Can you food shop?

[SquarePeg]

I ask because I am so useless at this. I can´t plan one meal let alone shop for the day or the week.

I spend so much on gas because I have to shop every day as I am unable to concentrate on planning meals. If I didn´t have kids to feed I would just eat toast and cereal.

It would be helpful if my kids could plan the meals every day and then I could buy the stuff. We did try for a while but they just say "anything´s fine".

sometimes I don´t even have bread or milk.

any ideas.

[Beekeeper]

Hahaha, I'm terrible. I live on easy stuff except when I have to cook for other people or when DH decides to cook. We don't have kids and also have insane schedules so it's not a big deal.

But you have kids, so yeah...Why don't you sit down on Sunday and force yourself to plan out just three dinners for the week? Start there and, in time, work your way up to six or seven days, and make a list of everything you will need. Go get everything on your list that afternoon and you'll have it ready to go. Also add things to your list that are easy for breakfast and lunches, such as cereal, yogurt, bread, peanut butter, lunch meat and cheese for sandwiches.

Breakfast for dinner is easy, and I loved our breakfast for dinner nights growing up (I still do it lol). If you have eggs and bisquick and sausage or bacon, it's doable and pretty nutritious. Add bananas or apples or whatever to pancakes for some fruit, or add veggies to omelettes.

Get a crock pot if you don't have one, and do crock pot meals. I know there is a recipes thread here, try checking out some of those.

If you really need a kick, PM me and I'll help you plan some meals and make you a shopping list. That's the kind of stuff I love hyperfocusing on

[Lisa_Mac]

Hi Linda.

This is one area where lists are very important. Like you I spend far too much time in and out of supermarkets and convenience stores, because I've forgotten to buy certain things.

Quite recently I started a plan to try and be more organised in this regard.

I make up a list of everything my family uses in a month. Non-perishable foodstuff and cleaning stuff. I then do one monthly shop and only buy those items. So when I run out of, for example, furniture polish, I have another can stored. BUT, I don't like hoarding, so no matter how cheap and on special something is, I will only buy the amount I need for the month. I have a list on Exel with all the items we need for a month and the quantities. I print it out before my shopping trip and put it straight in my handbag so I don't forget it.

Then (and this is something I really enjoy because I love cooking, and would be more difficult for someone who doesn't), once a week, I plan a menu for the week (dinners only). I make a list of everything I will need for the week, from meat to vegetables, spices etc. etc. If I have something in the cupboard I cross it off the list. This way, I can make one or two shopping trips and as I buy the stuff, they get crossed off the list.

This way I don't land up buying unnecessary stuff, only what we really need, and as the week progresses I buy perishable goods closer to the date of consumption.

This system is not perfect. You have to find the time to actually plan the menus. Some people I know actually stick to a handfull of meals that they cook over and over again. (Spag Bol on Monday, Curry on Tuesday etc.) This I find VERY boring. Having ADD makes this a real challenge,but I function better when I have order in my life, so I really try and stick to it as much as possible.

What I like to do is have a different type of food for each day of the week. So on Mondays I cook Italian on Tuesdays it's always some kind of Indian Curry (I'm enjoying learning about the different spices and making my own masalas) Wednesday I do English, French or German, Thursdays I do American and on Friday, Sat and Sun I wing it.

The bottom line is you have to have some kind of system and you have to make lists.

And yes, believe it or not, I do have ADD.

Lx

[SquarePeg]

thanks Beekeeper and Lisa Mac I do have a crockpot which is great, I love it and it sounds easy the way you have put it. I know I have to make lists and I am going to to it today (or tomorrow) ha ha.

Just like your way Lisa, I live in Spain and I love the Spanish way, they have the same meals every week and they don´t seem to get bored of the repetition. For example every Monday is paella, every tuesday fish (because the fish van comes around) etc so they don´t even have to think what to buy.

They do change their menus with the seasons to make use of seasonal produce but they are very much creature of habit. They stick very closely to set meal times and eat 5 times a day.

My daughter is so fed up with me, she is 16 and has taken over a lot of the cooking as she loves her food and enjoys cooking, but of course can´t cook if there isn´t any.

Ok I am really really going to try and nail this one.

thanks

[Drewbacca]

Grocery shopping is like an hour long adventure, even for just one thing... AnaFutura can vouch for this. LOL

[rockydaydreamer]

I live with my parents, fortunately my dad does the shopping. I have trouble deciding what to cook sometimes though.

[Liuka2012]

Get a huge freezer and buy those frozen meals. I do it all the time. You would be surprised now a days how they are actually not that bad for you to eat. I also take one day a month where I buy produce and I will cut the the fruit to freeze it.

[Liuka2012]

I just read the rest. You live in Spain that sounds so awesome. I love spanish food. Is spanish food kind of like mexican food? (A typical american question LOL). I have relatives that live in france and holland. The funniest thing is I love to cook sometimes I get so excited about it that I can't choose what to make. So I just end up making a frozen lasagna meal from stoufers.

[mctavish23]

After getting married and going through CD treatment a second time, plus OT

(Occupational Therapy) for Sensory Integration, I no longer ram people with

my grocery car while saying, GANGWAY MF

Alas, those were the days.

However, I do stop and think about blurting out to people on cell phones

in the grocery store ... "WHOFT ARE U TALKING TO AND WHO CARES?

I MEAN LIKE, CHECK OUT THE FING VEGGIES ? GET A GRIP (AND MOVE)."

U R WELCOME

[MrDavidAlan]

I don't cook.

Fun fact - I have lived here 2 - 3 years and have yet to use the microwave or oven...

[Zevispaz]

I have to use Evernote on my phone when I shop because it has check boxes I can hit when I get an item, because I still miss items on a paper list.

My husband is the one that cooks, he loves to cook and plans all the meals, so I really lucked out on that one. I'll go shopping for him though, so he doesn't have to do all the work.

While I was single, I'd just eat hot pockets, ramen, and macaroni and cheese. Or anything that could be made out of a box and didn't require extra ingredients.

[ginniebean]

I think a staples list of things to always have on hand is a good idea. I can't imagine shopping every day, it would be the end of me.

Things like flour, sugar, rice, potatoes, canned soup, tomatoes, eggs, salt etc.. Things you would consistently use can just be kept in stock and then the occasional items that you need when trying a new recipe can be bought as needed.

Milk and bread are staples.

[Lunacie]

My mom stopped two or three times a week. Never took me with her.

After I got married I had to learn how to shop in bulk because we had just
one car and lived 20 miles from the grocery store, shopped just once a week.

I found it easiest to just make the same things so I knew what to shop for.
Now that my adult daughter and I (and my grandkids) live together, she's
gotten bored of the same things all the time.

She does the shopping and I do most of the cooking. I have to figure out
what to make from what she buys.

[amberwillow]

I made 12 months of seasonal menu plans 4 yrs ago.
I don't have to plan anything.

Where it falls down is that now Dh is doing most of the shopping and cooking and he plain forgets to look, or write a list... He tends to shop one day at a time also.

I remind myself to be patient, I have been where he is mentally... It was just a long time ago.

[amberwillow]

Originally Posted by LindaGreen

I ask because I am so useless at this. I can´t plan one meal let alone shop for the day or the week.

I spend so much on gas because I have to shop every day as I am unable to concentrate on planning meals. If I didn´t have kids to feed I would just eat toast and cereal.

It would be helpful if my kids could plan the meals every day and then I could buy the stuff. We did try for a while but they just say "anything´s fine".

sometimes I don´t even have bread or milk.

any ideas.

I can help you with that... I'm good at planning and have developed some short cuts.