It's just my husband and me (and 2 dogs, for now!) and I would say we eat out/take out 85% of the time. Looking over our budget, I realize just how much money we spend unnecessarily on food, when we could be saving more by cooking at home. We never bulk grocery shop since we don't cook or eat much at home, I only buy things I bring to work (cereal, granola bars, yogurt, etc) and for items needed on the night that I decide to cook, which is probably less than once a week or so. So my question is, for people that cook all the time, how do you know what to buy when you shop in bulk? Do you menu plan all the time? Or do you buy random things and plan your menu around the items that you've already bought? But what about produce and things that go bad quickly? How often do you shop??
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It's hard for me to grocery shop for meals since we only cook 50% of the time during the week. I tried a few times to buy groceries in bulk to motivate me to cook more but it resulted in a lot of produce being thrown out. So now what I try to do is plan just two dinner for, let's say, today and tomorrow. Then I got to the grocery store and buy what I need for just those two meals. I end up at the store 2-4 times a week but that's fine by me.
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I menu plan every Sunday, usually based off stuff that's on sale, but sometimes just based off the recipes we already have a lot of stuff for. We shop once a week. We don't bulk shop (no room, just two of us) and we don't discount shop that often. We like Publix and are spoiled. We don't use a ton of coupons simply because there aren't a ton for what we tend to buy -- meat and fresh fruits/veggies. I do try to take advantage of BOGO sales though and will occasionally use a coupon just because.
I have a go-to list of recipes we really like and use often, then I'll throw a new one in there somewhere. Produce is hard, I just try to cook stuff with the produce earlier in the week. I'm also really bad about sticking to the plan and end up wasting a lot of food, like we'll buy chicken for a Tuesday meal and then not only will I not make the Tuesday meal (tired, lazy), I'll forget to freeze the chicken so we'll have to throw it out. That makes me feel awful. We can also be better about checking what we have in the freezer already (there is a lot of meat in there from those lazy nights that I do remember to freeze, but then forget we have so we double buy), and also about planning meals to use up all of an ingredient throughout the week. Like if we have to buy fresh basil (I have not yet been successful at growing it), I try to make 2 or 3 things that week that use fresh basil.
I started subscribing to Money Saving Mom and Hip 2 Save, they have a lot of good coupon deals in there and factor in grocery deals with coupons so if I do have coupons, I know when the best time to use them is. That should help some but I'm still getting used to it so I can get in a habit.
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I menu plan 3 weeks at a time and write out my grocery list when I menu plan. It helps eliminate excess waste by reusing ingredients quickly. I grocery shop once a week, usually on Sunday.
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I go to the market 3x a week to get fresh fruit and etc for my LO. I really need to start cooking more, but since getting pregnant, all I want to do is eat out!
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We aren't great by any means, but I would suggest to start slow.
We like to shop about twice a month for meats and freeze chicken, steak, pork, and fish. The night before, we take out a piece of meat to de-thaw. On work nights we cook the meat (usually in the oven) and then do a bag of frozen veggies in the microwave and then rice or potatoes. It gets boring but its does save money.
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I'm horrible about remembering to freeze things (and then remembering to defrost) so I prefer to buy fresh for that week. Usually I have between one and three meals planned, and the rest is supplemented with leftovers (admittedly, we're bad about eating leftovers and a lot is wasted) or takeout. I menu plan and create my shopping list off of it, so that I know exactly what I'm getting when I go to the store. Sometimes I'll try to plan menus around what's on sale.
It's hard for me to plan things out sometimes because of my husband's erratic work schedule. On any given day we might eat anytime between 6:30 and 10.
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I've not yet mastered this. I would love to get better at it.
I meal plan once a week and grocery shop once a week. At this point I don't mind going so often because it's one way to get out of the house
I always have a running list on my phone so I can add things as needed. There are some things that I buy every time (such as lemons, apples, asparagus, tea, etc). Those always stay on the list. And I only make 2-3 meals a week, and we then eat leftovers. It's much less stressful for me to only have to cook twice during the week. As for shopping in bulk, there are things that we always use. For us, that means cereal, pasta, ground turkey, frozen veggies, pork tenderloin, and roast. Hubs loves cereal, and I know I can make a meal from those other things in a pinch.
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@Strawberrybee @Ladyfingers I do that all the time - forgetting to freeze the meat and having to throw it away, to the point where I just stopped buying it unless I need it THAT night. I'm horrible! In this way, I still feel like a teenager, and I need to be more grown up about this!
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We have a really well stocked pantry full of staples that I know we'll use regularly - pasta, rice, spices, mixes (like Indian and taco seasoning), cereals, canned fruits & veggies, coconut milk, tuna, etc. And we have a stand-alone freezer with chicken (I free the breasts individually so I can just grab one or two), shrimp, turkey sausage and ground turkey, plus lots of frozen veggies.
I shop once a month to stock up the freezer, pantry and on eggs, cheese and other fridge things that hold over. Then once weekly/every other week I just go in to grab fresh fruits, veggies, milk, yogurt, etc.
We almost always have ingredients to make any of our favorites and most non-complicated recipes. If we need one or two things for dinner I ask DH to stop on his way home from work, this way we only get that one thing instead of when I go and come home with 40 things!
We are big savers (ok so DH should get more credit here) and I've been dumping every spare cent at my student loans for 5 years, so we eat out twice a month at most. Going out for ice cream is so rare that it's a birthday treat for me! Going out so infrequently makes it a big treat and gives us the financial freedom in our food budget to have splurges like crab legs or something more expensive at home much more frequently. Plus now that LO goes is asleep by 7, it's not really possible to go out without having someone come watch him. And by that time I just want to pull on some yoga pants and eat on our couch
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I meal plan, buy staples and do a "big" grocery shop every 7-10 days.
