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Post by busy on Nov 22, 2023 1:48:09 GMT
I've changed my shopping habits pretty dramatically in the past six months, because my work and travel schedule have changed dramatically. I used to meal plan, make my grocery list, and go grocery shopping for the week on Saturday mornings. I actually enjoy that entire process (I also enjoy cooking), so that didn't feel like a chore to me. We'd rarely have food waste from what I *planned* to buy but going in the grocery store often led me to buy other things that looked good but didn't necessarily fit in my meal plan and those things would often go bad. Or I'd buy dry goods that I didn't have an immediate use for and they'd often sit for quite a while before being used. We didn't have a ton of waste but some. And we had way more stuff on hand than we needed. But for the last six months, I've been traveling every week, and even though I like it, I don't want to spend half of a day planning and grocery shopping when I could spend that with my family. So now, depending on the week, I do a mix of grocery delivery for breakfast, lunch, and snacks (mostly produce for snacks) and a meal kit service (currently using Home Chef as they have a good selection of gluten-free meals). Removing the decision making and grocery planning for dinners has made things easier for me. I still like to cook, but don't want to have to think about it. I can also quickly and easily cook the meals for the nights I'm gone so DH and DS can still have good, healthy food at home instead of ordering in or going out when I'm not home (DH's cooking is not anything anyone wants to eat ). Even though meal kits are more expensive than buying the ingredients myself, I'm finding we're actually spending less overall on groceries + meal kits than we were spending before for just groceries. It's surprising how much I don't buy when I'm not walking through the store. Our cupboards, pantry and freezers aren't as full as they used to be, but that's fine. There's still plenty of food on hand. We also have much less waste.
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Post by getting started on Nov 22, 2023 1:48:26 GMT
I plan meals for 5-7 days at a time. While I do it I also look at the calendar to see if there are days when I need easy meals so I can plan for that. I count on there being at least 1 dinner of leftovers. The rest of the leftovers become lunch. Then I write the grocery list when I know what I have vs what I need. The grocery list is written in the order of the aisles in the grocery store. This means I no longer grocery shop on a specific day of the week. I will look at what I have planned, what food is left, and make a plan to get groceries in time but on whatever day I want to go. SUCH a big change in how I feel about grocery shopping when I do this vs the old way of going every Tues night or Sat morning. Ugh I did not like that. If I don't follow the plan or buy too much and don't feel like cooking/eating some food, the food that is about to go to waste goes into the freezer. Typically it will be something like tomatoes, beans, snap peas, cauliflower or extra cooked meat that didn't get eaten. Those things become the base for a soup later on. My favourite thing is to make an 'easy' soup because so many of the ingredients got pulled from the freezer.
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Post by rymeswithpurple on Nov 22, 2023 2:09:29 GMT
When I was growing up, I feel like we had 3 or 4 different dinners each week - my mom worked a little out of the house, but my dad was/is the primary income-earner, so she was usually at home. I didn't learn much about cooking. (She did go back to school, but my brother and I were older then.)
DH's situation growing up was different: both his parents had to work, and so he and his sister were usually with a baby sitter or grandparents, and he learned pretty quickly how to cook.
When DH moved out of his parents' house, he would do one trip to the grocery store a week. He had to walk there and back (didn't have a car til I moved in); even after I moved in, we just did one trip a week and just make one big meal every week for the whole week. (No kids for us.)
Even now, 9 years after we moved in together, we still just do one big meal each week. Some weeks, it's something we've been craving; others, I look at what's going to be on sale at the grocery store. The only exceptions are Saturday and Sunday. Some weeks we do steak on Saturdays, sometimes pizza; Sundays have become fish, rice, and veggies.
I usually go out Fridays after work or Saturday mornings to Aldi and then supplement everything else at our other store.
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Post by grammadee on Nov 22, 2023 2:23:45 GMT
I grew up on a farm where we worked all summer to raise, harvest, and preserve food for the winter. Today I still live in a rural setting. And still preserve alot of our own veggies and meat. The methods are different, but we always have enough food stored for the basics for months ahead of us.
