Where do you start your shopping list?

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  • Aesop101
    Aesop101 Posts: 758 Member
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    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
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    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: 9,626 Member
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    Once a month or every other month, I make a list of 28 different dinners. I assign 7 dinners per week. Each day I decide which meal we will have from those 7 choices.
    We tend to eat leftovers or the same thing repeatedly for breakfast, lunch or snacks so I don't bother with a plan for those. I kind of know what we need there.
    I keep a notebook in the kitchen and write things down as we run out. Certain things like dry beans, rice, spices, or canned tomato I try to always have on hand. At the end of the week, I add the stuff for the next week's meal plan and food needed for breakfast/lunch/snacks to that running list.
    I make a grocery list every week. I group items together like they are in the aisles of the store so it goes a bit faster. No impulse buys. If I forget something usually we do without until the next week.
  • sydneydeb
    sydneydeb Posts: 93 Member
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    I start with what I want to cook, take off what I already have in the house and go from there. I can now write my grocery list according to how the supermarket is laid out, well I could until they moved the isles around :(
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
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    zyxst wrote: »
    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.

    Me too.
  • RamonaFr
    RamonaFr Posts: 112
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    Interesting thread. I don't like shopping for groceries much any more. I do a lot of foraging in the fall, so I have a cupboard full of stewed tomatoes, salsa, applesauce, jam, juice and that sort of thing that I can. It often lasts me through winter. I dried a lot of herbs from the garden this year, and grew shallots because I don't like big onions. I have a bag of dried shallots and some garlic from the garden. Right now I'm canning green tomatoes -- picallili -- with cabbage, onions and bell peppers. I have frozen squash and tomatoes from the garden, too, plus a lot of frozen plums, concord grapes and so on from foraging. We are still getting cool weather greens from the garden. So that takes care of the produce aisle.

    I buy meat at the local butcher's shop, they stock locally grown beef, pork and chicken. Free range, you can actually go to the ranches and see the animals for yourself.

    I buy cheese and eggs on sale, I buy flour on sale and make my own bread. I buy or cook turkey or chicken for sandwiches. I buy mayonnaise or boiled dressing for sandwiches.

    That's about it. I guess a lot of my groceries start in our local community garden.
  • chouflour
    chouflour Posts: 193 Member
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    We keep a running list, and when someone's going to the store - we get what's a good deal there. There's always cans of tuna, eggs, starch of some kind and some veggies kicking around. We can make something out of that.

    However, we only make normal meals a few times a week. The rest of the time we eat meals like "Korean stuff", which is whatever meat you've got, whatever veggies you've got, soy sauce, sriracha, ginger, garlic and a bunch of kimchi. And okonomiyaki, which is whatever meat/veg you've got plus scallions and cabbage - cooked into a pancake.

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