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View Full Version : Learning how to shop for groceries, build a pantry, make meals at home, eat better



Tiffany
7-12-12, 3:08pm
Ok, so I technically know how to do all of these things. But I want to develop my skills so that we waste less money and food and cut down on our meals out. Right now, I feel pulled in several different directions when I think of our home food system.

My goals:

1. Stock the pantry and freezer.
2. Eat 90% of our meals at home.
3. Learn about local producers
4. Buy organic and non-factory farmed as much as possible
5. Budget: $400 (two adults and one nursling learning to eat)
6. Increase our fruit and veggie intake, decrease grains/flours/potatoes.

I generally make a dinner menu and shop once a week. I am not good about planning for lunches. I am also not so great about following through with making the dinners, because I am still learning how to juggle baby care and anything else.

My first step is going to be observation. I am going to plan out my menus for the next week for 90% of meals and snacks. I will make a list of the pantry and freezer items that I buy. I will stay within my budget. I will write down the reason why we chose not to eat at home if we bought food out. That is my plan for the rest of the month.

Suggestions for easy, healthy lunches? Comments?

treehugger
7-12-12, 3:47pm
I think your approach of observation as your first step to see how your family really eats and makes decisions from day to day is a very smart one. No sense in deciding on a plan if it doesn't even make sense for you. And remember, with all of your (very worthy) goals, baby steps are the way to go.

I can't offer any suggestions for lunches, because mine are almost always dinner leftovers. One thing that has really helped me (and my goals are similar to yours, although my budget is much smaller, and I don't have children) since I have been working such long hours this year is to simply not plan to cook every day. Instead, I plan to cook only 3 times a week, using leftovers and quick pantry meals to fill in the gaps. When I have time, I cook in bulk and freeze. Those frozen containers of soup or chili, etc. are lifesavers and they are what keep us from eating out.

Also, when we were able to increase our budget a couple of months ago, I joined a CSA that delivers. This immediately helped with goals 3, 4, and 6, without adding anything to my busy schedule (although more fresh veggies in the house does lead to more food prep, but that's manageable).

Kara

Gardenarian
7-12-12, 3:54pm
This thread on high protein snacks (http://www.simplelivingforum.net/showthread.php?598-Inexpensive-protein-snacks&highlight=protein+snacks) might be helpful.

I need to work on the whole grocery/menu thing myself.

SteveinMN
7-12-12, 4:45pm
Sounds like a plan to me, Tiffany. My wife and I (well, mostly me, as I'm much more interested in cooking than she is) have realized that our spending on food (in or out of the house) is a highly-controllable expense. A few thoughts:

- As Kara mentioned, changing habits can be take a while. Some month, when you're at the end of your budget, or during the week everyone in your house is sick, it could be really challenging. It's okay to retrench and climb back on the wagon as soon as you feel able.
- At my day job, I always bought lunch. Sometimes breakfast, too. Now I'm home for lunch most days. I've started making menus with leftovers in mind. Kind of like planning for another day or two of dinners, except that it feeds me a few days and serves as a dinner one night to "mix things up" with the other meals on the menu.
- Meals can be coordinated. A chicken dish that requires chunks or strips (which I prepare myself from a whole chicken; it's not hard) leaves a carcass which will become chicken soup some day. A pot roast dinner can yield shredded beef for "BBQ" or sandwiches for lunch.
- I suggest laying in a few frozen prepared meals from the market. Yes, it's likely cheaper to make your own, but on the crazy days, knowing you can quickly reheat dinners can maintain sanity during the pre-dinner hour and keep you from spending even more money on take-out.
- You might want to deploy a slow cooker and/or a pressure cooker to cook meals with minimal oversight on your part. Both let you use cheaper cuts of meat, too, without a lot of work.
- Check out your local food co-op if you have one. At ours, membership costs $90 (one-time fee) and entitles you to bi-monthly discount coupons. If you use all of the coupons, you'll save $60 of that $90 the first year -- and, next year, you can save another $60, and so on. We get member specials and case discounts, too.

Good luck!

Stella
7-12-12, 5:59pm
I think your idea to observe yourself is brilliant.

I understand trying to balance a baby and meals can be tricky. I have five kids, three of them three and under, so I am into easy foods for lunches right now. Some things we have for lunches.

