I have NO method I buy things, particularly foreign store cupboard stuff, because of that, "Ooh, that looks nice/interesting!" mindset. Then it sits in the cupboard because I don't actually know what to do with it

My Nan can't believe I don't use a shopping list. But I don't buy stuff at random. I'll go to the supermarket knowing I need bread and milk and other staples. I'll know what I'm getting low on so need more of, but I've never done the meal planning thing, and written a list of exactly what I need for the following week's dinners.

Do any of you guys do that? I'd feel way too restricted if I did. I don't know days in advance what I want for dinner on Friday o.o The very idea of meal planning kind of freaks me out. I know the idea is to not buy too much of anything, so you don't end up wasting food by it not getting used before it's got unusable, but I rarely end up tossing food out.

Of course my general cooking habit of just tossing stuff together makes the whole idea of meal planning and organised grocery shopping a bit of a joke anyway But sometimes I wonder if embracing this method a little might help me be a more orderly cook.

We always use grocery lists but there's 4 of us in this house, and you can go through a lot of household staples with 4 adults xD Even with a list stuff still gets forgotten

We meal plan, but we have a fairly small income - if we just bought whatever we want, we'd wind up eating nothing but donuts and chips xD

Our meal planning is fairly simple, my Dad does it mentally, Mom and I write stuff down (we have to kinda fight over the meal planning, Dad would buy all boxed dinner or tv dinners if we let him....its a fight over healthy food ), this month we had taco night, rosemary chicken & potatoes, meatloaf, and Swedish pancakes & bacon night.

Meal planning isn't just about keeping food waste at bay, but a way to conserve what you buy so you don't end up eating donuts for 30 days, if you have little money xD Makes sure the money gets spent on some healthy stuff.

When I cook I always follow a recipe to the T.....until we get to spices than I just throw whatever and however much I want in when I made rosemary chicken I added turmeric (which wasn't in the recipe), was really good.

One of my favorite sites, is pepperplate.com you can import recipes from sites like Martha Stewart, allrecipes, etc you can even manually import recipes - and you can add things to a calender and add ingredients you don't have for a recipe to a shopping list, etc out of all the sites I tried its my favorite. I used it last year to plan my 100% from scratch Thanks-giving dinner.

Interesting, see I don't follow recipes, but I don't buy junk food either, the majority of my cooking is from scratch (I don't mean making my own pasta etc. but not stuff out of packets and boxes), any leftovers go in the fridge for the next day, or the freezer.

In general the only time food gets wasted is if I forget about it, and it ends up sitting in the fridge for weeks ><

We like sugar at my house: donuts, cake, pie, cereal, etc xD And my Dad loves buying junk food.....(this is why mom and I really hate taking him shopping! Not only will he buy tv dinners and the like but he'll impulse buy, he'll see chips or something that catches his eye and buy it whether its on the list or not ).

We like making tacos for the left overs they last 3-5 days depending on how fast we eat them (plus there really good).

Produce gets wasted a lot here, but few of us like lots of fruits & veggies, but we buy them in the hope of broadening our horizons, but we tend to procrastinate doing anything with them till well....there inedible

If I had everything my way: I would make chicken broth every week, have fruits and veggies for smoothies and Popsicle's, ice cream, etc would be making my own bread, and so on.....but I have to compete with Dad and small finances >.<

I was trained how to read and follow recipes so that's what I do, unless I feel really comfortable making changes. And trying to just do whatever (without a recipe) never works for me, I tried to ad lib a smoothie recipe.....it tasted terrible xD

Well uh, I don't do the shopping in our house but when I go with my mum I just grab the things I want.. usually sweet things, heheh.

Mum used to plan meals each week and do a huge shop on Saturday. Then she retired and now dinners are either planned ahead 2 days at the most or they are spur of the moment. Since she retired a supermarket opened up closer to where we live so it made it even easier to just go down whenever we needed something.

I tend to just replace things as they run out rather than do a big shop. Of course then I end up picking up stuff that I don't strictly need at the same time.

