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Post by LavenderLayoutLady on Oct 6, 2024 21:35:20 GMT
Was just reading the panic buying thread, about those buying large amounts of toilet paper before the dock workers strike (that happened and finished in the blink of an eye), and it made me curious about the collective Peas' grocery shopping habits.
Do you buy as you need weekly, with very little excess?
Do you have a small stockpile, that you could last a month, only buying fresh produce and milk?
Do you have a large stockpile, able to go without most shopping, and/or substitute with what you have, for a few months?
Do you identify as a prepper (or aspiring prepper), with a very large stockpile of food, meds, toiletries, and could go a half year or longer?
There are so many reasons why different people's shopping habits vary, and why it makes sense for them.
Sometimes it's location. Living rural, or far away from large stores makes it harder to make the trek to get supplies, and would make sense to stock up to make fewer trips. Also, some rural towns don't get mail & delivery as often as a big city does, so online ordering isn't as easy and guaranteed.
Sometimes it's peace of mind. Having what you need, on hand, and not having to think about it.
It can also be fear-driven. Having lived through a time when you needed something and didn't have it, or couldn't get it.
And I'm sure there are so many other reasons that I'm not thinking of off the top of my head, so please throw them out there.
Which brings me to my own answers. I had to laugh when I read the mention in the panic buying thread about the two 20Lb bags of rice. That's me. I have two 20Lb bags of rice. I wanna LOL, but maybe the reasons aren't LOL-worthy.
I have a mildly decent stockpile of groceries and toiletries. Not prepper-worthy, for sure. But will get us through a month easy, and a few months tough.
I want to say that my reasons aren't fear-driven, but I know they are. Knowing I'm the breadwinner. I'm the solution provider. It's my responsibility and duty to ensure that five people beyond myself have everything they need... It scares the hell outta me.
Are we poor and starving? No, of course not. Am I seeing the cost of food constantly rise? Sure am.
So, I'm squirreling away things we already eat, already use. Usually buy one? Buy two and put the extra aside. Do it a little here and a little there.
It almost feels crazy. Almost. Until I remember that we lived through a pandemic and there were things we 100% could not get. Until I remember that I absolutely could lose my job at any time, for no reason I can control. Having just a bit of a stockpile gives me time to think, and make good choices that are not panic-driven, in a time of crisis.
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misse336
Full Member
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Feb 24, 2020 2:57:43 GMT
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Post by misse336 on Oct 6, 2024 22:00:14 GMT
I have a small stockpile at home and have extra food in a freezer in the garage. It's not prepper level, but we could possibly go about a month without buying things besides produce and dairy, although it would be interesting meals near the end.
My stock pile is normally due to stocking up when I see something on sale. If I see meat at a good price I will buy a package to use now and a package to freeze and use later. Meat at a good price is getting more and more rare around me though. There are also sales that to take advantage of you must buy x amount of product or spend x amount of dollars to get the sale price. In that case I buy the required amount to save money on the items if it's something that we use and will keep for the amount of time needed before we would use all of the item.
There's also a produce in my freezer or produce that is canned from gardening (green beans, corn, applesauce, etc). That's a stockpile but due to seasonal growing cycles.
I also sometimes stock up on items we routinely use at the end of the summer so that I have less to pick up at the grocery store each week when we are all busy with school and school activities.
I stayed home with my kids for 13 years and I tried to stockpile a bit more then since we were living on one income and I really needed to shop the sales in order to stretch our money as far as we could.
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amom23
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,447 
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Post by amom23 on Oct 6, 2024 22:11:05 GMT
I keep enough food on hand to last probably several months. This is partly due to living in the country so I stock up when at Walmart and Costco since I can't weekly shop. We also buy a 1/2 cow most years so naturally we have lots of meat in the freezer. Lastly it's mental - I just like knowing I have enough food in the house to feed everyone.
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seaexplore
Prolific Pea
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Apr 25, 2015 23:57:30 GMT
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Post by seaexplore on Oct 6, 2024 23:20:38 GMT
I buy as we need it- this goes for everything.
