Feel really stupid- but.. I don't know how to grocery shop

amother

Sun, Apr 14 2013, 8:29 am

It's true. I have been responsible for grocery shopping for amost 10 years and I still lack grocery shopping skills.
I can spend like $120 in one shop load, come home and still have nothing. Can you please share your grocery lists? We avoid red meat, chicken and fish during the week for financial reasons. DH told me recently I never cook anymore- htat we just heat up frozen veggie burgers a lot and after mulling it over, I see he is right Sad

and now I feel bad and want to do better.
Generally my list looks like this:

fruit
vegetables
flours
sugars
margarine/oil/butter
milk
snacks for kids
bread
yeast
soup mix
morningstar farms type foods
frozen pastries
etc etc etc

I love to cook and I can cook really well but I prefer cooking for kids and having foods adults wil eat as well (e..g mac and cheese, grilled cheese, fresh made pizza, nutburgers etc etc) as both dh and I are very picky.

please help me shop better.

chocolate moose

Sun, Apr 14 2013, 8:42 am

Everyone is different. I like to shop once for the week and then again for Shabbos, but I live near a large grocery store.

Make sure you have food for breakfasts and lunches. Fresh bread. And enough food for dinner and snacks - fruits, etc.

You don;'t have to overbuy if you buy on a schedule.

Isramom8

Sun, Apr 14 2013, 8:53 am

If you want to cook, you need to stock up on basics you will need to have on hand. Examples: eggs, milk, cheese, raw vegetables, chicken or shnitzel, pasta, tomato sauce, sugar and basic spices like salt, black pepper, garlic and paprika. With these ingredients even an older child can make simple meals.

spinkles

Sun, Apr 14 2013, 9:02 am

Are you a Costco member? You can buy a huge sack of brown rice there for cheap and that will make tons of meals. Cook brown rice, add lots of chopped veggies (sauteed or raw), chickpeas or other protein, cheese if you want. Costco also has reasonably-priced quinoa that you can do the same with.

The frozen pastries and morningstar farms stuff isn't healthy, and I would get rid of it if I were you.

Have eggs on hand for quick meals: if you sautee mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes, and basil and then put eggs in, you have a yummy filling to put in whole wheat wraps.

But you said you're picky--so maybe these ideas won't work for you.

MMCH

Sun, Apr 14 2013, 10:31 am

make a menu on sunday consisting f the meals you wud like to make for ex-
sunday -left over?
monday- lasagna and soup
tuesday-homeade pizza
wednesady-veggie stir fry and rice
thursday-morning star

then make a list of every ingrediant in every dish

also if u have staples like rice, pasta, wraps, shredded cheese, whole wheat bread, eggs and veggies u cud make any almost dinner

lavender_dew

Sun, Apr 14 2013, 12:11 pm

I know how you feel. I'd consider myself a pretty good cook, but shopping can be difficult if I don't organize myself very well before I go. The same thing would always happen to me after shopping and after a while DH started saying "how come there's so much food but nothing to eat?"...

My advice is the same as others have mentioned: plan a menu, as far in advance as you want/need. I make a day-to-day list of the meals I need, then I cross-check with my pantry and fridge to see what I already have. Whatever I need goes on the opposite page of the list and that's what I buy at the store.

Another easy way is, if you use a smartphone, keep a running grocery and menu list in the Notepad app. If you see in the middle of the week you've run out of something, add it to the list right away so you don't forget by the time you go shopping. Doing this has helped me more than I can even say because I am very disorganized and forgetful. Good luck to you!

AlwaysThinking

Sun, Apr 14 2013, 12:16 pm

I'm strange. I shop every 2 months for dry and frozen goods. Get basically some of everything basic in the store, and whatever sauces/jars etc. I need... and then am free to cook whatever I want, supplementing with fresh fruit, veg, dairy etc. from the local store...

I have a rough schedule for supper times - cheese on sun, chicken mon, fish tues, meat or veg (beans etc) wed, eggs thurs, shabbos food...

Works for me.