My planning is different, but it is still planning. If I keep a supply of different frozen meats and vegetables I always have a choice each day as to what to cook, but there will always be SOMETHING. I buy milk and fresh veggies and fruit weekly; staples like salt and sugar and flour when it is on sale. When I purchase a particular fresh produce, I know I will use it this week, just usually not which day I will use it.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Nov 22, 2023 2:36:36 GMT
I hate grocery shopping. Hate it. The thought of going to the store daily or even every few days makes me cringe mostly because of all the time that would eat up. I’m more concerned about wasting time than I am about wasting food or even money. For that reason, I try to consolidate shopping trips so I’m not spending a lot of time (and gas) driving back and forth multiple times a week. Even though Target and the grocery are only about 10 minutes away, by the time I drive there, get what I need, get through the checkout and drive back, an hour and a half or more has evaporated. I’d much rather bang out most of my shopping at Costco and get it over with in one trip as much as possible. We have a big freezer that’s usually decently stocked with beef, pork, chicken breasts and a few whole turkeys when we can get them.
DH tends to cook dinner most nights, so he pulls whatever he feels like cooking for the next few nights out of the freezer to thaw. If there is something he wants me to buy or that he knows we’re low on, it gets added to our shared shopping list. Same with DD, though she mostly just adds the snacks she wants. We also tend to keep a decent assortment of frozen vegetables because we do better with using them up than with fresh stuff, although if I see something that looks good at the time and is in season sometimes I’ll buy it.
There are times when DH takes too much stuff out at once and then we don’t get to it for one reason or another and then we struggle to get it all cooked before it’s been thawed out too long. While he’s cooking the entree, I’ll ask him what he wants to go with it and I get that together, usually a microwaved frozen veggie or a bagged salad kit. He has league sports one night a week and on those nights when it’s just DD and me, we only do the barest minimum needed because neither one of us cares that much or wants to deal with it. I’m just as happy to eat a bowl of cold cereal and milk or a fried egg and toast if it means I don’t have to stand there cooking something or cleaning up a bunch of dishes afterward. She would eat HyVee sushi every day of the week if we’d let her.
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Post by lucyg on Nov 22, 2023 4:02:05 GMT
I used to cook every night when my grandson (and sometimes my son) lived with me for 10 years. But they’re settled elsewhere now so things have gotten simpler for me.
I don’t really meal plan (and never did) but I do have an idea of what I want to eat over the next week or so. I pick up a grocery order from the nearby supermarket every week to 10 days, after checking the flyer to see what’s on sale. Also take my mom shopping every week, usually to Trader Joe’s, sometimes Whole Foods or Safeway, and I hit Costco when the mood strikes me.
Most often I will cook one-pot type dishes … soup, stew, stir fry, casseroles, slow cooker meals, sheet pan dinners, because that’s what I like and because I don’t want to spend lots of time cooking and cleaning up. Sometimes I’ll do a roast (beef, pork, or chicken) with the usual sides. Usually there’s plenty leftover to eat for several days. Or maybe for the freezer. I still haven’t really learned how to NOT cook for a crowd, but I have enough family nearby that it doesn’t go to waste.
Probably 2 days a week, I’ll eat lunch or dinner out or get takeout. If I go out for lunch, I usually bring home enough to eat for dinner, too.
I don’t like to waste meat. Some poor animal gave its life to feed me! If worst comes to worst, I’ll freeze little bits of leftovers and use it later for sandwiches, stir fry, soup, whatever. Produce, meh, I don’t really care if I waste that, and I’ll admit, I have to toss some in the compost almost every week. So be it.
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Post by padresfan619 on Nov 22, 2023 5:00:48 GMT
If I’m going to the store I most likely have my son with me. I don’t want to deal with car seat stuff and him in the cart anymore than I have to. I meal plan and utilize leftovers as much as possible when I don’t feel like cooking.
Before I had a small child I didn’t mind running to the store really quickly every couple of days. It isn’t a priority now it feels like wasted time.