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mimima
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Stay Gold, Ponyboy
Posts: 5,104
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Post by mimima on Oct 6, 2024 23:25:19 GMT
I always ensure that we have an extra in the pantry. This started in my early marriage and it definitely served me well during the pandemic.
I do not consider myself a pepper
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Post by FuzzyMutt on Oct 6, 2024 23:39:59 GMT
I am not a prepper- or a panic buyer. But I always have a little backstock on certain things. Things like food though, not so much.
I only have a normal size fridge/freezer, and it's a drawer freezer so inconvenient as hell. I always joke if something goes in there, it isn't likely to ever see light of day again. As far as pantry items, I don't have much of a pantry. And, I'm a pretty resourceful person, as is my partner, and we can easily dial our spending/saving back and be ok.
So, if I lost my job, we'd be absolutely fine. If he lost his (which would be really freaking crazy... more likely a civil war would cause upheaval needed for that...) we'd definitely have to tighten the purse strings, but at this point it's a 3 able bodied, full time employment adult household. Again, unless things got really really crazy.. we'd be fine. Plus, the cost of storage/spoilage/not using because I forgot, outweighs a couple dollars a week higher grocery bill for not stocking up.
Years ago, my sister got me into couponing. I built up an insane stockpile. I LOVED the challenge of literally getting the best deal. Stores have really clamped down on what we used to be able to do, and my life is different now, so I don't hustle like I used to- but I still refuse to over pay. So, I keep an eye on sales cycles of typically household and hygiene products we use. Usually, it's some sort of coupon + spend requirement = reward... and keep it rolling to get best prices. So, I usually have 3 or 4 of the shampoos, soaps, conditioners, sunscreens, paper products, household cleaners, laundry soap etc at a time. When the deal comes around again, I go out and get it. Back in the heyday of couponing, I would come home with 30 plus bottles of laundry soap or body washes. One year, I bought over 50 Bath and Body Works candles... It took about 10 years to give away and use all of those...
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Post by littlemama on Oct 6, 2024 23:40:38 GMT
After growing up poor, I prefer to have stock of certain things- meat and some side dish items, canned tomatoes, vegetables, soups, tuna.
I like to have a spare of things we use a lot of- mayo, mustard, bbq sauce.
We could go for quite sone time and not need anything but produce and dairy.
I am working on scaling it back now that ds doesnt live here,but I dont mind having extra if he needs things
As for paper products, I never come close to running out.
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Post by minjoy on Oct 6, 2024 23:49:41 GMT
I’d consider our house small stock pile with your description. I prefer to buy things on sale so when it is I’ll pick up extra. When the certain kinds of meat are on sale I buy extra and freeze in meal size portions.
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Post by monklady123 on Oct 6, 2024 23:54:42 GMT
I live in the middle of a very urban area, surrounded by many grocery stores. But I do stock up on some things, either when they're on sale at the grocery store or because I buy them at Costco and as we all know you can't buy small quantities at Costco. lol
I just took a look in my pantry area... at the moment I have multiple cans of tomatoes, tuna, green beans (the only way I'll eat green beans, lol), kidney beans, chickpeas...things we eat a lot of. Also several large boxes of chickpea pasta from Costco.
If we had to stay inside with no shopping we could eat for quite awhile. Not a lot of variety but we could eat.
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Post by ScrapbookMyLife on Oct 6, 2024 23:59:49 GMT
I bought some extra pasta, canned soup, crackers... to supplement in case the stores were running low, due to the panic buying.
During the beginning of the pandemic, I was down to one roll of toilet paper (thankfully I was able to buy a package) and I ran out of paper towels. Once supplies where back in the store, I built up a surplus of paper goods (toilet paper, paper towels, tissues, napkins, etc...), so I have plenty.
I did go down the toilet paper aisle to see what the story was.....there was still some of each brand, but the shelves were not full. I didn't buy any.
