Shopping
My daughter is off to university in February after taking a semester off to be a wrangler in Colorado. In June she is moving into a house with four other people. I have been buying kitchen tools for her to use when she sets up a kitchen next year. This is covered in ‘Basic Tools.’
While shopping, it dawned on me that I needed to teach her shopping strategies. Clearly, the preferred recipe list is the starting point. I shop three types of grocery stores, a warehouse club, a low price store, and a traditional grocery store.
She is currently putting a list of recipes together that she likes. When she does that, I will give her ideas on what ingredients to prep, what meals can be made in bulk and stored. Like most of us, she is swamped most of the time, although she is interested in how to eat healthily.
We keep a list of items that are needed on the refrigerator door. Everyone is expected to put items on the list that they need. The reason I do this is to avoid someone from complaining about running out of an item they need. I simply ask if they added it to the list?
Using a phone app may be a little easier, but I am old.
So that is where I start to build my shopping list. As I run out of or low on an item during the week, I simply add it to the list. I do a ‘once over’ checking food, cleaning supplies, pet supplies, and anything else I usually buy during my shopping day. When the list comes together, I start to figure out where I am going to stop.
Grocery store apps help me determine what is on sale at various locations. As I check the flyers, I make a note on my list. You may ask why? Take chicken breast; they are priced at $2.89 a pound at the warehouse and $1.89 at the low-cost grocery store. I clean and dice Jalapeno peppers then freeze them for use in several recipes. At the high-end grocery store, they can be as much as $4 a pound. I buy them for .89 a pound at the low price grocery store. I have time to somewhat price sensitive. Because I cook most of the meals, I seem to remember when we are getting low on staples so that I will pick those up while shopping. I seldom pick up sweets.
When checking the flyers, I determine to some extent what recipes I am thinking about using in the next week. If there is a great price on beef, then there will be a couple of meals with it the following week.
List in hand I am off to the stores. It is generally, starting at the warehouse because it is where I spend the largest part of our food budget. If you shop in the same stores, you become familiar with the layout, so it doesn’t take long to get through them.
Next, I stop at the low priced store. Typically I only buy produce, dairy, and chicken, so I am in and out in a very short period.
My last stop is at a conventional grocery store. Again I am familiar with the layout, and I am only picking up miscellaneous items.
When I leave the last store, I am only 70% done—headed home to offload the groceries and prep. A lot of work? Well, some work, but I am in an excellent position to provide healthy food for my family.
© 2016 T.K.Frawley.