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anaterra
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,844
Location: Texas
Jun 29, 2014 3:04:02 GMT
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Post by anaterra on Nov 22, 2023 10:00:42 GMT
anaterra are you a meat, veggie, starch all separate kind of cook? I will do a bigger meal for 1 and then easy for the next... so if Im roasting a chicken... i will do veggie n starch... but that means my beef will be something easy like fajitas.. so just rice or beans... if im making a roast it will include the sides and the chicken will be alfredo or something like that... Then the next 4 days ill do the pork and ground meat the same... if i pork chops then it includes sides and then ground will be tacos... if the ground is meatloaf then pork is carnitas... I have a list in a sprial notebook of everything I cook of each protein.. and i know ground beef/turkey can be considered beef.... but it is a category for me... I just go thru the notebook and match up meals based on what the next few days look like... what do we have planned and what days do we work... i cook 2 meals for 4 days because im good with leftovers for the next day... I dont cook fish or vegetarian... also during those 4 days i know 1 of the work schedule will include a pizza night... and then 1 weekend every other month we have all our grandkids and that menu is completely different... Maybe instead of planning for the whole week of meals... assign ur days... mon is pasta... tues is chicken... wed is beef... thurs is pork... fri is stir fry.. then just take 2 days at a time.. I don't mind stopping in the grocery store every few days... i dont consider it a waste of time because we are not wasting money or throwing out a lot of food...
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Post by jeremysgirl on Nov 22, 2023 13:05:07 GMT
pantsonfire it is so super sweet that kind of connection you had with your mom and grandma bonding over food and prep. I can see how too, your natural interest + the fact that you guys have so many food sensitivities would lend itself to planning everything just so. I will say, I don't have any anxiety over not having a plan or ingredients on hand. Being a "last minute" kind of person doesn't bother me, I'm kind of go with the flow that way. Being in the actual grocery store is what gives me anxiety. My Meijer is huge and the lighting is bright and it's always busy no matter what time of day you go, they are often out of things so pick up or delivery is always a big hassle, it's just so overwhelming for me to be in there, I can't stand it. It's like a social anxiety thing. This is why when I have to go somewhere to pick something up, I always go someplace smaller.
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Post by jeremysgirl on Nov 22, 2023 13:13:20 GMT
Is it easier on your brain? To only focus on the day in front of you? much easier This is what I was thinking. I mentioned it to Jeremy and he was like, I don't mind stopping on my way home from work each day. He kind of likes the idea of not planning meals out a week in advance because when I ask him what he wants, he always says he doesn't know what he feels like eating until the day of. He's also stated that he doesn't like the food waste and he feels like things go to the basement shelves for storage and then never get used. We've also quit our club memberships and are just waiting for Sam's to expire. We just don't ever need to shop in bulk anymore and get overwhelmed with the amount of food when we do. So we are going to try the daily shopping just to see if it works out better with less waste. Since he doesn't mind going, we thought why not?
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Post by jeremysgirl on Nov 22, 2023 13:16:41 GMT
Have you considered only planning for 2 or 3 time intensive meals per week? And then some really easy ones for those days you would otherwise do takeout? Maybe make it a goal to find great new recipes for simple, less time consuming meals. Try one or two a week until you have a great selection. I definitely think I need to do more of planning easy meals. I don't want things in the freezer because then you have to thaw them ahead of time and I find that most of my freezer items go in and never come out too. Squirrelly-ass brain I have. LOL!
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Post by mikklynn on Nov 22, 2023 13:18:22 GMT
I plan a weeks worth of meals before I shop. I don't plan which day we are eating most things, unless we have an early game. I used to plan for 4 servings when I lived alone, eat the meal twice, then freeze the other 2 servings. Now there are rarely any leftovers with a hungry teen boy hockey player in the house.
I shop weekly now, plus grabbing more bread and fruit at Target if necessary. I rarely waste any food. Salad mix is the most often thing to go bad before I finish it.
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cakediva
Drama Llama
Making the world a sweeter place one cake at a time!
Posts: 7,443
Location: Fergus, Ontario
Jun 26, 2014 11:53:40 GMT
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Post by cakediva on Nov 22, 2023 13:30:21 GMT
I've never meal planned a day in my life. I take that back - for big holidays I do. But for weekly dinners? Never. My plan starts when I open the freezer to see what meat we have and dinner is based on what I pull out.
DH does the groceries - I used to and was pretty good at it. But then cake life took over and Thursday nights (payday lol) were me working late, so DH would go. And now it is his thing. He misses on some things - like ingredients for specific meals like chili - but we are 2 minutes from the grocery store so I'll pop over and pick up if I want to do something different with the meat I've pulled out.
I also usually do a weekly Costco run for the business, and will buy meat there too, and often grocery deals I find.
But we still have dinner around the table 7 nights a week, with DS who still lives here. We both grew up with dinner at the table every night, so we have always done that with our kids. Sports threw a kink in that plan, but for the most part we were still eating by 6pm.
