How often do you buy groceries?
What types of things do you consider “essential”?
Do you make a list when you go shopping, or just have an idea of what you need?
Do you do one big trip all at once, or do you pick up just enough to make what you’re eating that night/the next day?
I go almost every day. It’s a good reason to get out and go for a walk.
What I buy mostly depends on prices/discounts. And only what I can carry in my backpack. Potatoes when affordable, otherwise rice; frozen veggies, ham/cheese, bubbly water, beer.
Potatoes are more expensive than rice in the Netherlands?
Edit: just did the math for my German prices and they seem about equal. I always thought rice was a bit more expensive.
Edit 2: just realized that it’s easier and cheaper to prepare a meal with potatoes for me. I’m cool with plain mashed potatoes or simple pan fried potatoes (about 50c of extra ingredients each) but for rice I need something to go with it, which is gonna be more expensive than what I need for potatoes
I’m not in the Netherlands. Where I live, potatoes were 1.20 eur per kilo last year so I don’t buy it. Normal price should be 40 cents.
Ah, I see. My bad for assuming. Yeah, 1,20€ is way too much.
I walk each day to the local markets and grab whatever I feel like that day That’s a good walk and is usually my cardio for the day.
Right now, it’s usually a couple chorizos, and then I use the leftover oil to fry potatoes, seasoning the potatoes and then use the leftover oil/spice from the fried potatoes to fry a bunch of diced tomatoes so I have a thick fried salsa.
bag of tomatoes is five quetzales, same for a bag of onions or potatoes.
I grabbed a tamale and some carnitas yesterday for 4 bucks.
I like walking around and seeing what’s open and available each day.
I or another person go once a week. I wish I went every few days, but I love about 20 min away and it’s not my favorite place in the world. For some reason I always make a list even though I buy basically the same things. My partner never uses a list when he goes.
Red peppers, tomatillos, fibrous cereal, milk and soy milk, yogurt/cottage cheese, tortilla chips, a bag of grapefruit when in season, wasa crackers, hummus, eggs / bread / tortillas when low, and whatever I’m making for lunch for the week. Sometimes salad stuff.
Two trips each week. One to the local farmers shop, for whatever is available there (mostly vegetables, eggs and bread, but sometimes fish, meat, ice cream, etc), and another to a supermarket for the common things (pasta for my gf and couscous for me, rice, flour, some dairy (fresh cream or cheese), sandwich bread and chocolate spread, sometimes stuff that needs to be refilled like oil, soap, toilet paper, etc and usually an extra meal : either rice and fish for sushi-like thingy, chickpea for nugetts-ich fried stuff, or a can of smthg like chili con carne).
We try to do lists for the supermarket, otherwise we always forget something. For the local shop, what’s available varies greatly so there’s no sense making a list.
Yeah this is pretty much me.
I have unusual eating habits so not the same stuff.
I generally go to the green grocer (farmers shop?), then there’s a wholefoods shop for nuts and pulses and things, then the butcher, then at the supermarket it’s just bits and pieces.
We’ve gotten pretty good at getting things in bulk when they’re on special. Some items are way cheaper to buy on-line like toiletries and medications.
We spend around $200/week for 3 people and cook every meal. Comes to about $3/meal/person. Pretty much just some meat, beans, pasta, veggies, fruit and my kid’s snacks.
mostly produce (this is the cheapest food, don’t let anyone fool you), but that usually doesn’t last a week before you cook it. shop is a 2 min walk away, produce markets 3 and 10 mins away, so we go often.
I pretty much eat depression meals, with occasional cooking. Trying to be better, but I still eat a lot of food that isn’t the greatest for you, like frozen meals, that kind of thing. I really should be better, and I don’t know if I should be sad or motivated seeing everyone else’s food in this thread.
A shopping list on Google Keep has been a game changer. We have a shared list with my wife. Whenever we run out of something essential or need something, we add it to the list. Whenever one of us is in a grocery store, it’s easy just to go through the list.
We use the “our groceries” app for this and can tell the smart speaker in the kitchen to add to it
A bag of frozen chips/fries, potato chips/crisps, 2 boxes of 12 eggs, some cereal, chocolate, maybe a crate of pop (Dr Pepper is my fave) and milk.