-Egg/tuna/chicken salad lettuce wraps (filling made when DH is home)
-Peanut butter and banana sandwiches
-Spaghetti with sauteed tomatoes and olives (this is good cold too and you can use canned tomatoes if you want)
-Half a bagel with cream cheese and some combo of cucumber, tomato and sprouts. Sometimes just one of these, sometimes all.
-Cheddar apple sandwiches (Put cheddar cheese and a bit of dijon mustard on baguette, heat until cheese is melted and add fresh apple slices
-Apples with peanut butter
-Hard boiled eggs, whole grain crackers and fruit
-Cottage cheese and fruit
-Granola with blueberries
-Smoothies
-Ants on a log
-Pasta with pesto
-Bagel with cream cheese and salmon
-Blue cheese, apple and walnut spread on crackers or bread
-Roasted tomato relish (made in a big batch on the weekend and kept in the fridge) on bread

For toddlers, just having some precut (by you to save money) cheese, fruits and veggies is nice. They don't care if it's a "real" meal.

If you are trying to avoid eating out, it's sometimes useful to have one or two convenience-y meals in the freezer. I usuall have Trader Joes or Costco potstickers in the freezer for those nights I really don't want to pull it together. It's still cheaper than eating out.

Rosemary
7-12-12, 6:15pm
We are 2 adults + 1 elementary school aged child and we buy organic when we can as well. We generally stay under $330/month for groceries using many of the techniques you listed. I eat gluten-free, mostly vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, and limited poultry/fish/eggs - so many of the typical frugal foods such as breads or pasta are not on our rotation.

Easy lunches:
Dinner leftovers
Lentil soup or other soup. Lentil soup is really quick and easy.
Salads - green, bean-based, etc. Make once, eat for several days. Keep components out separately for children.
Fruit and yogurt
Scrambled eggs or hard-boiled eggs with some veggies on the side, or a quick omelette
Cooked legumes

In general i keep lots of foods prepped and ready in the fridge, so when it's lunch time I just take out the containers and we mix and match. For instance, containers might have:
hard-boiled eggs
washed, chopped lettuce, spinach, or other greens for salad
various roasted or sauteed veggies, stored in separate containers: asparagus, cauliflower, mushrooms, peppers, zucchini, eggplant, etc - depends on what's in season.
other raw veggies: celery and carrot sticks, peppers, cabbage, cucumber, broccoli
fruit salad or cut-up cantaloupe or watermelon (other fruits, I don't prep in advance)
roasted chicken or turkey

From this basis of foods, all of the following become nearly instant:
soups
salads
tacos/burritos
omelette with vegetable filling
stir-fry

Today for lunch, DD and I had cucumber-turkey "sandwiches" - cucumbers sliced into rounds with small bits of turkey in the middle, carrot sticks, and peas. DH packed a salad with dressing on the side and some peanuts in a small container for his lunch. Tomorrow some friends are coming for lunch; I'll make a green salad and a lentil salad with green beans, and we'll have fresh raspberries from the garden.

rosarugosa
7-12-12, 6:28pm
From the perspective of an adult who eats like a toddler when left to her own devices: string cheese! raw almonds, blueberries. Things that I can just pick up and put in my mouth. Edy's frozen juice bars.
If I may be so bold as to mention the ever-controversial salad spinner - if the lettuce is prepped, I'm pretty much always willing to put together a salad, and I could live on salads. And they are actually good for me since I prefer them with oil and vinegar. Having fun add-ins on hand is also a plus: sunflower seeds, goat cheese crumbles, the aforementioned blueberries. If DH were to leave me, and I had to fend for myself on a regular basis, I would probably also boil a dozen or two eggs every week and keep those in the fridge for an alternate source of protein.

Mrs-M
7-13-12, 6:30pm
I'm a firm-believer in the "step program". (One step at a time, one day at a time, and so on). Getting started on whatever one is looking to get started on, is always the hardest/biggest step/part, however, once a method or system is established, it's just a matter of fine-tuning and organizing around the ideals you are looking to embark upon.

