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Grocery and supermarket list

A post of a ranting nature...

kkompoti

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I have tried every different way i could to reduce the times i go to the grocery store or the supermarket. i cannot do it.
I am only talking about bakery , butcher , farmers market , supermarket , grocery store..
Wife and I remember this and that and that, and that we are running low on something and that a relative is comming by the house tonight ...... and i cannot stand it.
It takes a lot of my time and the lines on the counters is not my thing...

So i said here is my group of very intelligent people , appart from the business side of things, you must be good in organizing your life also.

How do you cope with the above?
Do you have a plan?What is it?
Do you have supplies stored in the garage? With what time plan?

p.s. I am only asking this to be answered from married people with childern.(big shopping list...)

also one more question : what is the percentage of your groceries list monthly to your monthly income?
mine is 400-500 euro from my 2600 monthly income aproximately 19%.

Thanks a lot for the answers! Sorry for this not being of the fastlane mendality but maybe the answers i ll get may help me free up some time for me , the family and the projects. and of course it will help me relax from this daily inconvinience..
 
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HoneyBadger

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Saving time on errands is important so you can spend it on the things that matter to getting in the fastlane so I think the post is appropriate. To cut down on unnecessary trips I always keep a stash of frozen vegetables and frozen meat I bought fresh. Quinoa and similar grain/seeds can be bought in bulk so you always have a quick healthy side on hand. I buy a bunch of bananas and try to get green ones so they last a week. Apples don't go bad quick, etc. Nuts can store a long time in bulk. Buy big blocks of cheese. Almond milk can store in the pantry in bulk and carton put in the fridge as the last one is finished. Hope you see what I am getting at.

I also have a low maintenance garden that I can go out and pick kale, hot peppers, tomatoes etc. without having to worry about it spoiling in the fridge.
 
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becks22

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A lot of grocery stores offer online ordering now and you can pick it up and pay or have it delivered even. If you meal prep and plan a list, this could be a good option to avoid the stores altogether.
 
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Bananas

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1. Try and go to the same store all the time, that way you know where everything is. This means shopping goes faster.

2. Build a supply of dry foods. For example, boxed or bagged pasta. If you frequently eat this, wait for a sale and then buy 20 boxes of it. If you have it 1x per week, that's 20 weeks worth of your pasta night. You can buy huge boxes of dehydrated potatoes at Sams or Costco and quickly reconstitute them for mashed potatoes. They last forever.

3. Build a supply of canned goods. We like Le Sueur small greened peas, Libby French cut green beans, Green Giant corn. I keep about 100 cans. Takes only 5ish minutes to heat em and eat em. We have 1 can of vegetables as part of a meal 5 or 6 days a week. Find out what your family likes. I also do boxed soups, TRY THEM, the soups have improved over the past few years. I have 10 or so boxes of roasted red pepper and tomato soups.

4. Build a supply of frozen foods. Our grocery store has pre cut, sized, and seasoned fish and meat. Find out if yours does, and which ones your family will eat. Then buy and freeze. I have 20 - 30 servings of salmon, 20 - 30 servings of crab, same on steak, same on burger patties. There is frozen 'bake at home' bread. Regular, garlic, rolls. There are also frozen vegetables, I have a lot of Green Giant frozen veg.

5. Build a supply of dry goods like toilet paper. Wait for a sale, the buy loads. I have 5 packages of 24 rolls of Angel Soft right now. Next time it's on sale, I'll buy however many I need to have 5 packages again. Also have stocked up paper towels, paper plates, bottled water, canned sodas.

With just what I listed, here are some meals:

Cup of soup, crab, green beans
Salmon, peas, garlic roll
Burger & fries
Salmon, 1/2c pasta salad, green beans
Crab, peas, corn
Cup of soup, 1/2 sandwich

It's not hard, you just have to learn what your family eats and adjust, it takes time. Once you have it worked out, life is much easier. I can serve meals like I described above that require VERY LITTLE time to prepare for weeks without going to the store.