Usually I cook from scratch with whatever's about rather than buying specific ingredients for recipes. If in doubt most things can go in a stirfry.

Sounds like Kat and myself have similar shopping and cooking habits. I like to always have certain things in the cupboard; red and green pesto, at least one jar of stir-through pasta sauce (Aldi do 2 really nice ones, same size jar as pesto, and they last a good long time in the fridge once they're opened), 3 or 4 tins of soup, 2 tins each of tomatoes and kidney beans, tomato puree, a carton or 2 of passata.

None of this is stuff I buy as I need, but there's something extremely comforting about well-stocked food cupboards. Also, being able to stock up a little when things are on offer, rather than buying things when you need them, and they're full price...

I only make a list for things like Bread, Milk, and other such vitals... other than that I just wander around with a calculator trying to get good deals

But sometimes I wonder if embracing this method a little might help me be a more orderly cook.

I think from what I've seen, you make some pretty epic dishes already

That's a sweet thing to say, but as I said elsewhere, I don't take pics of the disasters

At least your success foods look pretty... I've never gotten stuff that pretty...
I wanna see your disasters now...

Haha, no way!

I use a list because even if I'm only going in for three things, if I don't write it all down I will forget something. I don't do meal-planning, but I will try to think if there's anything in particular I'd like to make and pick up relevant stuff for it. If I come up with something later in the week that I'd like that I don't have ingredients for, I just wait till next shopping trip or run out and get them then. So I might say "I think I'd like to make curry this week" and get stuff for it, but definitely not "I'm waking curry Wednesday for sure." Sometimes I think I'll be making it that week and then end up not doing it for ages.

I'm feeling a bit clueless about food lately. I seem to be approaching every meal with the attitude "oh god, I have to deal with this again" because I have just no clue what to make. >< Hopefully I'll be able to come up with some inspiration and recipes so my grocery shopping will actually yield things I want rather than coming home from the store and feeling like "yep, still nothing to eat."

I always end up picking things up last minute..."Oh, I want to make this for lunch! I'm missing this!" -runs to store half an hour before lunch is supposed to be ready-
My hubby likes to do a big shop, but those scare me. "We're spending how much?? Ooohh, where are my coupons...?"
I try to do the coupon thing, but it's so hard. I mean, I'm trying, but I just can't get the hang of it! //cry

Cookstr - Recipes You Love From Cookbooks You Trust Here you go cherry, a recipe generator recipe site.

Or if you're cranky use this one:
What The F*ck Should I Make For Dinner? (This is a NSFW one... cause of swearing)

I love that second one! xDDD
I should use that more often, lol!

Glad it got a laugh. The second one from what I saw just links to the first one... just a funnier choice system.

I noticed, lol. I always have trouble finding a recipe, it's better if someone [or something] finds it for me. xD

Glad to have been of assistance there :)

Thanks so much~!

Originally Posted by The Wandering Poet

Cookstr - Recipes You Love From Cookbooks You Trust Here you go cherry, a recipe generator recipe site.

Or if you're cranky use this one:
What The F*ck Should I Make For Dinner? (This is a NSFW one... cause of swearing)

Omg it has a "I don't fucking eat meat" button. Bless you. Bless you.

Originally Posted by KatMagenta

If in doubt most things can go in a stirfry.

You have summed up my entire philosophy on grocery shopping.

Once in a while, I find a recipe that sounds interesting and take the ingredients list to the store with me to get what I need, but more often, I just pick up the basics - bread, peanut butter, soymilk - and a ton of fresh veggies, and I figure the rest out later.

TOP TIP

If you buy food semi-impulsively - ie you need food but don't plan meals - go to the supermarket in the evening and pick up all the reduced food with yellow stickers on ;D

Ooh good to know!

Another top tip is NEVER go food shopping when you're hungry. That's a guarantee for some impulse purchases, right then!

I don't buy almost anything at all when I'm full... I guess that whole "Wont eat for a week" feeling...