Where do you start your shopping list?

Aesop101
Aesop101 Posts: 758 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I have this grocery app that I look at every Thursday when the sale starts or maybe just ads start. The first place I look at is the meat and fish section to see what the buy of the week is. For me the meal centers around the meat or fish entree. So I was wondering where do you start?
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Replies

  • Hiker_Rob
    Hiker_Rob Posts: 5,547 Member
    Always the fruit and veggies aisle for me!
  • cw106
    cw106 Posts: 952 Member
    i shop daily.
    i always start at the reduced aisle,too see what cheap+ nutritious stuff i can menu build from.
  • kikityme
    kikityme Posts: 472 Member
    Flipp is an awesome app. I have my meals planned, so I buy what I'm cooking that week.
  • weightliftingdiva
    weightliftingdiva Posts: 522 Member
    Most of my purchases are dairy. I get a lot of my fruits and veggies in a take-out box from our campus dining hall, and I have frozen chicken and fish. So when I go shopping (usually every other week) I'll get milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, eggs and bread; also I'll get fruits and veggies that I can't get at school (avocado, cabbage, frozen mixed berries) and anything I'm running low on (like pasta).
  • Crosbinium
    Crosbinium Posts: 415 Member
    By planning my menu out for the week. I bought a menu notepad and I make the menu for the week every saturday morning. Once that is done I make a shopping list of the ingredients that I need. I look at the ads to see if there are any staple items on sale that I want to add to the list.
  • NoelFigart1
    NoelFigart1 Posts: 1,276 Member
    I see what's on sale, and plan menus around that unless I just HAVE to have something specific.

  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    I start by looking at the first page of the weekly add, and just go through the pages, lol.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    Ugh. I buy every meal separately. I am in the grocery store like 3 times a day sometimes. I start at the coffee for breakfast, the salad bar for lunch, and meat and veggies for dinner.
  • missiontofitness
    missiontofitness Posts: 4,059 Member
    edited November 2014
    I generally eat the same stuff, so I don't plan too much. I do like to have my coupon binder handy while looking at sale flyers, so I can know what to stock up on for staple items for next to nothing. Now that I'm back to couponing, I'm going to have to plan more, lol.
  • libbydoodle11
    libbydoodle11 Posts: 1,351 Member
    I shop the produce section first, then the bulk.
  • debsdoingthis
    debsdoingthis Posts: 454 Member
    NoelFigart1 wrote: »
    I see what's on sale, and plan menus around that unless I just HAVE to have something specific.
    me too
  • Lasmartchika
    Lasmartchika Posts: 3,440 Member
    I start by going to the fruit/veggie section, dairy, meat... then the center aisles. Always getting what's on sale.
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
    I usually buy the things I plan, regardless of sales. Sometimes if there's a good sale on a specific product that is a similar replacement for another one, I'll swap them. Or if there's a particularly good sale on a non-perishable staple that I know I'm going to need to buy eventually, I'll stock up. But other than that, I don't let sale prices dictate what I buy. That kind of thinking leads to too much impulse shopping, which IMHO isn't worth the pennies I'd save.

    (I'm saving tons of money since starting to eat healthier, anyway. Less junk food. Less food overall.)
  • Athijade
    Athijade Posts: 3,300 Member
    I plan my meals a month at a time after I get my work schedule. Then I do one big shop at the start of the month, getting all my meats and many of my nonperishables. Each week I then do my weekly shop to get dairy, fruits, vegetables, bread... that sort of thing.

    I have found that doing it this way I actually do better with my budget then I did when I based everything off of the ads. Yes, I may miss out on a sale, but I am less likely to make extra trips to the store or eat out. I do check the ads still, looking for staples that I use all the time to stock up on.
  • zerstreutesMaedchen
    zerstreutesMaedchen Posts: 13
    I start with the eggs, because that's the closest area to first entering the store.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,149 Member
    My physical list starts with items I need to remember to get.

    My shopping starts at the produce section because that's right inside the front door. I don't center my food shopping around meals, I shop according to how the store is laid out.
  • forgivensins
    forgivensins Posts: 90 Member
    I check the circular and whatever coupons I have. Once I got the hang of it I just bought the same things and I generally stick to the store perimeter (meat, dairy, fruit/veg) I only venture into the aisle with beans or coffee!
  • nomoredoughnuts
    nomoredoughnuts Posts: 130 Member
    I do grocery shopping once a week and always start from the fruit and veg. I see if anything good is on offer and try to plan meals from that. I then buy the 'bread' of the week (wholemeal toast or rye or pitas... etc) and move to the peanut butter section, naturally.

