How do you shop for food?

[SavedbytheBlood]

Hey what's up yall,

I have always wanted to ask this. How do yall shop for food, and how much? Do you shop everyday, everyweek, or everymonth? How much fruits and veggies do you get? How much of this and that? Like how much of everything do you get? Hahaha. Because I can't stand when my apples go just sightly bad. Haha. I hate it. I like fresh fruit. :)

So help a sista out ok. Peace. :afro:

[happygolla]

I shop once a week at Costco, for the vegetables and fruits since you can be in bulk of these items. I also do Trader Joes, once a month or biweekly, to pick up the dry goods, Brown rice pasta, black beans, pita bread, sauces, etc.. Then I do Raley's once a week to pick up the items both of the above mentioned stores do not carry like seasonings, some soy products I can't find anywhere else.
I spend about $150-200 at the moment, but once I get my husband and child on board, I am hoping the budget will be around $130-140 a week.
Does this help?

[karenlovessnow]

I'm a once-a-weeker. Occasionally I'll stop in to pick up a particular item during the week, but mostly I go on the weekend. I hate that I don't have one store where I can get everything I need and end up going to two or three different stores. My fruits and veggies stay fine as long as I use them up within the week. Anything after that gets risky. Ideally, it would be nice to get my fruits every 3-4 days but I'm lazy.

[DrJason]

I got to Trader Joes about once a week and ussually spend about 20 or 30. I ussually get vegetables, rice, and a couple premade things for when I get off of work late and don't feel like cooking. I then ussually get other items at albertson's during the week.

[jeezycreezy]

I know some omnis who go once a month and it blows my mind; I live for fresh, quality ingredients.

What the heck do those sons of a batch of cookies have left after 28 days but zombie food? Like, KD and Spam? Or what?


I go once a week a grocery store that my wife only likes because they have Air Miles. We buy enough for a week...barely. We keep it pretty tight because I hate when something spoils. It gets composted, sure, but it's such a waste of money.

When I get back I prep stuff for the week.

I make hummus for snacking.

White bean dip for pita sandwiches for lunch.

I press/freeze/marinate tofu.

I'll chop up carrots and other veg into sticks so I can grab them for snacks or lunches. Whatever I have to do to make the week more convenient.

I mean, sure you can buy pre-chopped stuff at most grocery stores if you don't own a knife. Otherwise I'm not sure who would. :)

I supplement this with sporadic trips to Loblaws Super Store because they have a pretty decent health food section. They have stuff like nutritional yeast, soy/chickpea flour, and Nayonaise as well as a decent selection of organic fruits and veg.

Loblaws still doesn't have some of the speciality things I like like Tofutti Sour Cream/Cream Cheese and Tempeh (and my wife eats eggs so I grab free range from there occasionally) so it's even more trips to a local hole-in-the-wall health food store.

Starting today I'm going to a local Farmer's Market I found to hopefully buy some cheaper, better produce.

As for how much, it varies so drastically I can't say. I try to vary my diet and recipes as much as possible so what I buy from week to week would take me a month to type out.

Cheers!
TJ

[bethanie]

Generally I do my fruit/veggie shopping seperate than my staples shopping. I might go to the store and get all the necessities...beans, rice...pasta, etc....but then when I can I buy fruits and veggies from the local farmers market whenever I need these things. I generally run out of these items pretty quickly, so I probably go to market once a week.

b

[rabid_child]

We usually do once a week at the grocery store and co-op. We typically spend a total of between $55 and $75/wk. I occasionally run out during the week to pick something up if I forgot it, or if I need something fresher later in the week.
This week I already had a giant zucchini, carrots, celery, frozen peas... which were some of the veggies I needed for the week. I also bought corn on the cob, red peppers, sugar snap peas, jicama, onions, tomatoes, avocado...
For fruit I already had a canteloupe uncut, and I bought maybe 5 peaches and 5 apples.

This week I did a second grocery run because my sister and bf are here for the weekend and I needed food for dinner tonight. I bought 2 lbs bulk tofu, another avocado, 6 ears corn on the cob, 3 sweet potatoes, tortilla chips (we're having jerk tofu, sweet potato fries, corn on the cob, and guac and chips for dinner). I also got almond paste for cookies, diet coke (my sis & her bf drink it. blech), 14lbs cat litter, hand soap, molasses, more peaches, lemon juice.. Maybe a few other miscellaneous things.. I spend $20.

