but sometimes it’s nice to get a bit of inspiration to help things along.
Iceland meal plan for £35
To help with ideas, Iceland has come up with a new meal plan for anyone on a budget.
They have created ideas for dinners/supper/tea (depending on where you are in the country), that can feed a family.
Their whole meal plan comes in at £35.03.
Let’s see what you get for your money…
What do you make of their meal plan?
Monday
On Monday, Iceland’s suggestion is to spend £4 on a family lasagne and a garlic bread.
Tuesday
For Tuesday, they suggest you have bangers and mash with peas for £4.
Wednesday
When you hit the hump of the week, it’s fish and chips with a couple of cans of mushy peas for £4.74.
Thursday
As you get to Thursday, for £5 you can get four pizzas and a takeaway style garlic bread pizza.
Friday
As you head into the weekend, Iceland suggests fajitas. You can get the stir fry, wraps and salsa for £6.29.
Saturday
On Saturday, you’ve got chicken and bacon creamy pasta with garlic bread for £5.
Sunday
On the last day of the week, you’ve got a roast dinner. For £6 you can eat a chicken joint, roast potatoes and parsnips with some Yorkshire puddings.
Will it work?
Now, first up, let’s be nice.
Yes, this may not work for you, but it really could work for others.
If you’re really short of time and money, then this is an idea to get some food on the cheap.
On the other hand, if you buy fresh and cook your meals from scratch then you can make food for even cheaper.
While I think it’s a good attempt, they are missing a lot of vegetables from the dishes.
Plus, you’d need to buy more to feed you and your family at breakfast and lunchtime.
You would also need a lot of freezer space to keep all of this, which many people may not have.
You do get a fair bit for your money and some of the things won’t get eaten all in one day.
For instance, (in my house anyway) we would not get through 16 Yorkshire puddings in one day, so these could stretch to the following week and bring our costs down another time.
We’d likely stretch a big bags of peas out over more than one meal too.
Iceland released a similar meal plan in the past, which did get some negative feedback from members of Reduce Your Supermarket Spend.
While this won’t suit everyone, at least Iceland is trying to give some ideas on what you can do with your food shop budget.
Remember when you spend over £35 at Iceland you do get free delivery. Plus, if you’re new to online shopping with Iceland you can get £5 off a £40 spend when you use the Iceland discount code ICE5OFF409VRGJM (valid until 30 November 2018).
Read next:
Budget £25 Healthy Meal Plan with Free Printable Shopping List
Budget Meal Plan: £25 to Feed 7 People For 7 Days
Week’s Shopping List (for £40!) and Meal Plan to Avoid Food Waste
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