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sueg
Prolific Pea
Posts: 8,049
Location: Munich
Apr 12, 2016 12:51:01 GMT
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Post by sueg on Nov 22, 2023 14:07:00 GMT
I wonder if the situation with urban living isn't so much about having easy access to groceries but rather not having enough storage space for food. That is definitely a factor for us, not so much pantry space, as we have a small pantry room now, butFridge and freezer space for sure. We do a bigger shop on Saturdays, when DH is home and we can take the car. That usually gets us through Monday or Tuesday. I walk to the store to get any extras as needed. Our main supermarket is right near the bus stop I get off to walk home, so it’s easy to pop in for a couple of things on the way home as well. We still meal plan. DH will write up a plan for as many days as he buys for on Saturday, and then we look at what else we would like to eat and fill out the rest. We are also flexible with the plan - if a day gets busier than expected, we might make something simpler and switch a more complicated meal to another day.
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Post by jeremysgirl on Nov 22, 2023 14:19:48 GMT
The thought of going to the store daily or even every few days makes me cringe mostly because of all the time that would eat up. I’m more concerned about wasting time than I am about wasting food or even money. Just a question (devil's advocate, LOL) but if it takes you an hour say to plan and write a list, then 10 minutes to drive to the store, then an hour in the store to shop for a week, then 10 minutes home, 15 minutes to unload and unpack, you've spent almost 3 hours on weekly groceries. If you decide on the fly to cook spaghetti for dinner there little to no planning time. Jeremy drives by the store on his way home and spends 10 minutes in there getting ingredients for one night's dinner and then it's one trip from the car into the house and nothing really to put away as you're using it all for dinner. Seems to me the time argument is a wash. At least for us it would be. And then it saves me from having to plan which is where my executive functioning issues really show themselves.
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Post by jeremysgirl on Nov 22, 2023 14:21:37 GMT
Most often I will cook one-pot type dishes … soup, stew, stir fry, casseroles, slow cooker meals, sheet pan dinners, because that’s what I like and because I don’t want to spend lots of time cooking and cleaning up. This is how I tend to cook too. So the pick a bunch of proteins and random veggies thing and then mix and match doesn't really work for me. I'll need specific things to go in the one pot meal I'm making.
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Post by jeremysgirl on Nov 22, 2023 14:25:01 GMT
Maybe instead of planning for the whole week of meals... assign ur days... mon is pasta... tues is chicken... wed is beef... thurs is pork... fri is stir fry.. then just take 2 days at a time.. This would be easier but it's just not the way I cook. I guess I'm finicky about things because I like a wide variety of meals and tend to try new recipes on the regular.
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Post by jeremysgirl on Nov 22, 2023 14:26:16 GMT
Now there are rarely any leftovers with a hungry teen boy hockey player in the house. With Jeremy either. He's a big guy with a big appetite. I might have enough for a lunch serving for myself the next day but we rarely ever have enough for a second dinner meal.
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paget
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,751
Jun 25, 2014 21:16:39 GMT
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Post by paget on Nov 22, 2023 14:56:14 GMT
The thought of going to the store daily or even every few days makes me cringe mostly because of all the time that would eat up. I’m more concerned about wasting time than I am about wasting food or even money. Just a question (devil's advocate, LOL) but if it takes you an hour say to plan and write a list, then 10 minutes to drive to the store, then an hour in the store to shop for a week, then 10 minutes home, 15 minutes to unload and unpack, you've spent almost 3 hours on weekly groceries. If you decide on the fly to cook spaghetti for dinner there little to no planning time. Jeremy drives by the store on his way home and spends 10 minutes in there getting ingredients for one night's dinner and then it's one trip from the car into the house and nothing really to put away as you're using it all for dinner. Seems to me the time argument is a wash. At least for us it would be. And then it saves me from having to plan which is where my executive functioning issues really show themselves. The time argument wouldn’t be a wash for me. First of all, I can menu plan for the week and make a list in more like 20 minutes. But mostly, in our family, no one is driving past a store daily so it would be 7 days of 45 minute trips (driving there and back + shopping at the peak dinner time after work). That sounds like absolute hell to me. I’m also one that hates to waste money and food but I don’t like wasting time and being inefficient, too, and that’s what daily grocery shopping would be for me. We do pretty well here for not wasting food- dh loves leftovers so they always get eaten- either for dinner another night and for his lunches. Grocery shopping isn’t my favorite but I don’t hate it. I WOULD hate it if I went daily! lol and it also seems more of a waste to me. Like if I plan something that needs celery now I’m going to waste the rest of thid thing of celery unless I plan other meals using it. So I just as well plan in the first place to not waste. On the rare occasion I have to pop into a store during the week besides the main grocery trip I will Always buy for a couple more meal days to prolong going soon again. I also plan for meals I can make soon (so things don’t go bad) and thing that can be later in the week as well as having things on hand for quick meals. I’ve been doing it for over 30 years- I’m tired of it a bit, but it’s second nature at this point for me. Dh will eat anything and is just grateful I’m cooking so that also makes it easier. I also have to say the mental energy not planning in advance would take up for me is huge. I want to plan it and be done for the week instead of keep wonder what’s for dinner tonight or the next night oh yeah I have to go the store etc - every night. No. That is not for me.
