To save time/plan meals. Not sure if it will really save any money. Don't quite see how.
FRUIT
papaya
Cantalope or honeydew
pineapple
berries (whatever is good)
mangoes
lemon
fresh coconut
pears
whatever else is good/ripe
VEGGIES and Herbs
cilantro
Mint
baby bok choy
fennel
serranos
onions
baby potatoes (firm)
brussel sprouts
organic sweet peppers
Persian or European cucumbers
Tomatos
Avocados
Garlic
Mushrooms
baby spinach
NON-PERISHABLE
Mayo
Hazelnuts or almonds
granola bars
paprika
lychee canned
condenced milk
coconut milk
Chips for guacamole
Almond milk
Colder section
cream cheese
Smoked salmon
Herring
Feta
Olives
Pickled mushrooms
FREEZER SECTION
chicken
Lamb
butter
eggs
tortillas
Milk
Buttermilk
OTHER
potted strawberry bush if they have
method handsoap
swiffer wet
FISH - from fish specialty store later.
What do you think it should cost?
Made a grocery list.
April 24th, 2014 at 09:29 pm
April 25th, 2014 at 01:20 am 1398388817
April 25th, 2014 at 01:47 am 1398390471
1. minimize or eliminate food wasted (so I just buy what we actually need)
2. if the food is there we aren't tempted to eat out
3. I can vary the meals (maybe one is more expensive -salmon or whatever - and the others are less expensive - veggie based) so that I control the grocery budget
April 29th, 2014 at 02:00 pm 1398780006
Do you have recipes planned for all of those foods? Perhaps plan on trying to get two meals out of something and knocking something else off your list.
I'm also confused about the time frame of this shopping trip. Do you have no food at home now? You certainly don't need 10-12 kinds of fruit every week, but I wouldn't buy extra fruit more than a week in advance. You can't possibly have to buy mayo, granola bars, and three kinds of milk every week. Chicken AND lamb AND salmon AND herring AND fish from the specialty store - certainly not one weeks shopping for most of us.
As far as your "how much do you think it should cost" question, you know the answer. Everyone will think it should cost a different amount, and that amount will be one half to one quarter of what it will actually cost for you to buy due to your geographical location and expensive personal preferences.
April 30th, 2014 at 03:51 pm 1398873100
Breakfasts:
yogurts with half granola bar and almonds
Multiple fruit salads with coconut/mint/lime sauce or Cointreau (breakfast or snacks)
steel cut oats with nuts and baked apple/pear
Dutch pancake
crepes with smoked salmon and cream cheese
Dinners:
Baked buttermilk chicken with pinapple salsa.
fish tacos with arctic char/w adobo sauce and mango salsa
Fish with spicey sauce and baked baby potatos
Chunky guacamole
Greek Salad
Lamb and caramelized fennel
Chicken with veggetables/bok choy/mushrooms
May 2nd, 2014 at 09:09 pm 1399064957
In and of itself it's not going to do anything to save money. If you just write down everything that you want to buy and then just go out and buy it of course it's not going to save you money.
The point of a shopping list is to show you what you're buying to help you make smart changes and substitutions. To figure out of what you can less, or if you really need everything on the list. To reduce impulse buying. To help you figure out how to base meals around what you already have, and around what is on sale a that time.
No matter what you say, you don't *need* all those things. You choose to buy them (which is - as we all discussed in a previous thread - totally fine) but it's not going to save you money. You choose to shop and eat a certain way and that way is expensive. It would be expensive even if you didn't live in NEW YORK CITY.
As we said before, it's fine to shop like that - but it's not going to save you any money. You have to actually make sacrifices to cut that bill down. Like eating more chicken. Or leftovers. Or buying less expensive fish. Or buying less expensive *anything.* Or making only one fruit salad instead of multiple ones. My mom only ever had two kinds of fruit on the counter, and they were usually apples and bananas. Yet, amazingly, I grew into a fully functioning adult.
May 2nd, 2014 at 09:58 pm 1399067923
But the real key for me is eating a lot of "meatless" meals. This week we have two vegetarian nights, one ground turkey, one chicken night, one shrimp night and one night is eating something from the freezer that was leftovers from another meal with a salad.
It sounds like you're a really great cook... I love to cook and eat nice food (like you, very little processed foods), and it's been a fun challenge to see how I could lower my grocery bill but still eat well. One thing I did was to figure out the cost of each of our regular meals to see which ones were expensive and which were inexpensive so that I could use the expensive ones more as treats.
FYI, I spend about $100-120 a week on groceries, which is high by some standards and low by others. I live in an expensive city, too (partly because it's small and sort of touristy). I have to go to two stores to get the deals I want, and unfortunately we don't have an Aldi in our state.