Once a year shopping.

bassicmom · February 2012

If you had to do most of your food shopping for the year all at once, what would you purchase? We supplement with a garden ( frost-free May 15 to Nov 15 only). We also have some berries in the summer and some fruit trees. No extra freezer. The basics we always get are rice, brown if possible, and pinto beans. Any other ideas?

bassicmom · February 2012

Awww.. shucks. Anybody? I'm looking for ideas for a little variety.... there are only so many ways to do beans and rice.

jcpmoore · February 2012

Sorry, I like fresh food, so I have a hard time imagining shopping only once per year. For staples, though, I would add some of these:

couscous
whole grain pasta
pasta sauce
chicken or vegetable stock
black beans (I like these as much as pinto and makes good variety)
fire roasted diced tomatoes (the spice up almost anything, particularly black beans)
wax beans, garbanzo beans, and kidney beans (make great three bean salad)
mandarin oranges
applesauce unsweetened

Do you have a root cellar? If so:

mushrooms
sweet potatoes
jicama

Other fresh stuff I'm not sure what to advise about, but I like those. If you've never tried jicama I recommend it. It's sweet and kind of apple-like, but crisp like a potato. It's good in salads or by itself. Be creative.

HTH

bassicmom · February 2012

These are all great ideas. I like the oranges especially since we can't grow citrus in our climate. I have heard controversy about canned tomatoes, but I still use them because they are so handy. We don't have a root cellar per se, but the plus side to our moderate to cool climate is low spoilage. We can usually get through most of a 50# bag of onions with it just sitting in the kitchen.

bassicmom · February 2012

I've had jicama once. It was pretty ok. The kids had it too and liked it with lemon. I never thought about storing some... good idea.

Once a year shopping.

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