Dave Smith wrote:
> FERRANTE wrote:
>
>> I am doing something wrong? I go to the store, spent $80, and two
>> days later, I am looking for something to make a meal, and it is not
>> there. I am obviously doing something wrong. I have never went to
>> the store with a weekly meal plan.
>>
>> What methods do you use when shopping for the week? I thought about
>> getting a couple boxes of cereal and milk, bread, butter, and
>> breakfast is taken care of. Then lunch and dinner. Sounds simple. Is
>> it?
>
> A single person should be able to eat pretty well on $80 per week.

No joke! I don't even want to *think* about what all I could eat for $80 a
week!

> is a good idea to have a decent supply of staple ingredients on hand,
> flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder, eggs, milk, butter,
> shortening, cooking oil etc. You can keep a supply of frozen
> vegetables on hand. Then your weekly shopping would include the meat,
> cheese, bread, fresh vegetables etc. Some of your staples are
> perishable and will have to be replenished on a regular basis. You
> should also accumulate a variety of herbs and spices to have on hand.
> It can be an expensive proposition to get them all at once, but if
> you buy one or two per week for a few weeks you will soon have just
> about everything you need.

On top of this, I recommend thinking of multiple purpose foods (aka using
leftovers). For example, I marinated and broiled a 2 lb. flank steak last
night in an "Asian" style marinade. I ate 4 thin slices of it with steamed
(from frozen) brussels sprouts and a slice of toasted bread. I cut two more
slices off for dinner tonight; the remainder went into the freezer. Why?
For later use in a beef & broccoli stir-fry. It's what a call a
multi-purpose steak. I also have frozen (already cooked) rice in a freezer
bag from leftovers to use in the stir-fry.

I don't have multiple freezers; cannot shop for a month's worth of stuff at
a time. I shop for deals and multiple use stuff. And yes, I keep lots of
frozen veggies on hand for when the good fresh stuff is not in season or is
just terribly expensive. And the staples you mentioned, Dave.

Also, canned tomatoes, stuff like that... always on hand just in case. I
can't imagine buying $80 worth of food a week and having "nothing to eat".

Jill