Part Two: Grocery Shopping and how to love it! May 7, 2009

So last week we made a list and double checked to make sure we had everything the family needed.

A good tip is to find your style of shopping. Personally my husband and I make a date out of grocery shopping, we try to go on a day we have off that isn’t to busy, we always go together and once their we take our time and really enjoy each others company and hand picking the weeks food together. We also go every 2 weeks.  For us it’s a relaxing and easy way to spend time together, and only going every other week keeps it from getting old and stressful while still always being able to keep fresh fruit and veggies in our home.

But maybe for you it’s an enjoyable time alone, a time to reflect, or maybe a family outing. Maybe you like to only go once a month or even twice a week, whatever you chose try to stay constant, relaxed, and make this something you look forward to.

Another tip is to remember the most important grocery shopping tool, besides the list of course, your pen. It will make your life so much easyer if you mark off the items you grabbed as you go.

Time to Grab that Cart!

And now onto the shopping, so grab a cart and lets begin! We always start with fruits and vegetables, you know it won’t melt or ruin, plus in our grocery store it’s the first thing you see! We shop at an organic based grocery store, for us fresh fruits and veggies are the most important thing on our list.

Take your time to really find the best in the batch while considering when in the week you will use them. For example with bananas I always try to get a few ripe and a few not ripe so I can have bananas now and still have some that are good at the end of the week! Or if I’m not using tomatoes tell next friday they don’t need to be ripe yet!

Also, some stores (like mine) have cool little signs on some things that tech you what to look for in good fruit/veggies! When I first started going to this store I was surprised that I was looking for the wrong signs of the best fruit and veggies!

We also try to spice things up when it comes to our fruit/veggie selection. Besides what recipes call for we look for sales or in season things to feel our fruit snack quota. If navel oranges are your stable, but tangerines are on sale today,go ahead and grab the tangerines for a much needed change! Or if pomegranates are finally in season go ahead and grab one to replace a regular apple for a day. Spicing up your food keeps things fresh!

Speaking of apples, my grocery store has tons of different kinds! We always try at least one new kind a week. And with seasons changing and new apples being made from crossing 2 different kinds we still have not run out of new and delicious apples to try together. Trying different types of a classic stable is not only fun to eat, but also fun to pick out. Pink Lady Apples are our newest favorite!

We also change up our salads that we tend to eat at lunch. I like to get a different type of lettuce depending on what looks good that day, or maybe one week we will have cherry tomatoes with it and the next tiny carrots.

In other words, spice things up…you can’t go wrong with fresh and healthy fruit and vegetables.

Next Week: Part Three… We go on a hunt for meat!

Part one: Grocery Shopping and how to love it! April 29, 2009

I love grocery shopping! I know, I know…you think I’m a total walnut. Well, that may be but I think everyone else is crazy for not loving it.

Lets proclaim the month of May “Learn to love grocery shopping” month. Every Wednesday of May we will talk about different topics pertaining to loving that food run trip. In fact lets go ahead and start today!

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Make Your List and Check It Twice!

Or even three times! The list is the most important part of any smooth grocery shopping trip. Without it you forget things, it just adds stress.

Make a menu

The first step I persionally begin the list making process with is making a dinner menu.

• Figure out how many dinners you will need for the week ahead while keeping in mind any nights that you may have plans to eat else where or left overs.
  
• I like to try a new recipe or two a week, maybe even more…it keeps things fresh for the family and fun in the kitchen.
• Have a least one or two  impossibly fast options for busy nights such as grilled cheese and tomato soup,  turkey sandwiches with sweet potato’s, or salad.
• Actually consider your week! I have people tell me all the time that they make a menu and still end up running by Chick-fil-a  for dinner and throwing away tons of food that went bad at the end of the week because they had no time to cook their planned meals!

•Talk over dinner on a night that everyone’s home about the week ahead. Figure out who will need to cook what night, who will be eating at home, how much time you will have in the kitchen, etc… plan meals accordingly..

•While you are at it go ahead and make sure their is nothing non dinner related you may need to make special. It’s better to know now that your daughter has to bring cupcakes to school on Wednesday or that your husbands  job is having a pot luck lunch on Friday.

• Look at the ingredients, if you know you will have leftover carrots form that stew you may want to find something else to have those carrots with that week so you don’t waist and throw away perfectly good carrots.

Check your kitchen and house for basics

Grab your list after adding the ingredients you need for your dinners and make sure you have your basics. I know I can’t go a week with Cocoa,  flour, sugar, eggs, milk, toilet paper, and baking powder! I always make it a point to see how my stock on my kitchen and home baking essentials are stocked. Even better keep a list on your fridge to write it down as you need it. The last thing you want to do is take the fun out of grocery shopping by having to go back for missed items after work when all you want to do is go home.

Don’t forget about lunch, snacks, and breakfast

My weakpoint is forgetting stuff for lunch, breakfast, and snacks. These are the last things I add to that list. Dosen’t need to be anything fancy, but make sure you have a few things while once again considering your week for these meals. If you forget stuff for these times you will be running to Krispy creme for breakfast, McDonalds for luch, and the corner store if you want a snack…none of that is healthy or even that much easyer then grabbing these items at the grocery tore and having them at home. So put them on the list!

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Next Wednesday: Part Two: Grocery Shopping and how to love it!

We actually are going to go to the grocery shop finally!