I would proceed at a slow speed (to start), until you get a hold of what exactly you want, and rather than complicating things with menus, etc, I'd just go with a select approach to help keep things simple. Of course as you progress and settle into a comfortable format where you start recognizing things as you need them, you can slowly add to that by purchasing a little of this and a little of that, to add to your pantry, to help form a basis of "on-hand" goods that are always ready and waiting.

Tiffany
7-13-12, 6:44pm
Thanks for all the good tips and ideas, everyone.

I did my first shopping trip today. (We share a car, so I just planned until the next time I'll have the car.) We've been eating odds and ends for the past few days because I didn't go shopping last week. I thought about grabbing a bite to eat while out today, but then just came home and had a sandwich.

Next week, I'm just going to plan on cooking every other day, but cooking enough for leftovers. That will help with the "I don't know what to put on this list!" problem, too. I'm giving myself $200 to make it through the end of the month, and I have $138 and change until the end of the month.

Tiffany
7-17-12, 11:26am
Well, when DH picked up cat litter last night, he also went grocery shopping and spent $25 on random things. Mostly junk food, but a few backup freezer meals, too. So $115 for the rest of the month.

try2bfrugal
7-17-12, 2:54pm
I have a stainless steel rice cooker that is very handy. I pour in 2 cups of water or broth, 2 cups of rice and that is it. In about 15 minutes the rice is perfectly done. It also doubles as a steamer. I can also use it for other starches like quinoa. For meat we make a lot of poached, braised and steamed dishes. On Sunday I simmered 2 max packs of pork chop on the stove with some cut up onion in vegetable stock. It takes an hour or two for the meat to get tender but the prep time is only about 3 minutes. We make up gravy with Hain's gravy packs. For the past couple of days we have had tender pork chops in gravy with rice, a vegetable and fruit for meals.

Last night I stir fried arugula and onions in a wok with sesame oil and poached chicken in broth. I made soup with a can of baked beans, stock, frozen peas and carrots, chicken, and pearl onions. I meant to make enough for two meals but most of it was eaten up so I think it went over well.

I try to cook like the ideas in Rosemary's post and make of a lot of various foods up ahead of time. I keep it all in glass containers in the fridge ready and waiting so the kids can self serve. For drinks I make up smoothies in the blender with bananas with some kind of red colored fruit added in so the kids won't notice when the bananas turn brown. :) The Trader Joe's by my house sells bananas for 20 cents each so it is actually cheaper for me to make smoothies with whole fruit than it is to buy juice.

babr
7-18-12, 11:28am
I was reading this thread and had to laugh when ants on a log were mentioned as a snack; i know its a food item but my cognitively challenged brain took it literally; now being curious what is it? kids meals are so cute; sounds like everyone is doing a great job; it is a challenge especially for those with children

Mighty Frugal
7-18-12, 12:11pm
I was reading this thread and had to laugh when ants on a log were mentioned as a snack; i know its a food item but my cognitively challenged brain took it literally; now being curious what is it? kids meals are so cute; sounds like everyone is doing a great job; it is a challenge especially for those with children

ants on a log is a stick of celery with peanut butter smeared on it and raisins sprinkled on the pb

mira
7-18-12, 5:18pm
Does your partner cook as well? That could help ease the pressure a little.

If you want to stock your pantry, go for long-lasting and versatile ingredients like dried pules and wholegrains, herbs and spices, cooking oils/fat, canned chopped tomatoes, flours, etc. I also have a never-ending supply of onions, garlic and bell peppers in the fridge. It's so easy to whip up a meal with that basic stuff and some kind of meat or fish if you choose.

For lunches to take to work, I generally use dinner leftovers (which recently have been lentil stew, chicken stirfry and veggie chili) or whip up a batch of vegetable-laden cous cous/pasta salad on a Sunday to last me all week. I know you've said you want to reduce your grain intake, so you could possibly make things like bean stews/veggie chili for the same kind of effect, or go for wholegrains instead of overly processed ones.

