G is for Groceries

Every other week, I get groceries.  It is one of my least favorite chores.

Somehow, over the years, I have gotten away from meal planning for the week. It's been easier with just JR and I to fly by the seat of our pants, preparing something quickly or eating out. But what I've been noticing is that I buy way too much and throw away way too much.

One of my goals is to start to plan meals and lunches once again, trying to use chicken, fish and turkey several times a week. They are staples of my grocery shopping, along with fresh spinach, brussels sprouts, oatmeal, berries and almonds.  Tonight, I'm preparing some grilled chicken breasts in a mesquite marinade. Along with?

  A broccoli salad and a fresh strawberry pie.

What are you making for dinner in the week ahead?

   

Comments

[Renna]

I have also gotten out of the habit of meal planning since my kids are grown. I cook dinner about 3 or 4 times per week, and rarely know before noon (and often much later than that) what it is I'm going to cook.

I try and keep veggies and accompaniments in stock, but having a small (quality) fresh meat market right near my house comes in extremely handy!

Speaking of grocery shopping, I've noticed price increases in many of the items I buy, every single time I go to the store anymore. I told my husband, at this rate, we may have to start giving up some of the foods we like to eat!

[lynda]

Mmmm! I go to the store almost every day. It's cheaper that way.... if I bought 2 wks of food at once they'd eat it all in 3 days!

[Dana]

Mmmm strawberry pie!

I also find that meal planning eliminates waste, and saves you money. What with the prices of food going up everyday and our now one income household, every little bit helps!

We are going to be starting our grill up this week... so grilled veggies are on the menu.

[Emily]

You only grocery shop every other week? That is some serious planning ahead!

[Carole]

I plan the meals for the week before I food shop. This coming week is school vacation here, though, so thinks are a bit looser. Last week we had pot roast on Monday, chili on Tuesday, we ate out on Wed, and we had grilled cheese and homemade chicken soup on Thursday. All good and now all gone!

[Charlotte]

I don't usually plan a week's menu ahead since there is just me to cook for. Tonight I had baked chicken breast with some stuffing, steamed broccoli and steamed southwest corn. The veges were the frozen ones which steam in their packages. I love those! There's enough for three meals in each package so tomorrow's lunch will be built around those two veges and some meat from the freezer. When I grocery shop, I tend to look for the bargains, especially in the meat department, and then build my meal around what I have at home. I'm trying to go to the store less. I'm now on a fixed income and can't really afford to be shopping on a frequent basis although I'll make an exception and go once a week to get fresh strawberries, my luxury to add to cereal, eat fresh for dessert, or to make a simple dessert with a cookie topped with whipped topping and a berry.

[kathy b]

Well first of all I want that pie! second, i have and EAT sign in my kitchen too! We are so alike (!)

Shopping has gotten more expensive of late. I agree with others on this. I plan meals for the week, but I get tired of it too.

I think I ve mentioned before that my favorite dinners are CHER dinners from the movie where she feeds her two darling girls, on toothpicks all the time. Cheese cubes, fruit and bread. We do it often when fireman is at work. He's a meat and sides guy.

[Dorothy]

The strawberry pie looks delicious!

We'll have chicken with pasta in garlic and oil one day, ravioli on Tuesday for little boy's birthday, and I think I'll do a salad with Greek style chicken too. Our goal is to eat more veggies - I shred a lot of them into anything with ground beef - the kiddies don't complain then!

[Teyani]

Sweet G post - and don't we all dislike grocery shopping? (except for the times when all the kids are home, and we're cooking for the family!)

[Cybèle]

I don't mind grocery shopping... Actually, it's internet shopping, so I make a shopping list, go on the website, and then two days later someone turns up with my shopping. Great. I was getting fed up with having to drag two unwilling kids through the supermarket, and when they're not around, I tend to work, so this is the perfect solution.
I plan my meals a week in advance, for the simple reason that I find I eat a lot better that way, and also I don't have too much waste. Sometimes there are unplanned leftovers and then meals from the list get shoved to the next week.

[Denise]

The pie looks yummy!

[Wanda]

I try to plan out meals before I got to the grocery store. I don't mind grocery shopping at all. In fact, I reather like it. But I've gotten out of the habit of meal planning and need to do it more. It does help me to stay organized while gorcery shopping.

Strawberry pie looks yummy.

[Michele]

Now that my son is at school, dinner is a breeze (salads, soup that I cook on Sunday, quick stir fry, sauteed chicken or turkey breast with steamed veg and couscous). Next month he'll be back for the summer and it'll be back to plans and big shopping each week. To make it easy, each night has a different theme - e.g Monday night is pasta night, Tuesday is burrito night, etc etc.

[Elizabeth]

I do plan the weeks shopping in a loose sort of way because I tend to change my mind midweek.
Monday is always pasta night because the daughter and I leave for her riding class early and get back late. So we eat very early and make easy fast food. Often Friday is pizza night with rotation of meat and vegetarian in between. I like a lot of variety and cook seasonally.
Groceries for two teenagers is not cheap but I don't buy packaged foods. Things I have learned? None of their friends eat salad.

[Cindy Ericsson]

I want to eat at your house!

[Sue]

I'm with Cindy. I'm going to stop grocery shopping and just come over to your house, Lynne! Ha! But seriously, that strawberry pie looks amazing. It's hard to know what to eat at my house and when with the kids on all different schedules with their sports and events, etc. We do the best we can to provide a healthy meal and to sit down together as often as possible. I think that's important.

[r]

How can you plan when you never know who's going to be there or when? I make a meal for myself normally a stir fry of frozen veggies and some kind of protien, and let everyone else fend for themselves.

[Beth]

We save so much money when I plan out a menu. But it seems that it never quite works out because of unexpected meetings.

[amanda]

Hi Lynne - I am so behind on my reading! Glad you are better and hope your first day back at work is/was awesome! I agree on the grocery front. We fly by the seats of our pants, too. I try to use fresh veggies when in season and chicken/fish as dishes but sometimes hot dogs on the grill happen on quick fix nights!!

[Debby]

It's hard to cook with two people who have crazy schedules each week, esp. this time of year when C has a lot of late nights. So we have a voice recognition thing on the phone with the local pizza place. But whether it's homemade or not, we do eat together and talk, and that's the most important thing to me.

[Willemtje]

If you have a freezer, you can simply throw the surplus into the freezer when you have bought too much. Almost all foods can be frozen without doing anything else than washing and chopping it up into bitesize pieces. This saves a lot of money and time because you can whip up meals very quickly. For instance you can not only freeze meat, fish, chicken but almost any raw vegetable, even mushrooms and aubergines.

Willemtje, a Dutch knitter

[Erica]

For Christmas, I asked for and got a copy of "Once-a-Month Cooking", and I love it! I don't have the freezer space for a whole month's worth, so I do a couple of weeks' worth. It always lasts longer than I expect b/c of leftovers, days we go to parties, etc. I buy a bunch of stuff, then take a day to cook and freeze stuff. Some things, I pre-cook and freeze; others I get all put together, then freeze. The night before we're going to eat it, I pull it out of the freezer, then during the day, throw it in the Crock Pot or the oven or whatever, and we've got good eats!