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breetheflea
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Location: PNW
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Post by breetheflea on Oct 7, 2024 0:08:38 GMT
Yes.
In early September I made a trip the store and bought extra dish soap, laundry detergent, bar soap, tissues, and toilet paper. We will use them and there's no reason to buy them one package at a time.
We have two freezers in the garage. We might be eating a lot of meat if we can't go shopping, but we won't starve. I bought an extra turkey last November, then my neighbor gave me a turkey (I'm not sure why she didn't just cook it, she said she didn't have freezer space...) in July. We bought 1/4 of a cow about a year ago and haven't finished all of it yet... and there is a lot of cherries (from our cherry tree) I haven't used yet.
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Post by melanell on Oct 7, 2024 0:08:39 GMT
I buy less extras now than I used to. We used to live in the rural outskirts of a suburb and the roads were often very bad in the winter due to drifting off of the fields. (They would only plow the road once per storm, so we'd have to just wait for the drifted snow to melt, and oftentimes it drifted far higher than it was when it fell in the first place.) We also lost power fairly often, plus it was a longer trip to reach the grocery store.
So bearing all of that in mind, we liked to keep a good amount of non-perishables on hand all winter long, also extras of OTC medicines, and such. We also tried to keep extra ice and water on hand, because the well pump was electric, so no power meant no water. Our stove was also electric, so we tried to keep foods on hand one could eat without heating.
Now, we live within walking distance of grocery stores and pharmacies. Now, in a big storm they'll be closed, so we try not to let the pantry go bare, and we still try to be sure to have all OTC meds on hand, especially in the winter. But we don't feel the need to stock up quite as much as we used to.
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pantsonfire
Drama Llama
Take a step back, evaluate what is important, and enjoy your life with those who you love.
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Post by pantsonfire on Oct 7, 2024 0:10:38 GMT
I always have a crap ton of water on hand because we live in earthquake country and ds needs it for his formula and dd and I require more than others due to our medical needs.
I have 2 weeks at all times on hand.
As far as food, I stock up on things more during fall and winter.
I know what we use each week/month and make sure that is on hand for specific products.
I currently have a months worth of chicken and ground turkey in the freezer. I buy fresh when on sale and place servings in food saver bags.
I also begin to make my own vegetable stock and use my Souper Cubes to freeze. Then those cubes go into food saver bags.
I also have a nice stock of canned goods (green beans, various beans, cranberry sauce, etc), Basmati rice 2 pound bag (1 opened, 1 unopened), pasta (I stock up when 10/$10 at Albertson's), various GF flours, and baking goods like sugars and herbs/seasonings/oils.
Stocking up allows me to get things on sale to save money and have food on hand in case I or one of the kids is sick or weather stops me from being able to go out and shop.
I also have 1 extra pack of TP and paper toweling on hand for the same reasons above. When ds is sick we go through a lot of both and with dd having a PIDD I clean a lot.
ETA: I also have 1 extra laundry detergent bottle, but the 2 pk of large Costco Soft Soap refills, and large Costco container of dish pods. And extra shampoo, conditioner, body wash, deodorant for everyone. Because of allergies sometimes those items we use are OOS because they aren't as readily available and are pricey so I get 2 when on sale.
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Post by ghislaine on Oct 7, 2024 0:22:42 GMT
For me it's a combination of living semi-rural, frugality, and my ADHD. My kids and I need to eat gluten-free so those products are pricey. I buy many of them by the case through a co-op once a month, along with other pantry staples that make sense for us. I also do a bit of canning and get 1/4 cow for the freezer each fall. This kind of stocking up helps with my ADHD, ensuring that I always have something on hand to feed my family even if I got distracted with something and dinner needs to get on the table quickly.
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Post by Merge on Oct 7, 2024 0:25:16 GMT
Not really. I will usually buy a case of water at the beginning of hurricane season, but that's it.
We do order our meat and seafood from humanely raised/sustainable sources about every other month, so I guess technically that's stocking up. And I tend to buy wine a case at a time.