We usually go to the store once every 1 to 1.5 weeks to grab a few small things like eggs, bread, milk, cheese, and fruit. Once 4 - 6 weeks to replenish canned, dry, and frozen goods.
 

mazo

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Take an hour to Plan your meals for the month and order on-line to have it delivered.
Try buying and thinking of things that can be made into more than one meal. (Eg. Chicken, Roasts, and Veg.) Make meals up in advance and freeze them saves time and money.
 

mayana

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There is some good advice on here. I have to buy food for a family of six, so I know the struggles lol.

I don't know if you have access to a big wholesale club (Sams or Costco, etc), so that might change how you take my advice.

I buy in bulk the things that don't go bad (rice, oil, sugar, some canned items, toilet paper, paper towels, shampoo, toothpaste, soap, etc) - usually at Sams or Costco. The main reason to do this is because if you run out of one of those things, you HAVE to go to the store. And every time you go to the store, it takes time, and you might end up buying something you don't need. So you save two ways by planning ahead.

I go to Aldi every other week. I make a big list, and I am totally honest with myself about what I'm going to end up buying. I buy enough produce to last 3-5 days at this trip.

I usually have to run back to the store for more produce (like spinach, etc) because we eat a lot of salads. It's a good thing that Aldi is close by - so that's another tip. You will probably have to go back to the store for milk or produce in the two week period, so make sure you pick somewhere close by.

We have a big garden, too, and that helped over the summer. We still have tons of tomatoes in the garden, so I don't run out of those :)

We also use a deep (chest) freezer so that way we can keep meat and vegetables from the garden frozen. When we have company, we just make something nice from what we've already got at home. We don't keep soda, etc in the house, so when someone calls to say they are coming over and asks if they can bring something, we just tell them to bring some drinks, or the random ingredient that we might be missing (rarely happens).

It's important to have a well-stocked kitchen with whatever spices and dry ingredients that you might need.

That's how we do it here! I hope it helps :)
 
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trh90

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I agree with what everyone else is saying plus I have a grocery app on my phone so when I remember something I need it goes right on the list. I also have the app on the ipad at home where my son is supposed to add the stuff he needs or knows we run out of so it will sync to my phone. I stress the supposed to. Usually its smart comments instead.
 

SquatchMan

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I have tried every different way i could to reduce the times i go to the grocery store or the supermarket. i cannot do it.
I am only talking about bakery , butcher , farmers market , supermarket , grocery store..
Wife and I remember this and that and that, and that we are running low on something and that a relative is comming by the house tonight ...... and i cannot stand it.
It takes a lot of my time and the lines on the counters is not my thing...

Are there any grocery shopping companies in Greece?

In the US, at least in FL, we have a company called Shipt. You order groceries through the grocery store website and Shipt will deliver the groceries.

I think you might have found a problem in your country that needs solving.
 

corius

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For my household of 5 this strategy is pretty much buy in bulk. I purchase half a beef and a hog once a year. Then meals are planned monthly and ingredients are bought by my wife.

When it comes to fresh veggies i have an agreement with my neighbor, he plants a garden on my property and in return for him using my water and soil i get half of the harvest at the end of the season.

Now if i can only find TP by the pallet we will be set.
 

Ultra Magnus

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There's a farmers' market twice a week within a 3 minute walk from my apartment. We eat paleo, so that's basically all the grocery shopping we need. Combined, these two trips take around one hour. Then if we feel like getting anything else there are a bunch of various (upscale, budget and in-between) stores within a 10 minute walk. Then we have supplies coming in from the countryside from my wife's family, so sometimes we get 50 eggs, or several kgs of meat without any extra time invested.

What takes up the most time is cooking, we don't have enough crockery to prepare giant portions that would last very long (say, more than two days). The paleo diet usually means the physical volume of the food is very large, since there's nothing that would compare with the caloric density of grains and processed foods.
 

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