Jill
7-20-12, 8:25am
I've been on a pantry and freezer-stocking mission myself for a while now. What I've learned saves the most money for us is to get the weekly grocery store circulars from the mail and find the best deals, then use them to plan the weekly menu. In other words, for lunches etc., eat whatever's on sale that week. For example, I find a great deal on ground turkey, I'll buy ten pounds. Four pounds will get frozen raw in two-pound chunks; two pounds will get turned into meatballs (half are to be frozen; one quarter is used in spaghetti for one day's dinner and the next day's lunch; the rest will be used for meatball sandwiches for another day's dinner and the following day's lunch); two pounds will be browned and frozen as crumbles (just dump out the amount you need for any meal); and so on. It will save you a lot of money versus planning the meals first then going to the store and seeing if a few of the ingredients you need might be on sale.

Another tip that has really helped me is to write down a list of the dishes your family likes and post it on the fridge. Write down everything! And if you have a good base in your pantry and freezer, you should be able to just go to that list and find something quick you can make. Personally I never remember a lot of the really easy things to make, like grilled cheese, potato pancakes, roasted veggies, twice-baked potatoes, refried beans, etc. If I didn't have this list, we'd probably eat pasta every night.

Tiffany
7-21-12, 6:29pm
Thanks for the additional ideas! I am still under budget, although not nearly by the amount I thought I would be as a result of DH going to the grocery store with me. Le sigh! I will be going alone this coming week, and should be able to get a few more things to shape up meals for the end of the month.

Cooking every other day has been FANTASTIC. Really, really amazing, and I think why we have been so successful at eating at home and having so much leftover. The other day, I grilled up 4 chicken breasts on the George Foreman (GF) for dinner, and we ate 1.5 that night as pita sandwiches, 1.5 the next night with salad, and we're probably going to have chicken w/salad again tonight. We love salad. Usually, I make 2 chicken breasts for dinner and we eat 1.5 and the .5 gets shoved around in the fridge and may or may not make it into a lunch. Plus, it is easier to stay on top of the dishes and kitchen cleanup when I cook fewer times a week.

And DH does cook, but he tends to work irregular hours and often does not get home until after 7pm.

treehugger
7-22-12, 6:13pm
Cooking every other day has been FANTASTIC. Really, really amazing, and I think why we have been so successful at eating at home and having so much leftover. The other day, I grilled up 4 chicken breasts on the George Foreman (GF) for dinner, and we ate 1.5 that night as pita sandwiches, 1.5 the next night with salad, and we're probably going to have chicken w/salad again tonight. We love salad. Usually, I make 2 chicken breasts for dinner and we eat 1.5 and the .5 gets shoved around in the fridge and may or may not make it into a lunch. Plus, it is easier to stay on top of the dishes and kitchen cleanup when I cook fewer times a week.

That is the key to successfully sticking to a budget and not eating out for me, as well. Although my method is more like cooking every 3 days. Honestly, when I hear people complain about not having time to cook every day, I always wonder, "But why do you think you need to cook every day??" There are so many great reasons to cook larger amounts less often. Keep up the great work!

Kara

Tiffany
7-26-12, 1:45am
We're doing well on the eating at home part, and eating salads rather than grains with dinner. I am working on my list of things we use from the pantry and freezer. I'm hoping that once I see what our most common items are, I can start working on a price book for those items and shopping sales. It will probably take a while to do that. The only thing I know a good price for is Ritter Sport chocolate bars (Target usually is the cheapest), and I found that out by my previous attempts at price booking. Priorities, people! I bought a whole chicken this week. Usually this is a bad idea. I don't really like roasted chicken, or maybe I'm not any good at it--and I never seem to make broth or soup or anything out of the carcass besides freezer decor. But it seems to be such a go-to meal stretcher that I succumbed to the lure of whole chicken again. What do you do with a whole chicken that makes you want to do it again?

Rosemary
7-26-12, 2:58am
I roast chickens in a covered roasting pan and then make stock overnight in the crockpot. In the morning, I strain the stock and add vegetables to make soup, so after the busy night cooking dinner, we have an easy night of crockpot soup. Closer to dinner time I add any ingredients that don't need a long time to cook, like peas, some diced chicken, leafy greens, etc.

Sometimes we make a Vietnamese-style soup for dinner, and pour the soup over some noodles (I use mung bean noodles) and lightly steamed vegetables. For this we season the soup with ginger, star anise, and cinnamon.

I freeze the leftover chicken in containers and we use it for various things such as lunches, tacos, stir-fries, etc.