That said, we could definitely live out of our pantry/freezer for a while if we had to - not because I've stocked up, but because at least once a week a meal I've planned doesn't get prepared and eaten because something comes up. Or because we never use whole bag of rice or pasta in one meal. I do make a point of trying to cook out of what is already there every once in a while.
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Post by mom on Oct 7, 2024 1:44:16 GMT
No, I dont really stock up on things. I hate having things piled up, just waiting to be used. We do keep a fully stocked deep freeze of meat at all times, so with whats already in the fridge or pantry, I can usually make something for dinner.
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Post by fiddlesticks on Oct 7, 2024 2:09:12 GMT
I have been thinking about this since that thread. We shifted the way we spent money for groceries/household items 2 years ago when we went down to one income. Before that, I was very much a once a week shopper. I could have probably gotten through a week making meals but they would have been weird by the end of the week. Now, we focus on getting the best price we can for what we will use. I buy meat in bigger portions and use the food saver to make them in smaller batches. I have several 5 gallon buckets with dried goods; beans, rice, popcorn. I buy the bigger bags of flour, white and brown sugar and keep those in the garage freezer so they keep longer. I go to Costco every two weeks to buy what we have run out of. Now I could easily make breakfast, lunch and dinner for about a month before it started to get weird. One thing that has definitely switched is that the menu has become a lot more simplified. I don't think I have one ingredient in my house that is only used for one or two recipes. Our grocery goal for the month is $2 per person per meal. So, $558 for months with 31 days. Some meals will obviously cost more but then others less. If at the end of the month, I am at that or below, I am feeling pretty good.
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Post by 950nancy on Oct 7, 2024 2:09:17 GMT
Usually get most things as we need them, but I like to have a small stockpile (like I buy a large pack of toilet paper for the two us). Rarely run out of things.
I will head to the grocery store (with everyone else) for milk, eggs, and bread every time there is a blizzard warning though.
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Post by Zee on Oct 7, 2024 2:18:10 GMT
I have backups of everything I use commonly, so I'm not a prepper but I also could go a month without shopping if I needed to (especially if allowed to get milk in between times).
I don't like grocery shopping so I do it as little as possible, planning on it being at least another two weeks before I'll go again. That does not count a quick run for milk, which I don't drink but still need for certain things.
Meal planning is very helpful in using up what I've got.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Oct 7, 2024 2:18:53 GMT
I wouldn’t say I’m a prepper by any stretch but more of a bargain shopper. I like to buy stuff when it’s on sale and even moreso when I can stack discounts to get the best deal. Especially stuff like paper products that will never expire, I’ll buy that stuff when I can get the best price because I know it will all eventually get used, plus between our house, lake home and hunting/ATV place I’m stocking three kitchens and six bathrooms collectively. It WILL get used.
As for meat, we usually get 1/4 or 1/2 of a cow at a time and once or twice a year we’ll order a whole pig. We buy the limit of whole turkeys when they go on sale at Thanksgiving at Costco and freeze them to use throughout the year. We learned the hard way that it’s nearly impossible to find a whole turkey in July or August when we want to grill one at our cabin in the summer, so we stock up on those too when we can get them.
As for canned or boxed stuff, I buy that more as I need it or when I see the stuff we use is on sale. I don’t keep a lot of back stock on those things because they generally won’t get used as fast.
We have well water that I don’t like to drink so we have a 5 gallon water cooler and get the big jugs delivered 3-4 at a time.
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Post by jlynnbarth on Oct 7, 2024 2:32:24 GMT
We buy a 1/4 cow every year so we never need to buy red meat at the grocery store. We don’t do this to stock up, we do it because my dh’s buddy raises the cows and it’s just better than store bought to us. It used to be less expensive than buying store bought but the last couple years when we’ve figured it out it’s about the same.
I buy the sales, so I’ll buy 4 containers of something when they are on sale. Example from a couple of weeks ago… the big tub of cashews they sell at Safeway that are normally 12.99, were on sale for 5.99. I bought 4. I can’t pass up a deal like that as long as I know we will eat them before they expire.