    Dairy and eggs are next.

    I only buy meat and fish when on offer and freeze them.
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
    nomoredoughnuts wrote: »
    I only buy meat and fish when on offer and freeze them.

    I do the opposite: I pretty much only eat meat and fish when it's fresh. In fact, I prefer to get it from the local butcher as opposed to from the supermarket, to make sure it's even fresher. I prefer the taste. If I defrost it from frozen and cook it, it's not as tender and I just don't like it as much.
  • Fruitylicious03
    Fruitylicious03 Posts: 301
    I start by planning what I'm going to eat for the week. I eat the same breakfast and dinners weekly so makes it easy. Then I plan my list accordingly. And I catagorise the list in the order of the aisles of the store.

    When I get there I just start from the corner and then walk through all the aisles, going down my list. :smile:
  • Aesop101
    Aesop101 Posts: 758 Member
    Athijade wrote: »
    I plan my meals a month at a time after I get my work schedule. Then I do one big shop at the start of the month, getting all my meats and many of my nonperishables. Each week I then do my weekly shop to get dairy, fruits, vegetables, bread... that sort of thing.

    I have found that doing it this way I actually do better with my budget then I did when I based everything off of the ads. Yes, I may miss out on a sale, but I am less likely to make extra trips to the store or eat out. I do check the ads still, looking for staples that I use all the time to stock up on.
    That's interesting, planning for the whole month. I have to say I like that thought. I think the problem I have and many others is we don't plan so we fail.
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
    Planning for a whole month is a nice idea in theory but I don't think it's all that realistic for me in practice. I usually don't know that far in advance what my work travel schedule will be like, when I'll have social events or be eating out, or what other things will be happening in my life. A week at a time is much more manageable -- even that changes on the fly sometimes, but it's usually easier to predict.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    I look at what I'm out of, think about what I'd like to eat in the next couple days and write it down on a piece of paper, generally in the order of where it is in the store, so I can just go from top to bottom on the list as I walk through the store.
  • Kontxesi
    Kontxesi Posts: 86 Member
    edited November 2014
    I manage a local produce company, so my meal planning starts with what we have available. Right now, we're neck deep in winter squash, cabbage, broccoli, and potatoes.... I'm not much on winter squash, so most every dinner has cabbage, broccoli, or both in it these days.

    From there, I think about what meat I have in the freezer and try to plan around that.

    EDIT: I plan my meals weekly, Thursday to Wednesday.
  • 50sFit
    50sFit Posts: 712 Member
    I keep my list in my head....
    ...which is why I often make additional trips to the market to pick those items I forgot!
    B)
  • Kristinemomof3
    Kristinemomof3 Posts: 636 Member
    I look at ads, stock up, buy what's in sale, keep a list on my phone, we garden in the summer & always have a fair amount of food on hand, so I plan my meals weekly & just shop about once a week for what we need.
  • shartran
    shartran Posts: 304 Member
    I have a pantry of items that I always when I need - I don't need to 'plan out' specific menus for the week. Going to a well stocked pantry will allow you to make (and have most if not all the ingredients) whatever you want at anytime. Also, I maintain staples in the freezer too.

    So every week I just go through both areas and shop for those items that I might be running low on. Then I just buy the produce that I usually consume.
  • nomoredoughnuts
    nomoredoughnuts Posts: 130 Member
    segacs wrote: »
    nomoredoughnuts wrote: »
    I only buy meat and fish when on offer and freeze them.

    I do the opposite: I pretty much only eat meat and fish when it's fresh. In fact, I prefer to get it from the local butcher as opposed to from the supermarket, to make sure it's even fresher. I prefer the taste. If I defrost it from frozen and cook it, it's not as tender and I just don't like it as much.

    I'm mostly vegetarian because I don't like meat. I only eat turkey or chicken and that's if I am cooking for my boyfriend who is a carnivore lol.

    I love fish but again not everyday so I am not too fussed.
  • Aesop101
    Aesop101 Posts: 758 Member
    50sFit wrote: »
    I keep my list in my head....
    ...which is why I often make additional trips to the market to pick those items I forgot!
    B)
    Yep, I so much do the same. But I went crazy a couple of weeks ago and actually used coupons.
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
    nomoredoughnuts wrote: »
    I'm mostly vegetarian because I don't like meat. I only eat turkey or chicken and that's if I am cooking for my boyfriend who is a carnivore lol.

    I love fish but again not everyday so I am not too fussed.

    Ditto, more or less. I mean, not 'mostly' vegetarian, but I don't eat most kinds of meat. Only chicken or fish, and at that, usually only 3-4 meals per week.

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