Tiffany
7-26-12, 2:07pm
Rosemary, what do you put in the crockpot to make stock? Do you just put it on the longest, lowest setting to cook over night? How big of a chicken do you usually roast?

decemberlov
7-26-12, 2:31pm
My first real post here...

I wanted to share a tip that has been really helping me save money and not buying things that I may already have but have gotten "lost" in the pantry.
A few months ago I went and inventoried every item in my pantry and kept that sheet hanging inside of my pantry door with a pen. Whenever I use something I cross it off my list. At any given time I can just read my list and see what I have instead of moving cans around and missing things. I was notorious in the past for buying packets of taco seasoning etc that I would loose in the pantry only to find out I already had 3 of those! >8) It also makes it easy to prepare my meal lists from what I have on hand and not wasting so much time! It's saved me tons of money so far!

fidgiegirl
7-26-12, 2:37pm
Nice tip, decemberlov. It would make it easy to make a shopping list from that, too. Our new kitchen (we moved about six months ago) is bigger than our old one, but has more strangely shaped cupboards, and I am having this problem of "losing" things, too. Might give it a try! I think people have mentioned it in the past for the freezer as well.

decemberlov
7-26-12, 2:45pm
Nice tip, decemberlov. It would make it easy to make a shopping list from that, too. Our new kitchen (we moved about six months ago) is bigger than our old one, but has more strangely shaped cupboards, and I am having this problem of "losing" things, too. Might give it a try! I think people have mentioned it in the past for the freezer as well.

we have strangely shaped cupboard as well!!
I have not tackled that darn freezer yet, but would definitely work well!!

catherine
7-26-12, 3:39pm
I really like decemberlov's tip! I used a version of that idea when I realized that some of my perishables in the fridge would perish simply because I forgot they were there.

So, using a white board I have in the kitchen, every couple of days I'd inventory on the board the things that needed to get used first, which also helped me come up with meals. So if I had mushrooms going bad, I knew I had to do omelets. Or if the celery was getting slightly wilted, I had to put together a soup or stew.

decemberlov
7-26-12, 3:48pm
I really like decemberlov's tip! I used a version of that idea when I realized that some of my perishables in the fridge would perish simply because I forgot they were there.

So, using a white board I have in the kitchen, every couple of days I'd inventory on the board the things that needed to get used first, which also helped me come up with meals. So if I had mushrooms going bad, I knew I had to do omelets. Or if the celery was getting slightly wilted, I had to put together a soup or stew.

This is great! I definitely need to do this as I'm guilty of forgetting to use leftovers and then things go bad and I feel terribly guilty throwing them out :(

Tiffany
7-26-12, 11:09pm
Oh my! I used this recipe (http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/My-Favorite-Simple-Roast-Chicken-231348) and I think the challenge is going to be not eating all the chicken so we have some for leftovers.

treehugger
7-27-12, 11:40am
Glad you found a method that makes roasting chicken worth it to you, Tiffany. I love whole chickens for a frugal, delicious, easy way to cook extra for leftovers. Whenever I roast chicken, I always roast two. Two fit in my roasting pan, and it takes the same amount of time and energy. Then I put the extra shredded meat into the freezer right away, to take out for a future quick dinner.

I have started buying the 2-pack of organic chickens at Costco every time I go (which is only once every 2 months or so), since that makes it only cost slightly more per pound than the less-than-great-quality cheap chickens at the grocery store. I either freeze them raw, or cook them that night and have dinner for a few days and stock my freezer with cooked meat.

Kara

Tiffany
7-27-12, 6:17pm
Glad you found a method that makes roasting chicken worth it to you, Tiffany. I love whole chickens for a frugal, delicious, easy way to cook extra for leftovers. Whenever I roast chicken, I always roast two. Two fit in my roasting pan, and it takes the same amount of time and energy. Then I put the extra shredded meat into the freezer right away, to take out for a future quick dinner. I have started buying the 2-pack of organic chickens at Costco every time I go (which is only once every 2 months or so), since that makes it only cost slightly more per pound than the less-than-great-quality cheap chickens at the grocery store. I either freeze them raw, or cook them that night and have dinner for a few days and stock my freezer with cooked meat. Kara Two will likely fit in my roasting pan, too! Thanks for the tip! I would not have thought of that. My DH and the baby both loved this. Usually baby doesn't really like meat, but scarfed his portion down. DH asked if I had got it from a kit, or had gone out to get rotisserie chicken. That made me laugh. Yes, I used a kit called chicken and salt. Honestly, I didn't think I was such a bad cook that roasting a decent chicken would be so surprising.

