FED up of staring into the fridge every night and wondering what to cook?
Meal planning is the easy way to save time, cut waste and shrink your weekly food shop — and now a clever crop of tools can make it simple.
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BIGOVEN: BigOven is a kitchen lifesaver with over a million recipes at your fingertips for easy meal prep with a free version.
Its “use up leftovers” feature is also brilliant for zero-waste cooking — just add in the odds and ends lurking in your fridge and it will suggest tasty recipes.
You can also auto-generate shopping lists, so you’ll never forget things at the supermarket.
EAT THIS MUCH: The app combines meal planning and budgeting and the free version is all you need.
READ MORE MONEY SAVING TIPS
You can set your budget and dietary needs, and it churns out meal plans, complete with shopping lists that stay within your price range.
For those tracking protein intake and calories, you also can set your target daily amounts and it will meal plan with those in mind to keep you on track.
TESCO: While not an app, head to realfood.tesco.com/meal-planner to build a menu around family-friendly favourites, cooking prep time with a detailed dietary exclusions list.
Choose from planning a five or seven-day week and you can just plan dinners or all meals if you prefer.
MEALIA: The Mealia app makes planning family dinners simple and while there are free apps available, this one goes the extra mile.
After a quick quiz on your tastes, budget and dietary needs, it creates your meal plan but the real game-changer is that it pulls in live prices from Asda and Tesco, builds your basket around them and lets you send it straight to the supermarket.
You can then order and follow the recipes directly from the app.
The Mealia app is free for seven days, then £29.99 for the year, which works out at about £2.50 a month.
DIY: Alternatively, you can do it yourself with a free downloadable and customisable meal plan list at Canva.com.
- All prices on page correct at time of going to press. Deals and offers subject to availability
Deal of the day
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ACCESSORIZE with the Lorus Signature men’s green dial stainless steel bracelet watch, usually £64.99 now £29 at hsamuel.co.uk.
SAVE: £35.99
Cheap treat
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TRY the Gullon Zero Cookies & Cream biscuits, made with no sugar, previously £1.50 now £1.25 at Morrisons.
SAVE: 25p
What’s new?
CALLING second-hand sellers – The Range is selling a set of 100 9x12in mailing bags for a bargain £6.10.
Top swap
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FOR budding chefs, the Thermomix TM7 kitchen appliance is available for £1,349 when you book a trial at vorwerk.com.
Or try Lidl’s Monsieur Cuisine Smart for £299 when you scan the Lidl Plus app.
SAVE: £1,050
Little helper
IF you haven’t tried Spotify Premium, get a three-month free trial with 15 hours’ free audiobook listening, before it reverts to the usual £11.99 per month.
Head to spotify.com/uk/premium for the deal (cancellable at any time).
Shop & save
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KEEP clutter out of sight. These three seagrass storage baskets were £8, now £5.60 at Dunelm.
SAVE: £2.40
Hot right now
HEAD to schuh.co.uk and check out the sale. We spotted New Balance 1906R, usually £140 for £89.99.
PLAY NOW TO WIN £200
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