Tips or tricks for grocery shopping...

I make a menu before I go shopping. Do the shopping once and your set. That way you can create meals that utilize foods more than once so it can be used up (produce especially) Good luck!

When I was single I found it easier to go to the store everyday on my way home from school or work, that way I never had any treats in the house and my produce or meat never went bad. I also lived in one of those student living apartments and we shared the fridge so there was never much room in it anyway

My son and I are the only ones in my house that eat healthy. My husband is as thin as a rail and says he doesn't need to watch what he is eating. I normally go shopping abt every two weeks when I get paid. I try to buy only enough to last that two weeks.

What foods are going bad and how long does it take? Food going bad is a good thing because it means it has some nutrition in left in them Food that lasts forever when stored open on the countertop is a worry
Is it bad after a week ? It sounds like you shop once a week because you mention a solution of shopping more than once a week. You could break up your shops, like shop large for all the accessories to life, like toothpaste, TP, cleaning stuff, soaps, detergent etc etce once a month, but shop for food items once a week.

Is it vegetables going bad ? Which sort ? A carrot will last longer than a head of brocolli.
Hopefully they are in the fridge, and if they are fresh when bought, they should last more than a week. Keep them in their seperate plastic bags and allow then to breath. (punch a small hole or don't seal completely airtight). Get some good quality bags too.
Also, there are some foods that don't store well together. Mainly fruits and vegetables, so try storing those in different drawers in your fridge (or get creative with containers if you fridge doesn't have multiple produce drawers), Maybe your frdge is set at the wrong temperature too. Make sure you buy the freshest/firmest you can too. Spend a few extra seconds on each vegetable you buy and check them out. If it doesn't pass the test, don't buy it and come back another day.

Meats will store well in the fridge too, but you can't keep them all in there forever in a day. If something is going to stay in th efridge longer than 3-4 days after it's bought, we'll typically put it in the freezer. Often, the "best" meats we'll not freeze and eat right away. But stuff that is easy to defrost and/or doesn't really taste any different post freezing, we'll freeze straight away.
Also, check the "use by date" on the meat too. Often, they do a special at the grocery store where the food is cheaper .... but that simply means it may have taken a while to sell. You may get that meat chep on the 25th .... but it's use by is the 27th ... put that stuff straight in the feezer if you buy it.

Good bread isn't supposed to last very long, but, you can help its cause by keeping it in a cool, dark and dry location. Grains etc will keep a while too ... so long as you store them in the cool, dry & dark location too.

It's just "organization" of your food really.... both when you first buy it, and, after a few days of buying it. Over time, you'll notice that some foods last longer, and others don't. So, pay attention. Don't just stack everything together. If you put something in your fridge and it's been a few days, either eat it or freeze it ... or throw it away ...... remember the one bad apple ruins the bunch ? Well, it's true. If you let your foods sit, it only takes one bad vegentable/fruit to go bad, and it may accelerate the rest of them going bad.

There are times when we throw away food because we didn't pay attention when we went shopping. e.g. I may have bought some zucchini on week 1 ... and neglected to use it. But in week 2 I bought some more. I then cooked some zuchini that night ... but used the new "week 2" ones rather than the old "week 1" batch (which was still good at that time). Then, a few days later, I go to cook some more zuchini ... but because I used the zuchini I had in the wrong order, the week 1 batch was starting to go bad Also, if I actually had left that zuchini in the fridge for more days without noticing, it may have increased the likelihood of other veges going bad too.


Try googling some of your foods and how to store them. You may find some pretty obvious answers .... or ... perhaps you're just shopping too large.

I buy meats and package them in single serving sizes, then freeze. I buy 3 or so fruits and 2-3 options for breakfast (rotating these as I get tired of them...ie: this week turkey bacon and cereal, next week waffles and pb&j). I get single serving frozen veggies or small cans, as well as raw veggies, depending on what's in season. I use a lot of seasonings with brown rice or whole wheat pasta and add the meat. If you buy something like Pesto in a jar, it keeps forever in the fridge. Then if you want broiled/sauteed/baked chicken with pasta pesto, just slap a teaspon of pesto sauce on the pasta and sprinkle some permesan...add a veggie...and done. I freeze pita's for pizza and bruschetta, just take one out in the morning and by evening it's nicely defrosted.

The secret is lots of variety in the things that can be frozen/packaged and a couple of fresh items to go with. Think small packages!

Hey, Dewey! We have a giant calendar on our kitchen wall that we keep all our appointments and what not on, and we also do meals for 2 weeks at a time (the span of a paycheck). Maybe you could try something similar? Write down all your dinners for a week, then buy the ingredients needed. The following weekend, rinse & repeat! That way you are only buying what you need for that week, you know what's going on at all times, and you can buy FRESH stuff (cuz produce is awesome!)

Pre-planning into mfp helps me a lot, especially to know if I can afford a snack or not! :0)

I try not to have too much variety...I find that when I allow myself a lot to choose from I have a lot of stuff going bad. I pretty much stick to oatmeal for breakfast and either chicken or turkey that I prepare at the beginning of the week, so it's already cooked and ready to go either for lunch or dinner. Though I like to have plenty of selection, it goes to waste before I get to eat it all. I keep fresh salad items and fresh or frozen veggies to use as side items.