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Post by lucyg on Nov 22, 2023 20:32:58 GMT
Another thing. There’s certain produce I keep in the house all the time, whether I think I’m going to need it or not. Onions, carrots, celery, bell peppers, romaine, green onion, parsley and/or cilantro, lemons and limes. Sometimes baby spinach and mushrooms.
My kitchen would only be semi-functional without these items. A selection of these always go in my soups, salads, sandwiches, casseroles, scrambled eggs, Asian food, Mexican food, pretty much everything I cook.
And yes, sometimes I have to toss out half a head of celery or the last few green onions in the package. But that doesn’t really bother me. None of it is terribly expensive to begin, and no one gave their lives to put that food on my table.
And since I don’t really meal plan, I need a nice selection of ingredients available for when I do want to cook.
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gina
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,224
Jun 26, 2014 1:59:16 GMT
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Post by gina on Nov 22, 2023 20:40:57 GMT
I have about a dozen easy, GF meals I enjoy making that don't take long, and I just kinda rotate them out. If I get bored, I Google for new ideas. I have always kept documents typed on my Mac with all of my recipes easily organized.
About a year ago, I started doing Walmart food delivery 2-3x a week. As a Walmart+ member, I don't pay for it so I can order groceries and have them delivered same day which is awesome. I NEVER go into the food store anymore (and it's like 2 min from my house.) Ironically enough, about an hour ago I had to go into the one in town because twice this week Walmart was out of my mini marshmallows and tried to substitute fruit flavored ones and that's just not gonna cut it in my sweet potato casserole, so I stopped for marshmallows and I found the whole thing annoying. Did I remember my bag, do I even remmeber my pin for my debit card... lol I think I save money this way because, no room for impulse purchases!
ETA: I will say I 100% throw away far less produce and meat than I ever did. I think because of my process of: recipe tab open here, Walmart order tab over there... its kind of hard to over-buy or forget an ingredient.
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Post by dewryce on Nov 22, 2023 21:35:40 GMT
Have you considered only planning for 2 or 3 time intensive meals per week? And then some really easy ones for those days you would otherwise do takeout? Maybe make it a goal to find great new recipes for simple, less time consuming meals. Try one or two a week until you have a great selection. I definitely think I need to do more of planning easy meals. I don't want things in the freezer because then you have to thaw them ahead of time and I find that most of my freezer items go in and never come out too. Squirrelly-ass brain I have. LOL! I understand squirrel brain! We have an upright freezer in the garage that’s super easy to organize and see everything we have. Great way to be able to buy protein, some dairy, bagged fruits for smoothies while they’re on sale. Each protein has its own bin, oldest in front. And the top shelf is for all of our premade stuff. But we use glass Pyrex storage and while we do try and thaw it, if we don’t it can go straight into the oven.
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Post by angel97701 on Nov 22, 2023 22:17:33 GMT
When I lived in a larger home and had a large chest freezer . . . I would have up to 275 pounds of organic frozen beef right after butcher date in the fall. At that point I planned my proteins around what else was on sale, or our favorites at Costco. I would make large batches of chili from scratch (dried beans the whole thing) and use my home grown canned tomato sauce and frozen cherry tomatoes. Another staple in the freezer was split pea soup especially after holidays with left-over ham. My garden provided frozen corn and beans. Carrots and potatoes kept as long as I could, never really got a way that worked well. Then during covid I got a green house and was able to continue to grow peas, lettuce, and carrots through the winter. We ate fresh peas as they rippened, as well as lettuce.
