Shopping Strategies
A reader asked how to go about shopping. It just so happens to be that I had been thinking about related subjects lately.
During my 3,5 years eating paleo I’ve changed what I eat, how much I eat and how often I eat quite a bit. Consequently my shopping behaviour changed right along with it. But those things weren’t the only influence on my shopping behaviour. During this 3,5 year period I also went from living at my mom’s, to living with a non-paleo friend, then on my own and now (hopefully for many years to come) with my also paleo eating boyfriend.
Yet, the single biggest influence on my shopping behaviour was switching from having plenty of free time (and a food shopping hobby) too having little time to spend. This didn’t go well for me in the beginning… but more on that later.
The point of this little story; that while I don’t think there’s a one size fits all approach to food shopping (and planning) I still think there is a big majority who also don’t have the time to hop to the shop every other day. This post is for you!
First, let’s learn from my mistakes. What went wrong when I had less time to spend on food shopping? At first I would spend a good chunk of my free saturday shopping as I usually would. This meant strolling along the market stalls, shops and the butcher and buying whatever was cheap, looked appealing or was something I hadn’t had before. And while I certainly try to still do some of that, the downside was having no plan. Things wouldn’t mix and eventually I’d still be forced to run to the store in order to create something palatable. And worst of all, things would go bad just sitting there in the fridge waiting for me to come up with a use for them.
You can probably see the obvious solution to this problem. Simply planning a menu would fix things. So that’s what I did. One week worth of paleo breakfast, lunch and dinner. Then I went shopping. It was a lot less fun..
and it didn’t work out either. It lacked flexibility. When my mother invited me over for dinner I’d stretch the perishable items for day nr 7 to their limits, they wouldn’t survive another unplanned eating event. Waking up late one morning was another thing my strict eating plan wouldn’t allow, because there was an omelette planned for that morning I definitely didn’t have time to make.
The plan needed some flexibility! I’ve since said goodbye to eating three times a day anyway. Below I’ll outline how I make a shopping list for a week on my current ‘shopping plan’.
Step 1: Take 2 or 3 things you like to eat for breakfast and lunch. Make sure there is something that has a short prep time, and something you can ‘brown bag’. Put plenty of these ingredients on your list. For me this looks like this; eggs, avocado, tuna, tomatoes, and bacon or smoked beef.
Step 2: Plan 6 evening meals and put the ingredients on your list.
Number 7 will either be skipped, filled with breakfast/lunch food on a lazy day or prepared by someone else. Keep the season in mind, not all produce or fish will be plentiful. Think about portion sizes plus maybe extra’s for snacks/breakfast/lunch.
Step 3: Check your pantry. How is your stock of olive/coconut oil? Salt and spices? Butter?
Step 4: Think about snacks if you need too. Some people can skip this step but I definitely don’t want to do without a coconut, beef jerky, maybe some almonds and apples. And perhaps (very unpaleo of me) some cheese or chocolate.
Shopping rule: Don’t buy things you don’t have a plan for. Otherwise it will simply die in your fridge. A massive waste of money. This might save you more money than all ten money saving tips I listed in this post together. (Clover pointed out in the comments that foraging for tasty on-sale meat is still an option if you can freeze it and put it on next week’s list.)
All in all, planning my shopping like this has given me plenty of flexibility while making sure I always have food available. It has also saved me money. I regretted the loss of my shopping hobby at first, but I eventually found that sitting down to plan your evening meals can be very fun and still allow for a lot of experimenting and creativity. Maybe more. And in the end I can still have a lot of shopping fun on saturdays looking for the best and cheapest of the ingredients on my list.
Do you guys have other strategies for shopping? Do you still find time to go more often? Let me know in the comments.
Themocracy
I’m not sure what I’ve changed, but lately I’ve been wasting a lot less. I joined a CSA in early 2009 and half the produce would go in the bin at the end of the week, and I had to quit. I always try to keep my basics on hand — onions, carrots, Brussels sprouts, bell peppers and canned tomatoes. I also have built up a store of meat that I keep in the freezer, so if I think I absolutely NEED wild salmon this week, can’t live without it, I don’t have to go out and try to get a good deal — I can use the filet I have wrapped up in the freezer that cost me $2.50. That way I can forage for random tasty on-sale meat without having to worry about sticking to a list.
I have noticed that there is so little in the grocery store that I can eat now, that I save money by going frequently. Before it was the opposite because I’d get a Pepsi on the way out or whatever else I used to like eating — a baguette that would sit uneaten on the counter maybe, because I couldn’t be bothered to make garlic bread.
I am loving your site, by the way. I made the spinach soup on Thursday evening and it was delicious. It’s hard to find paleo recipes out there, especially when you’re a newbie.
I just started trying the paleo lifestyle this year. I had worked on weight loss since 2007 through watching my calories, which worked, but was hard to keep doing.
I started bicycling in 2008 to aid in the weight loss, and it has become a passion for me. So, imagine my delight when I see a Bakfiets on your post about shopping! I really want one of those for grocery runs.
Clover, I’m glad you liked the spinach soup :) it’s one of my favorites. Foraging for on-sale meat is one of the things I like to do too, and when it’s not on this weeks list I’ll just freeze it and add it to next week’s list. Actually I’ll edit that into the post, thanks.
I do miss buying veggies that look extra appealing, because they won’t be so nice after freezing any longer.. But sometimes I can just change a recipe from my list on the spot.
David, glad to have someone appreciate the awesomeness of a bakfiets :D I thought for a second there that you must be a dutchy, but I see that you’re not.. perhaps you should move over here to the country where there are more bikes than people ;)
Dag Naomi,
Heb de link “ge-fixed” op Feel Good Eating.
Je site ziet er prachtig uit.
Groetjes,
Marc
Naomi, Bakfiets are getting more popular here. I actually got to ride one in a parking lot here in Louisville Kentucky. A young lady I met had it, and we stopped to talk.
Moving to another country is a bit out of the question at this point in my life. I can, however, try to make this one better. :)