Tiffany
7-28-12, 11:34pm
Today, I made crockpot stock with the chicken carcass and put it into the freezer. I also made up what is going to be a huge amount of beans, much of which is going into the freezer. I still have a bit of freezer stocking to do, but didn't get around to mixing up the batter for muffins today. If I can do one or two big batches of things each weekend, then it will be easier to have things on hand to eat at home and help with the budget, too.

ApatheticNoMore
7-29-12, 12:01am
I thought this article, on this topic, was actually pretty useful:
http://finances.msn.com/saving-money-ideas/f2c6a21d-3125-4889-a61b-8d04a09abeac

(although eating dinner out is not something I struggle with, lunch is harder for me as I'm away from home, have to plan well ahead or else ... sometimes I think I've planned ahead but if it's just green salad I tire fo that - green salad again?!)

ljevtich
7-29-12, 10:48am
Tiffany - welcome to the forums.
As you are seeing, lots of great advice. We too use a list to see what is in our "pantry". As we live in a RV, our pantry is in a couple of different places. But as my DH cooks, he manages to keep on top of the food so that there is no waste, and I organize it.

You say you live in AZ, are you in the Phoenix area or more north? I believe there is a Winco coming into Phoenix, they have the best prices on just about everything. And I would suggest, once you have figured out what you eat and use the most, that you do bulk shopping. The prices are usually cheaper, and you do not have as much packaging to deal with as well.

We are living in Grand Canyon NP for the summer season. We have to be aware of our food because it is a 160 mile round trip to the grocery store. So we typically go once every three weeks. And sometimes supplement our food with a market that is in the Village of Grand Canyon, 50 miles round trip, away.

Gardening for us is not an option, I just have a couple of herbs in pots that the Elk do not like.

treehugger
7-30-12, 11:42am
DH asked if I had got it from a kit, or had gone out to get rotisserie chicken. That made me laugh. Yes, I used a kit called chicken and salt. Honestly, I didn't think I was such a bad cook that roasting a decent chicken would be so surprising.

OK, that is funny. But I'm not laughing at you, just with you. :) I think a lot of people have those feelings when they are used to eating out and prepared foods. Then when they taste something really delicious made from scratch, they assume that it must be something fancy or difficult, or pre-made. And lets face it, even those of us who cook from scratch regularly make many meals that are just good. They aren't all stupendous and awesome. But when you find those awesome recipes (chicken, salt), then hang onto them and keep making them!

I taught my big brother how to make sourdough bread over the weekend and now he is so excited to go home and make it on his own. He would never, ever have dreamed of attempting this without a hands on lesson. The learning process is different for everyone, but those successes are what keep us trying.

Way to go,

Kara

Tiffany
9-28-12, 1:14am
Urrrrggle. I have not made very much progress. Mostly what I have observed is that we don't have a good routine for our days or weeks, which makes everything harder. We have been traveling somewhat frequently (vacation, funeral, wedding), which throws a monkey wrench into everything. Plus, DH's job has increased in intensity with the start of the semester, so he spends much of his time preparing for work and recovering. So we have been in "just make it until X" mode for a while. X still ain't here! A stocked pantry and freezer would help with this, but I can't make it there while we're in this mode.

From a distance, I also realize what a lot of goals I have. Holy smokes, even when I think I'm baby stepping, I'm soooo not.

The goal I think will help the most right now is the 90% at home goal. If I can roll with that through October, I will be a happy camper. I am going to switch my grocery shopping day to the weekend, which will give DH some time to rest without anyone in the house and we won't have to worry about car sharing. I will start a new thread for this challenge when October gets here.

Paver1951
9-30-12, 12:56am
Well, when DH picked up cat litter last night, he also went grocery shopping and spent $25 on random things. Mostly junk food, but a few backup freezer meals, too. So $115 for the rest of the month.
Thanks for the tips..:)