[Tesseract]

When I have the presence of mind to plan, I shop once a week, usually on Sundays. I try to come up with a meal plan for the week before I go to the store, and make a list of what I need for the week to fix those dinners, plus stuff for breakfast and lunch. I also try to check the pantry and see what's getting low. I always make sure I have pasta, pasta sauce, cornbread mix, rice, soymilk, and a few cans of beans and veggie chili. I'll pick up bulk carrots, potatoes and onion just to keep some on hand, because they store pretty well, and I use them lots of ways. But I try to only buy other produce if I already have a specific use in mind for it. I hate it when I pick something up because it looks good or the price is right, and then it sits in the fridge and goes bad because I didn't make plans to use it.

Of course, sometimes I don't have the presence of mind to plan, and we run to the store randomly to pick up 2-3 things so we can eat dinner. Luckily it's just 5 minutes away.

[synergy]

Grocery shopping is one of my favorite things to do, and
I am at a grocery store at least once a week, but often twice a week.
I live alone so I buy very limited amounts of produce, and bread, etc. I always buy less than I think I need otherwise it will spoil.

I have the good fortune to live within 8 blocks of about 5 grocery stores, including one fantastic HFS, and a Co-op with a great natural foods selection.

I try to get to the farmers market weekly, but with my schedule, I'm lucky if it's every three weeks. But a new one opened downtown where I live, so I'm gonna check that out on Sunday. Yay!

[Ayrlin]

I buy my bulk items like maple,rice,beans etc every 2 weeks

for veggies and fruits I donot grow I tend to hit the store every other day or so.

I live half a mile from the store and I just take my little cart with wheels on it and walk right up there :)
I'm reasonably picky about my foods so they have to be as fresh as I can get them.
Thank goodness the store sells local produce

[Jinga]

I know some omnis who go once a month and it blows my mind; I live for fresh, quality ingredients.

What the heck do those sons of a batch of cookies have left after 28 days but zombie food? Like, KD and Spam? Or what?


I knew someone who did the once a month shopping. Essentially, she only bought foods that could be frozen or were canned/boxed. I have no idea how she fit all that stuff in her little apartment freezer.

I have some frozen veggies like edamame and the occasional convenience food, but the 100% frozen/pre-prepared foods thing is definately not for me. I also prefer a higher percentage of fresh foods, especially when it comes to fruits and veggies.

Since there's only one of me, my grain-bean-lentil-cereal supply usually lasts for several weeks. I go every weekend to get fruits, vegetables, soymilk, and whatever else I happen to be without. Any weekday shopping trips are impulse buys ... usually in regards to junk food cravings. I'm trying to cut that out both for financial and health reasons.

[kpickell]

I shop about once every three weeks and stock up... usually spend around $75. I keep breads and veggies in the fridge so that they don't spoil.

[Ayrlin]

I shop about once every three weeks and stock up... usually spend around $75. I keep breads and veggies in the fridge so that they don't spoil.

How do you get your fresh veggies to keep that long?
Mine will go bad after a week top's.
Er.. my fridge is only a year old so I wouldnt think it would be that :think:
But I keep my veggies in my kitchen fridge and my fruits out in the garage fridge ( it was formerly for omni food but I have stoped buying meats)

Only thing that really keeps is cbbage, everything else has to be eaten or replaced weekly at least.
I must know how you do it because then maybe I can buy in bulk and save money :cry:

[Jinga]

I'm wondering that, as well. The only fresh produce that keeps in my fridge for more than a week are apples, oranges, and carrots. Some stuff only lasts a couple days.

[kpickell]

Well the only fresh produce I usually buy are potatoes, onions, tomatoes, peppers, apples, bananas, grapes and strawberries. Other stuff I just buy frozen or canned (namely peas, corn, brocolli, green beans, berries) for simplicity sake.

[Ayrlin]

ahh okies , I was thinking you had found the magical way to keep greens fresh for 3 weeks

[gr8pyrz]

I meal plan and shop 1x a week as the norm. Although I usually shop Sat. morning for Sat. - Thurs. only since the produce available is notoriously crappy and doesn't last long. (eta: I guess I should add that I work 2 jobs and am not home Fri. nights to cook) There is a smaller chain market with good produce near me however the prices are 2-3x higher.

I have a 40min drive for a Good Food market and Trader Joe's so I maybe hit those 1x a month if that.

During the summer we do have a good traditional farm stand that is 25min away but it's worth the trip every week.

My immediate area is not health conscious to say the least. It's full of steak houses, fast food places and chain grocery stores filled with frozen and processed crap.