I try to keep a lot of water on hand. It’s a fear of mine to not have enough water on hand. I drink 96 ounces of water a day (I don’t drink anything else). Hubby drinks coffee in the am and 64 ounces of water a day. If we had a storm that messed with our water I’d be stressed. lol We also have life straws that will filter 1000 gallons per straw. After watching the devastation of Helene I don’t feel like such a weirdo. 😢
We could make the other food stuffs last for at least a month.
We buy tp and paper towels at Costco every couple months so we almost always have plenty on hand.
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Post by katlady on Oct 7, 2024 2:54:46 GMT
No, the only thing we probably stock up on is water. We keep enough around for an emergency. But other than that, no. We don't even have an extra refrigerator/freezer anymore, since we became empty nesters. Right now, I probably have less than 10# of meat in the freezer. We buy a 15# bag of rice that will last us over a month. We are trying to cut back on the amount of rice we eat due to diabetes concerns. We do have a Costco membership, and we mostly buy paper products and liquids (water, iced tea, protein drinks). We only go there about once a month. We could last 2 weeks, after that, our meals would be very creative.
We have a bunch of big chain grocery stores within a 5-mile radius of our house, so making a weekly grocery trip is no problem. I don't mind grocery shopping. I pretty much buy what we need when we need it, this includes toiletry items. I mentioned once before that I buy the 3-pack of toothpaste, and when we open the last one, I put toothpaste on my shopping list.
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Post by ~summer~ on Oct 7, 2024 4:39:38 GMT
I have never been one for stocking up (other than a normal semi full pantry) even when I had 3 kids at home.
But now I have an empty nest, live in SF walking distance to an over priced store - and keep very little in our place. I shop as needed.
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Gennifer
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,241
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Post by Gennifer on Oct 7, 2024 5:08:08 GMT
I have my pantry stocked with at least a couple of months’ worth of food, but it’s just due to logistics of where I live. We stock up heavily in the fall, so we only have to buy essentials during the winter when we are using a sxs to get to our house.
Some stuff that I have could easily last me a year or two.
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Post by getting started on Oct 7, 2024 11:05:22 GMT
I have always been a bargain shopper. Something I use regularly is on sale? I'm definitely buying a couple. However pre-pandemic I kept about 5-8 days worth of food in the house so I would have options when making dinner. During the pandemic that changed and I now find I have a month's worth of products in the house. I have not recovered from going to the grocery store and seeing wide empty shelves where non-perishable food used to be. While we didn't suffer during the early days of covid it sure did change they way we think and feel.
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Post by epeanymous on Oct 7, 2024 11:38:08 GMT
I am not a prepper but my family could eat (unhappily) out of the pantry and freezer for a week.
When I know it’s going to snow here, I do stockpile.
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Post by KikiPea on Oct 7, 2024 11:46:11 GMT
We pretty much only buy as needed. The only time that has been an issue is when certain items were not available for a while. It was hard to find tp for my parents.
Other than that, I’ve never been in a situation where I wish I’d had more things on hand that became hard to find.
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SweetieBsMom
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,785
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Post by SweetieBsMom on Oct 7, 2024 12:40:50 GMT
I have a small stockpile, very small, of items we constantly use. If something is on sale, I may buy one to use, two to store. I've always done this though. It's more to give me a chance to replace something before I'm out of it.
I am thinking once I whittle down my freezer, I may buy 1/4 cow. With the prices of meat, I think it'll be cheaper and of better quality.
