OT: Grocery help

When I find myself in this situation, I realize we still have plenty to make into meals and just STAY HOME. Sometimes, I think I’m actually just running away from what I need to do. A sort of escape with an excuse…”I need to run to the store.”

If you are meal planning, at least for a week’s worth of meals, just move to the next day when you realize you missed something for today (or tomorrow’s) meal and keep going. Go through your pantry, cupboards, and freezer. Do a “pantry challenge” to see just how long you can go without heading out the door to the store. Meals don’t have to be super organized to be nutritious.

When you do this type of challenge, you’re basically challenging yourself to make do, be thankful, stay the course, and learn to enjoy being home even with “less” to work with when it comes to meals.

You are probably not estimating enough for accommodating snacking if your family tends to snack. They may be hitting foods you’ve designated for meals. I’ve had this happen. Solution, make a list of approved foods for snacks, post the weekly menu, and help your husband and children to recognize what needs to be saved for planned meals.

I found that I’d want to run for fresh veggies/fruits. Solution, buy fresh for the beginning of the week, frozen for the end. Or, plan meals based on what you’ve canned. This will save on grocery bills and will allow for plenty at the end of the week/month.

Start with the goal of once a week shopping, then bimonthly, then longer stretches. You’ll get the hang of it over time. While you’re practicing, determine what things you may be trying to avoid doing at home…..I had to do this, which is the only reason I’m suggesting it. Once I realized this, I became even more determined to stay the course in order to address the things I’d been avoiding.

Now, if you are down to your last roll of toilet paper, that’s a different story. ;0)

I grocery shop once a week.  Couple things I find:

1. My best plans can be ruined if dh thinks he can just eat.. what ever he wants!  LOL  What I mean is he knows I only buy enough for meals, and I buy ‘extra’ items for him to eat.  If his stash runs out and he starts dipping into the groceries then I have problems.  But 15 years now.. and we’re almost over that .  That said if he does eat something I need, then I just ask him to pick it up because he wont buy other things like I would be likely too.

2. If I don’t judge something.  Like I think I will need a bags of chocolate chips and then my kids don’t measure for a recipe (hmm wonder how they learned that??) and then I’m short later in the week, or I just didn’t judge right.  So over the course of one year (2 years ago) I started buying one extra of all the extras in the house so I always have one extra in the pantry… like coconut oil, olive oil, baking powder.. etc.  So I don’t have to check each item on the shelf to see ‘how full it is’, I only need to see if someone took one from the top shelf.

3. If I truely run into a ‘oh no’ moment.  I just go to a good stand by ‘burgers!’.  Being we buy 1/2 cow at a time I usually have that and figure somethiing out.  I mean you can mix burger with just about anything and call it a casserole. :0)

4.  Stick with the plan.  This can the #1 mistake.  Make a list, I have mine and printed out each week.  Wednesday I make a list for the next Mon – Sun.  This includes 3 meals, and dessert.  Dad’s lunch items, and mom’s special foods.  Then as I write each item in the box I have my spreadsheet that lists the departments in the grocery store where I can write if I need something.  So let’s say Monday we are going to have pizza casserole for dinner.  I write it in the box, then I go, ok what’s in it.  I need mozz, pepperoni, burger, spag sauce, peppers, onions, etc.  As I go down that list of items if there is somehting we don’t have it goes on the grocery list.  This also helps with keeping my budget cause I know if I am on Thursdays meals and my list is long already I better start making really cheap meals! Rice and beans comes Friday.

Hope these ideas’ help.  I think it’s dangerous for many reasons to grocery shop or run to the local shop to grab that 1 thing you need, cause it will cost you over the long run a lot of extra dollars.  Be it at the store, or just in gas getting there.  Good luck, if you have specifics ask away!

Just as an aside, you can grow broccoli and peas this time of year!  That’s what I have in my planter boxes right now, of course I live in Texas so it may be different for you…

I detest grocery shopping, so I do it as little as possible.  Usually that means 3 times a month.  It took time to build up the pantry to the level it’s at, but right now we could survive several weeks if there was an emergency.  Here’s my approach.  You might not shop as little as this, but it might give you some ideas.

The first Tuesday of the month is 10% of day at our grocery store.  I pick up enough dairy and fresh produce to last almost 2 weeks. We eat the produce strategically, using the most perishable items first (bananas, berries, etc.) and the longest lasting items last (oranges, apples, carrots, etc.)  Frozen fruit also helps.  I also get all the non-perishable items that I like from this store that are on sale this month.  I buy enough to last at least 3 months, because that’s about how often things go on sale.  This day is on the calendar and DH knows he can’t plan anything for that evening, because I need to shop without the kids!

11 days later, on the Saturday, I head to Costco.  I buy almost all my meat there, because it’s almost always less expensive for better quality.  So I buy enough meat to last until the next month and freeze it.  I stay a bit ahead of myself, so my freezer always has a supply of meat in it, even on shopping day.  I either just divide it into meal size portions and freeze, or I cook some, like I brown all the ground beef before I freeze.  I also buy the bulk items that I know are good deals from Costco.  Someone mentioned running out of chocolate chips.  I buy the mini chips at Costco in 5kg boxes and freeze them.  Running out of chocolate chips is not an option around here!  Finally, I buy enough dairy and produce to fill the fridge again.

Then, sometime about half way between the Costco trip and the first Tuesday of the next month, I make a final trip for dairy and produce again.  On the rare occasion that a month has 5 Tuesdays, I might have to make a 4th quick trip to tide us over.

Joanne

For produce, I have one crisper drawer designated for snacking, and any other produce in the fridge is off-limits! We don’t eat a ton of fruit, but what we have mostly goes in the fruit bowl out on the counter.

I am a miserable meal planner–I never want the meals I planned when I get to their assigned day! So I keep a stock in my freezer of various types of meat, frozen veggies, and cheese, then buy a big cart of fresh produce and lots of eggs to go with it. My pantry stays stocked with extra staples like tomato sauce, tuna, noodles, and chicken stock, as well. Between all that, I can always come up with something on the fly.