The way I manage to shop only every 2 months is a) there are only 2 of us - although iYH one day if there are more then I plan still to shop maybe once a month. b) I have a master excel sheet of everything I've ever needed and every time I go shopping I put in the numbers of how many of what I need, and save it for next time so I can learn from the time before, and then copy the final shopping list to paper.

Liba

Sun, Apr 14 2013, 12:38 pm

Are you sure that prepared fake meat products are cheaper than real meat? That was never my experience. Price ground turkey and chicken vs your morningstar products and you might be surprised. A small amount of meat can feed a lot of people in stir fry or mixed with rice or other starches in meatballs served with pasta.

AlwaysThinking

Sun, Apr 14 2013, 1:36 pm

Liba wrote:

We davka avoid things like tival because we found they're the same price or more expensive as meat, and like you said, ground meat goes further...

black sheep

Sun, Apr 14 2013, 2:12 pm

Liba wrote:

this is very true. if cost is your main reason for avoiding meat, I think you should reconsider. my least expensive dinner is when I make meatballs, because a small package of ground meat goes very far. rice cost pennies, some cheap vegies either as a stir fry or salad, meatballs, and an entire dinner for the family is under ten dollars. even when I make homemade pizza it is more expensive than meatballs and rice. and if you want an easy dinner, baked "burgers" in the oven and homemade fries (baked cup up potatoes with a drop of oil and seasoning) is another satisfying, inexpensive dinner that takes about five minutes to prepare (plus an hour of baking time.)

amother

Sun, Apr 14 2013, 4:21 pm

black sheep wrote:

Liba wrote:

OP here. We avoid red meat and fish for health/ allergy reasons. Chicken only DH eats regularly -the rest of us dont like it so it wouldnt make financial sense to only buy chicken for him and other stuff for the rest of us.
Thank you so much everyone- I will write a menu plan tomorrow iy'h and maybeyou can all help me?

thanks!

Marion

Mon, Apr 15 2013, 8:15 am

From what perspective are you asking? Generally speaking, most supermarkets are organized so that the "good for you" stuff is at the edges (fruits, veggies, dairy, meat counter, cheese counter, bakery, frozen meat/fish) and the less good for you is up and down aisles. Obviously the canned fruits and veggies and fish is not as bad as the junk, same for crackers and pastas and the like, but generally, if you shop the perimeter you'll do much better than wandering up and down the aisles.

DovDov

Mon, Apr 15 2013, 8:34 am

I agree with various others that menu planning is critical if you want to shop effectively and also just so you can cook efficiently!

On the morningstar point, I also agree with many others that soy burgers are quite expensive as a protein source. Trader Joe's has a great parve ground beef alternative which works really well in pasta sauce or as taco meat. If you mix one package of the fake meat with a can of black beans you end up getting quite a lot of good tasting protein very inexpensively.

I also try at least one night a week to make a beans and rice dish -- mujadara, spanish rice with beans, honey baked lentils, split pea soup -- very, very cost-effective and healthy.

Generally, my menu looks something like this:
Sunday: rice/bean based dish (leftovers for lunches) (lentils, rice and beans, etc.)
Monday: Shabbos leftovers
Tuesday: dairy-vegetarian (meatless tacos, quesadillas, veggie stew, noodles with a cheese sauce, etc.)
Wednesday: meat/chicken
Thursday: leftovers if there are any -- otherwise egg or soup based

Hashem_Yaazor

Mon, Apr 15 2013, 9:40 am

I keep a running list of staples we're running out of (olive oil, mayonaise, butter, cheese, etc were on this week's list) -- I write it on a whiteboard and erase after it's transferred to my hard copy list I bring to the store.

I then make a menu for the week, including Shabbos food.
On the side, I write down all the ingredients I need to make those foods if I need to buy them (e.g. if I have plenty of sugar, I'm not going to add it, but I might need cocoa for the brownies).

I then write a shopping list on a paper sorted by aisle, looking between the menu ingredients and whiteboard list.

I take that list, and off I go.