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Post by mikklynn on Oct 7, 2024 12:51:30 GMT
I always ensure that we have an extra in the pantry. This started in my early marriage and it definitely served me well during the pandemic. I do not consider myself a pepper That is how I live, too. During the pandemic and even a bit before, due to the unpredictability of DH's hospital stays, I was stocking up more. For example, instead of 1 extra of spaghetti sauce, I had 3. I probably could feed myself and my grandson for 3 weeks or more on what I have here. It might get weird by the end, but we would not starve. |
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Post by Lexica on Oct 7, 2024 13:50:03 GMT
Well, I guess you could say that I stock up because I shop a Costco once a month and I live by myself. And as a single person, I don’t need a big case of toilet paper or 12 cans of diced tomatoes, but the price breakdown makes storing some things worth it. My kitchen storage in this new house is much much smaller than my last kitchen, but it has a lot of cabinets in the laundry room. Actually more than in the kitchen, I think. So I put one or two cans of something in the small kitchen pantry cupboard and the rest go in the laundry room.
I do need to make a working inventory list so that I don’t buy more of something thinking I am almost out, only to discover 6 more behind something taller in the laundry room cabinets. That has happened a few times in this house. It is no huge inconvenience because I will certainly use them eventually, but I would prefer not doing that.
My grocery shopping is odd, I guess. I do the once a month stock up from Costco and then fill in with some fresh vegetables from a local store. I use almond milk so a case of that comes from Costco too. And when my garden is finally set up and producing, I won’t need the local store for much at all. And when I shop Costco, I do buy their frozen vegetables so I always have something if I choose not to go out. I also spend a couple of days after my Costco delivery preparing the perishable things like fresh vegetables and ground turkey for the freezer.
I buy three or four bunches of bananas, leave a couple on the fruit hanger and take the skins off the rest and freeze them in large ziplock bags. I use frozen bananas in my smoothies, either in a creamy chocolate/peanut butter powder flavored protein shake or I put a frozen banana in with a vegetable drink to make it thicker.
I also cook large pans, separately, of fried onions, ground turkey, mushrooms, and steam the large bags of spinach and broccoli and any other vegetable that I order from Costco. The broccoli is to turn into broccoli cheddar soup. Then I package these things for the freezer so that when I am making dinner, it is more of an assembly process of separate frozen items that are already cooked and ready to add.
I love mushrooms so I often thaw out a small packet to add to my omelet mixture or put in a soup. Yes, it is a bit of work to prep everything for the freezer following a big Costco delivery, but I only have to wash the big steaming setup once after doing five or six kinds of different vegetables. And I have a large cast iron Dutch oven that I use to cook the onions and 4 different packages of ground turkey from Costco. This process will give me multiple packages of ingredients for the garage freezer to add to things during the month.
For example, last night I made some of that chickpea pasta (surprisingly good) and added packets of cooked ground turkey, sautéed mushrooms, a little of the cooked spinach, with some jarred arrabbiata sauce to make a fast dinner. I love having my most-used components ready to go in the freezer to add to something that needs a protein or more vegetables in it. And since I have already sliced and cooked everything, I only need one pot to heat the sauce. I find it saves me both time and pot washing to just cook up all of something and then freeze in smaller portions.
I make a taco soup a couple times a month too and will eat a few bowls and then freeze it in single servings for later. I always have a few kinds of homemade soup packets in the freezer for those evenings when I know I need to eat something, but have no energy left to cook.
And even though I have my routines down to slice everything in the Cuisinart, cook it, and pack it into small sizes in the freezer for a couple of days after the Costco order comes, I would not say I was a prepper by any stretch of imagination. I don’t prepare these things for long term storage, only to get me through the following month without needing to do much to get a dinner ready. Although if you opened my garage freezer door and saw the bins filled and labeled with various soups, homemade breakfast sandwiches, and already prepared meat and vegetable packets, you would look at me as an odd one. But I have been eating a lot of the same meals that are quick to throw together lately so I know those frozen packets will be gone by the following month.
I admit, I have lost my love of adventure cooking in the kitchen. It might come back after I get this house and yard in the shape I want it. But usually I am too fatigued and in too much pain to take an interest right now. I only eat two meals a day these days. Heck, if some company would invent nutrition pills that provided a full day’s worth of all the elements a body needs, I would so take that pill instead of actually eating. I would be thrilled. At least in the short term.
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