[healthnut32]

Because I can't stand when my apples go just sightly bad. Haha. I hate it. I like fresh fruit. :)



Try keeping aples in the fridge (but not near carrots-they will make the carrots develop a bad taste). They stay fresh a lot longer that way.

[asp3]

I take a weekly trip to Trader Joes where I buy food for my breakfasts, lunches and snacks during the week because I eat those at work.

My wife does most of the grocery shopping during the day, but sometimes we go together on weekends or in the evening. We usually visit several stores a week depending on what we need.

I have no idea how much our groceries cost, but I cover breakfast, lunch and snacks on about $25 a week.

[courgette]

I shop once a week, usually on Friday morning. I choose 3-4 recipes to make each week and make sure I have the ingredients for those. The other meals are leftovers or made from things stocked up in the pantry and freezer. I shop at one grocery store because they have a lot of organic selections and quite a good size health food section (two entire long aisles, but about one third of one side of one aisle is snack foods).

Once I get home I clean and prep all my produce. I store my greens and fresh herbs in muslin bags I made myself. If I don't prep things ahead of time, too often I let the stuff spoil....when I can reach in the fridge and pull out what I need I almost never have any waste and dinner comes together quicker.

I buy a lot of fresh produce, but I also keep a good selection of frozen stir fry veggies and other veggie blends to use in stir fries and curries. I mix and match and sometimes add some fresh stuff. This also speeds things along. I keep already cooked rice and seitan in the freezer for the same reasons (I cook big batches about every 6 weeks or so)

I make my own bread every few days, because I can't find a good whole wheat bread without honey and/or dairy. I also enjoy making big batches of soup and freezing in individual portions.

I keep the pantry stocked with canned and dried beans and lentils, canned tomatoes, jarred spaghetti sauce, various pastas, nut butters, various plant milks, cereal, etc.

I always make a good list and try to stick with it.

[Spidergrrl]

Since we don't have a car we have to carry our food home and the walk is a mile and a half. So we buy only 2 days worth of food at a time and carry it home in my little wicker rolling trolley. Unless it is raining or really really hot then we take the bus. We do the market every saturday (and Tues if I get off early enough but most of the food is gone by then) to get seasonal fresh fruit and veg as much as we can, but there are still some things like peppers I buy at the supermarket. There aren't any bulk bins in stores but I try to stock up on staples like grains and store them in jars to last the month. I do the HFS probably twice a week on days I'm not going to the supermarket and get other staples. And I do Oxfam every 4-5 weeks where I buy every bag of fair trade brown basamati rice they have and carry it home because it is hard to get to the Oxfam because they close early.

So I guess we do a little shopping every day.

Oh and we buy serveral things by the case from the HFS once a month like Engevita (nutritional yeast) and Suma fair trade black beans in a tin and carry them home by bus.

[SavedbytheBlood]

Try keeping aples in the fridge (but not near carrots-they will make the carrots develop a bad taste). They stay fresh a lot longer that way.


NOOOOOOOO, I don't like cold fruit. Too colddddddddd. It makes my teeth hurt. I like room temperture fruit. :)

Umm, yes I have teeth problems, and ummm, i'm gonna get them checked out just has soon as i'm able too. :)

Thank you guys so much for all the good information, wow. I'm gonna go through the posts and write down some stuff. Haha wow, i'm just thrilled about how many of you posted. Thanks again, and God bless. :)


Monika

[SavedbytheBlood]

I make my own bread every few days, because I can't find a good whole wheat bread without honey and/or dairy.


Wow you make your own bread? Like from stratch? That's so cool haha. Goodness. So you just make whole wheat? Do you make other kinds to? Honey you can throw down cookin if you can make bread. Haha. Just thought I would throw that in. :)

Take care.


Monika

[Spidergrrl]

I have a bread maker machine so i make our "daily bread" basic wholemeal and oat bread every few days but still buy specialty bread like ciabatta bread at the supermarket. Now that I'm only working part time I'd like to find a baker to buy from who makes vegan ciabatta because I'd like to support small businesses and the one I currently buy comes wrapped in plastic and i can't recycle plastic. I presume the bakery would wrap in paper or not at all.

[granolacruncher]

We shop once a week for dried items like beans, pasta, sauces and canned goods, rice milk and such. Then about twice a week for veggies and fruits. Once a month we visit the health food store and stock up on dried organic stuff. I would love to go more than that but I would totally blow my budget. ( I have no self control. LOL) We spend about $100 a week for the 4 of us.