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

[Tiffany]

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]

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]

This thread on high protein snacks might be helpful.

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

[SteveinMN]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.