With the move I tried to use up my pantry, and move very little. I do have some pantry space here, but not the freezer space. We've not moved a chest freezer yet. (Long story, home not sold in Oregon).
Now I have both DSs and DH to cook for nightly, and have to (ack!!!) buy more protein as I no longer have the huge stash of beef. To complicate matter I need to eat GF and DF and as much organic as I can find in my smaller community. To drive into town is an hour plus just for the driving. Of course I had to learn where things were in each grocery store and which was best for which items. The very same milk is about $1 less a gallon at Walmart. In a pinch the small home town market has any kind of brat you could think of, but the groceries in general are 20% more.
All that to say, I don't meal plan but have several protein choices on hand have one or two thawing in the refrigerator for each evenings meal.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Nov 23, 2023 3:25:04 GMT
The thought of going to the store daily or even every few days makes me cringe mostly because of all the time that would eat up. I’m more concerned about wasting time than I am about wasting food or even money. Just a question (devil's advocate, LOL) but if it takes you an hour say to plan and write a list, then 10 minutes to drive to the store, then an hour in the store to shop for a week, then 10 minutes home, 15 minutes to unload and unpack, you've spent almost 3 hours on weekly groceries. If you decide on the fly to cook spaghetti for dinner there little to no planning time. Jeremy drives by the store on his way home and spends 10 minutes in there getting ingredients for one night's dinner and then it's one trip from the car into the house and nothing really to put away as you're using it all for dinner. Seems to me the time argument is a wash. At least for us it would be. And then it saves me from having to plan which is where my executive functioning issues really show themselves. I never spend an hour meal planning, so that part of it is moot. We basically buy 1/4 to 1/2 a cow at a time so there is always an assortment of various beef (ground beef, steaks, roasts, stew meat, etc.), in the freezer. Sometimes we buy a whole pig too or we’ll get a whole pork loin and cut it into 8-9 packs of chops. There’s always frozen chicken breasts too. So that part of the meal is always already covered. If something goes on sale that can be frozen, we stock up and buy a few, like racks of seasoned ribs or chicken breasts or thighs. We also buy about 75-80% of our vegetables frozen in giant bags from Costco so that is also typically already on hand at home. Corn, peas, green beans, broccoli, riced cauliflower, various mixed vegetables, roast vegetable medley, can’t remember what else. If we run out of something whoever empties the bag adds that to the running list in our phones that all of us can add to at any time. So no time is taken to make a list either since that’s done by all of us on the fly. I have lists for all the stores we usually go to, so whoever thinks of something can add it to the appropriate list. I always keep an assortment of various pasta noodles on hand, spaghetti, fettuccine, lasagna, rotini, rings, shells. Costco sells a multipack of the shaped pasta and they also sell a six pack of just spaghetti. I also keep at least two cans each in the pantry of all the beans we usually use in chili, a few kinds of canned soup, Spaghettios for DD (although she almost never eats those anymore so what we do have should probably be donated). So basically when I go to my chiropractor every week (weekday, middle of the week, middle of the day), I’m less than ten minutes from Costco. I run there afterward, fill up with gas then run in and do my shopping. I don’t spend a lot of time contemplating what we’re going to make because DH cooks the meat most nights, so I just buy whatever is on the list plus if I see something that looks good I’ll buy that too (new kind of bagged salad, mushrooms, fresh asparagus, tomatoes, squash, bell peppers, fruit). If I’m only grocery shopping I’m usually in and out of there in less than an hour because I can go at a non-peak time when there aren’t long lines to check out, and traffic getting home is less at that time too. So using your example of spaghetti, we could do that any night of the week because we always already have all of the stuff for that at home. Don’t even need to have the hamburger thawed out, just chuck it in the pan frozen and thaw it as it cooks. Same with tacos or enchiladas, same with pizza, same with chili or hamburgers. He’s not an elaborate cook. He picks a couple things out of the freezer at a time to thaw out to cook for the next few days. He grills a lot, loves his pellet grill, or we use the air fryer or Instant Pot. He just seasons it with something and tosses it on the grill most days. While he’s doing that, I put whatever frozen veggies he says he wants in the microwave or make up a bagged salad. Or I’ll make roasted baby potatoes or asparagus in the air fryer. 