gfunkdave

How do you plan what you buy at the grocery store and what you're going to make for dinner?

Having recently moved from NYC, where I could just order anything I wanted for delivery, to Portland, where the only delivery options are pizza and Chinese, I'm resolved to cook more at home. But how do you decide what to make? How do you stock your kitchen so you can just make stuff rather than have to make a special trip to the store?

mbece

This was really important to me so I decided to live in a walkable neighborhood.

I essentially treat the whole foods flagship in Austin as my pantry and I can make a trip a day (all in, 30 min).

pseudoswede

I use an app called Our Groceries. Every time I think about something we need to buy at the grocery store, I add it to the list. Every time I see that we are running low of an item that we use regularly, I add it to the list. I tend to have three separate lists of items that can only be found in certain stores: grocery store, organic grocer, and Costco.

If it's a shelf-stable item that we use regularly, then I tend to buy double what we usually need. For example, I try to keep two unopened boxes of pasta in the pantry at all times. Once I use a box of pasta, I add "pasta" to the list and replenish the supply. Sometimes we may have to cook a lot of pasta--or we haven't had time to go to the grocery store since I added it to the list; that is when it's helpful to have an extra box around.

The nicest thing about the app is that lists can be shared and updated in real-time across multiple devices. If I'm driving home, and I have time to stop by the grocery store, I'll text Mrs. Swede to update the grocery list. When I get there, her list of items that we need are on my phone.

TWA884

Here is a list of suggested Pantry Essentials. Depending on your taste and cooking repertoire, you can easily leave out about a third to half of the recommendations.

I like to shop at farmers' markets on the weekends. I buy fresh seasonal products as much as possible. I also check what seafood, poultry and meats look good or are on sale in the markets and specialty stores; Portland should have excellent fresh fish and shellfish. Once done with the shopping, I have a rough idea what we'll be eating during the week.

Paint Horse

I have all of the recipes I use each on a single sheet of paper, which I have filed in file folders by cuisine or the main ingredient. I thumb through these folders to select the ones I will use. I do this every week or month depending on whether I am buying a week's worth or a month's worth of food. I prefer to buy monthly as I hate going to the grocery store. I create a shopping list from these recipes.

kipper

If you don't mind shopping every week, plan your meals weekly. For a while, I used eMeals, which gives you a weekly menu, complete with needed ingredients. You can select a menu plan that isn't grocery store specific, or you can select from:

• ALDI
• Costco
• Kroger
• Publix
• Safeway
• Target
• Walmart
• Whole Foods

IIRC, those are supposed to incorporate the grocery store's sales for the week.

You can also use a freezer cooking cookbook and fill your freezer with meals that just need to be thawed and cooked, no extra ingredients needed. If you want the names of a few that I use, let me know. I'll wander out to the bookcases so I'm sure I have the names and authors correct.

gustav316

We usually go to a website and browse recipes for things that interest is. Then we usually cook 2-3 things in Sunday and you generally have food for the rest of the week. Crockpot recipes are great for this plan.

amunter

We do a bit of a combo of these approaches - we keep a well-stocked pantry year-round (we host a cooking competition once a year, so it becomes more a matter of maintenance).

But because my wife and I both have pretty scheduled lives, we carve out time every Friday night (when we make lists of to-dos for the weekend) to divvy out meals for the week and determine what we'll make. Then we create a comprehensive shopping list for the week and do the shopping on Saturday. As I implied, it's not a matter of lack of availability as much as it is convenience to our lifestyles.

(As an aside, if Chinese and pizza are your only delivery options in PDX, you're missing lots of good choices - there are choices in every part of town and most of the 'burbs. Even where we live, between Beaverton and HIO...)

uk1

I was thinking about how I would cope if I weren't able to rely as I do to a reliable on-line delivery service. Currently, we use a delivery service that is reliable and therefore menu planning is a part of the order process. We have virtually no waste and always have everything we need for the meal.

If I had to go out and "shop/market" I would start to keep a set of spreadsheets of my favourite meals with a shopping list for everything needed for that meal. Before I went out I would select a number of them ie the number fo days I was shopping for plus a reserve or two. I'd check to see what wasn't needed ie already in stock and then use the list to shop. Each meal might have an essential fresh essential item or two that I'd need to check first. So for example the meal might be dependent on fresh salmon being both avaialbe and good. If that was available I'd buy everything else needed ror that meal. If one of them was missing I'd go to a reserve meal.

This sounds boring but it would be my approach. The list is also good for ensuring to improve and record your repetoire.

stut

Same here. I love Ocado (I couldn't afford a Waitrose shop otherwise) and pre-planning the weekly order works an absolute treat.

I tend to do a midweek fresh food top-up (there are two decent mini-markets in King's Cross station, on my way home) and/or visit the Saturday market in my town.

Plus, the whole process takes half the time a physical supermarket shop takes, and is infinitely more civilised.

Cassie55

I also use Ocado. I decide what meals we'll have for the week and order what we need. I have a well stocked larder as well (a friend last week didn't believe I had 5 different types of flour) and if I feel anything is running low I'll add it it my Ocado basket even if I'm not ready to actually plan my order.

uk1

We have a Monday and a Friday Ocado delivery. Works wonderfully. I like that I can plan the menu plus I get suckered in by flash sale stuff. This normally results in me buying stuff I wouldn't normally buy simply because it is "too big" for two. So sometimes it is 50% off a rather large corn-fed chicken and that becomes two meals ie a spit roast and then cold chicken and coleslaw and chips. I wish I weren't drawn by the flash sale ... but I am just an opportunist.

I like that refunds for stuff is so easy. So when they crush the bread by throwing the charlottes on top I don't pay. They don't learn ... and I don't pay. Because of proper planning and decent prices I'm convinced shopping with Ocado saves us a bunch. And it's great for those deliveries planned whilst away for our return.

They have also started to import some great stuff. I am totally in love with their new rendang sauce pouches for example. I am using it twice a week currently ... and the best is rendang pork balls. I know I shouldn't but I cannot stop myself. In fact we have it today .....

ps Stut ... I use to go to school at The Angel and lived off Old Street now called grandly The Barbican!

stut

Yeah, the refund policy's saved me a fortune in soft fruit. Yeah, put the soup cartons on top of peaches and raspberries? Again? Great idea! Oh wait, I can salvage most of this...

Some of the imports can be a little odd (the Carrefour reflets de France range isn't nearly as interesting as I'd thought) but others (proper Flammekueche!) are bang on the money.

Cassie55

Maybe I've been lucky I have rarely needed a refund.

The exception was last week when I decided I didn't have time to bake for friends popping over for coffee. The cupcakes I ordered were underneath a bag of potatoes and completely flat.

Maybe it was karma? So I ended up baking anyway