I shop at our local grocery store 2x a month to get essentials as needed. “Essential” to us is anything we utilize the most, which usually boils down to milk, eggs, bread, fresh fruit/veggies. Every 4-6 months or so my spouse and I go to Costco and get items in bulk. Those trips are typically reserved for buying meats that we can freeze long term, along with frozen veggies, and non-perishables.
I always make a shopping list to make a point of not returning any sooner than necessary (but hey, sometimes I forget stuff anyways).
I tend to be the primary cook, but I make a point of making recipes that involve using dry, frozen, or canned ingredients as there isn’t a rush to use them since they don’t quickly spoil. Any fresh items are used within the 2 week frame between local grocery trips.
These days, we tend to sit down on Sunday evening and plan out our meals for the week, then go shopping on Monday. We go to the farmer’s market Saturday and plan our meals around what vegetables we could buy locally.
I don’t consider very many things essential. Maybe dry beans, rice (sub millet, quinoa, or other cookable grain as needed), lentils, flour, and salt? Without those I’d have troubles surviving, with an adequate supply of those I could live for months, it’d take a while to even get sick of all the things you can make with it. I’m willing to cut pretty much anything I need to out of my diet if it’s not available and honestly I think the obsession with having all foods available at all seasons is weird.
How do you do your beans and lentils? My mental illness has me stockpile food, so I have quite a bit of black beans and lentils, but I just can’t figure out how to cook them to make them work for me.
The red lentils seem to be less bitter than the brown ones. Lentils seem to be the best option, since you don’t have to soak them as long as beans and I struggle with that aspect of food prep.
If you have trouble with the soaking, black beans do very well with a “quick soak”.
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Cover them with water about twice the depth of the beans. Add about 1 teaspoon (~5 ml or 5-7 g) salt.
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Bring to a boil and keep it boiling for 2 minutes. Then cover and turn off the burner/hob. Let soak for 1-2 hours.
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Add any extra seasonings now (but nothing acidic). Then bring back to a boil and then simmer until soft. Adjust seasoning and you’re done.
They should take much less time than cooking from dry. How long will depend on the beans. Older beans can take much longer, but most should be soft in 1 hour or so.
Yep. That works well unless you’re cooking at altitude, then an overnight soak is the best and easiest way. Unless you own a pressure cooker.
Some beans you can get away with not soaking at all, just cook them low and slow for a couple hours. I’ve done that with great northern beans.
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All kinds of ways, but I think a good few recipes to check out are:
- cuban style frijoles with the black beans
- red lentil hummus
- dal makhni for kidney beans (needs a lot more special ingredients than the other two though) Green lentils aren’t one of my favourites most of hte time but they do go well with rice
I can find a recipe similar to mine for any of these if you like
Weekly for essentials: fresh fruit, fresh veg, any specific food i need for cooking that week or anything that’s run out. Good bread. In summer we have a garden so it’s mostly the fresh stuff we aren’t growing.
Costco monthly for sandwich bread, milk, eggs, any bulk stuff we need.
I get animal protein in bulk from our local farmer about 1x every two years which drops the price. We eat animal protein about 3 times a week, vegetarian rest of the time.
Always with a list, always with a weekly meal plan.
The butcher delivers meat once a week on a schedule
About every other week go to the local wet market for variety
Anything else is ordered about once week from the local western style market (free delivery)
Shopping is a mix of buying stuff that is pre-planned, and impulse purchases. That depends on a number of factors. If I went to the supermarket to buy e.g. peppers, but the ones they have don’t look good, I can spontaneously change the meal and buy something else for which I can buy good products. Same at the meat frontier, I can easily switch plans if shopping reality dictates differently.
I’ll usually have 2 or 3 meals in mind that’ll carry me for the week. I’ll make something that will have leftovers (stews, stir fries, etc), and other things that can be easily repeated (fried eggs, bagels, sandwiches, produce for salads, etc).
Once I get to the store things can change a bit according to what’s available or what looks good.