95% of the shopping falls on me. DH almost never stops at the store because he never knows where he will be working on any given day so he might not be near a store. Even if it was just a quick in and out stop, if I had to go every day I would still spend a minimum of 20-30 minutes in travel time per day plus whatever time it takes to physically get through the store and the checkout to pick up a handful of random things. Just the travel time alone would be about three hours if I had to go every day. As it is, I spend almost no time planning meals and maybe an hour and a half per week actually shopping for whatever we don’t have (Costco every week and occasionally Target or the grocery store for anything Target doesn’t sell). Since I’m going to buy groceries when I’m already right there in that part of town anyway, I’m not wasting any extra time commuting. We do spend a little more time figuring out weekend meals in the summer because we like to coordinate with the neighbor, but even that is along the lines of me texting him telling him I’m heading into Costco and is there anything special he wants me to pick up for Saturday. LOL, it probably took me twice as long to type out this post as I do actually shopping for groceries! 🤣
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mimix3
Junior Member
Posts: 97
Jun 15, 2020 0:56:27 GMT
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Post by mimix3 on Nov 23, 2023 16:54:22 GMT
I live in a rural environment with only two options for groceries. Wal Mart and Foodlion. I absolutely hate going into walmart period. So I plan and pick up a month at a time. If I need more milk or bread during the week, DH will stop and pick it up.
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pilcas
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,920
Aug 14, 2015 21:47:17 GMT
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Post by pilcas on Nov 23, 2023 20:40:24 GMT
We do a weekly grocery run with all the staples, including fruit, pasta, sauce, vegetables etc. I buy mostly frozen vegetables and that cuts down on wasted produce. Onions, peppers and potatoes are fresh but used often so they are not wasted. If I decide I want to cook something special on a particular day I can walk to my local supermarket and get whatever I need. We don’t do Costco or Sams. We don’t really do lettuce salads, that was a big waste for us and we stopped that. I do use fresh tomatoes for cooking but if I see that I’m not going to use them I slice them and will just salt them and add olive oil. I am not really a planner I look in the fridge and come up with something.
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Post by sabrinae on Nov 23, 2023 22:01:43 GMT
I’m a 30 minute drive from the closest grocery store. I work in that same town so will stop if I have to, but I try to avoid stopping after work. I place a grocery pick up with Kroger and sometimes with Walmart and schedule them both for the same pickup time. I plan lunches for my girls and sometimes for myself and 4-6 dinners and then whatever staples are on sale and anything my husband wants for his lunch. I always have stuff in the pantry/fridge/freezer to throw together some easy meals as well. Then I cook whatever I feel like each night. Usually more involved recipes on the weekends or earlier on the week. I will prep at least the girls lunches for the week as well. If we don’t get to the meal it gets moved to early the next week. Some weeks I’m really good about using everything and some weeks more goes in the compost than I would like. I’d it’s a really busy week I try to make a big pot of soup or a one pot meal on the weekend that we can eat later in the week or the girls can eat for after school snack/when the get home from practice
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Post by ghislaine on Nov 24, 2023 17:11:24 GMT
What's been working for me lately is to place weeklyish grocery orders. I keep carts running at a small local grocery that's 3 miles away, at a larger grocery store 15+ minutes away, and at Costco, which is over 1/2 an hour away. An order gets triggered by whatever store carries the item that I want within the next day. Generally, I am ordering from the larger and smaller grocery stores on alternating weeks with an occasional Costco order thrown in. I am feeding 3 people a gluten-free diet, so I have to be picky about brands and ingredients.
When I am ready to place the order, my cart already has the items I know I need. I look through the sale items and any online coupons to do my meal plan. I keep staples on hand to cover low energy days, so I just look for ingredients for a few more involved recipes. There's no assigned days for anything, though I try to cook anything likely to go bad quickly first. For example, fish will get cooked the same day.
It probably sounds more complicated than it is, but as someone with ADHD who enjoys cooking, this seems to end up with less waste. I used to want to have all the ingredients for every recipe my squirrely brain might want to make on hand all of the time. Even though we have chickens and a compost pile, a lot of vegetables seemed to go to waste.
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