We supplement those stops with farmer's market stops for fresh fruit/veggies.
Hardly ever eat out, couldn't imagine the money spent when we make yummy food at home!
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And I should mention that we have a white board on the side of the fridge to keep a list of what we've run out of/need on one side and DH and I write down meals we'd like on the other side. That way on grocery day I can just take a photo of the list with my phone and at 7pm when we're hungry and lacking inspiration we can just look at our wish list for ideas...or I just make pasta for DH and have a salad.
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We don't really menu plan that much - I think the key is having a well stocked pantry of staple items. A good selection of spices helps a lot too.
We don't buy produce in bulk because we want it to be as fresh as possible, so we go to the farmers market or market for produce several times a week.
Things we do buy in bulk: meat, rice, quinoa, farro, beans, dry/canned goods.
We usually will cook based on what we get fresh. For example: right now fava beans are in season. The season is very short (a few weeks usually), so we will buy up fava beans at the farmers market, then make meals highlighting the beans. If kale looks awesome at the market, or peppers are on sale, etc. then we make meals for those veggies.
The more you start to cook, the easier it will be to branch out and think of recipes that will use what you have on hand, or recipes that would only need 1-2 items at the market.
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I freeze a lot. There are 5 dishes that Charlie will pretty consistently eat so I make those in big batches and freeze them. Then if I don't want to cook or make something he doesn't want to eat, I have back up meals in the freezer. It eases the transition into cooking regularly so that you don't have to do it every day.
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we are two adults and two dogs as well! i buy food for a week at a time--i've looked into monthly menu planning but haven't quite worked up to doing it. on saturday, i'll pick 3 recipes i want to make for that week and buy the ingredients from the grocery store and farmers market. sometimes i have to pick up something during the week, but i really like to get it all the shopping done on the weekends. with 3 recipes (including leftovers), we still have to eat out a few times a week, but i just don't think i can bring myself to making 4 meals a week--it's a lot of work (at least for me)!
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I keep a lot of staples (like frozen veggies, pasta, etc) for nights when I don't have time or want to think about cooking. I meal plan and shop once a week so that we use our fresh produce before it goes bad.
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I do a weekly planning for lunches and dinners and then go and get the stuff on Saturday or Sunday. I also keep stuff on hand that I don't use and try to use as much of that as I can (rice, frozen meat/chicken, soups, ect.)
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Like Mrs. Bee I also cook and freeze. Usually I'll make 4 servings of whatever I cook so we can freeze 2. DH takes them for lunch and we always have meals to choose when we don't want to cook.
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@Mrs. Stroller: I think you should do a post about grocery shopping/meal planning - sounds like you've got a great system!
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@Rachel: Good idea! Although my milk stash is slowing taking over the freezer and Mr. S would say that our system is failing because there's less and less room for meals for him to take for lunch. He's so spoiled
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I try to freeze a fair amount. Every Saturday I meal plan for the week, and try to do a beef dish, chicken dish, fish and/or vegetarian dish to keep things mixed up. Something that helped me meal plan is e-mealz. I wouldn't eat everything on the menu for the week, but even if it was 3 less meals I had to come up with, it was worth it to me.
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My freezer is tiny and my husband thinks freezer food is leftovers, so I cook everything fresh. Since I stay ay home, it is possible because I go to the market a few times a week and get what I can fresh. Eventually, I'll use a system, but for now, this works.
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I always keep staples in the house - rice, pasta, pasta sauce, frozen meat and chicken, cereal, bread. We freeze bread and keep it in the fridge so it lasts longer. We also try to keep frozen veggies in the freezer at all times. It makes for an easy meal when you can take out a hunk of meat, grill it, make some rice and steam the veggies in the microwave. That's what I do to make it easy on us.
Fresh stuff is harder. I find myself going to the store more and more often to keep up with milk, juice and fresh fruits and veggies.
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You can freeze milk...my mom buys the two pack half gallons in the the carton so she aways has it on hand. If you have granite counters, they're awesome for defrosting!
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I do shop once a week. I coupon, so I follow the sale papers each week. Like, last week Tyson chicken was 99 cent a pound at Kroger. When that sale comes around, I stock up. I also buy a lot of frozen veggies (or go to the Frmer's Market) and condiments. With Itlaian dressing, I can make Italian chicken or with Campbell's great for cooking soups, I make chicken and rice. I also try to stock up on Publix's microwaveable brown rice when it goes on sale for the month. If I can use the crock pot or microwave during the summer, I will. Gas makes it hot in here.lol
I don't menu plan, I pretty much have a lot in the pantry and I can make meals from that. I tried menu planning after I had my daughter, but it was too much stress for me. Planning and making sure you stay on THAT day. Uhhhh. Too much.
Couponing isn't just junk food like you see on TV. It's rare I even buy cookies b/c I can never find a coupon.LOL Also, for organics, there are a lot of coupons that come out for them as well. I'd NEVER bought organic til I started couponing.LOL I couldn't afford to! Now, we have a lot of organic cereal (LOVE Mom's Best), yogurt and pasta. Love Annie's pasta with the little rabbit on it. Even Baby Bear likes it.
I always have a running list on my phone so I can add things as needed. There are some things that I buy every time (such as lemons, apples, asparagus, tea, etc). Those always stay on the list. And I only make 2-3 meals a week, and we then eat leftovers. It's much less stressful for me to only have to cook twice during the week. 
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