This is just a bit of a rant. I have a lot of trouble with keeping my home stocked with enough food. What happens when I don't is I just don't eat until it becomes a pressing problem. And when it does, the natural instinct is to go for something with a high caloric density. And then when I do shop I often can't eat all the food before it goes bad (vegetables and fruit) and I really hate it. So then I don't buy fruit and veggies and really miss it, it actually sometimes makes me want to stop eating if I'm not getting enough fresh food. And then... I go hungry and go eat stupid stuff that's not good for me.

I devised a meal plan that doubles as a shopping list for my weight loss attempt in the hopes that it will help. But several times already I found out I don't have the things for any of my pre-planned meals and no time to shop and it made for a day of pretty bad eating, turning to quick and bad solutions, totally unnecessary. I'm just bad at running my own kitchen, it seems.

It used to be a lot worse, though. A few years back when I started living independently I would come home dead-tired and hungry after not really eating anything much that day, looked through the pantry and the only thing I was able to do with what I found was something like a porridge made out of flour, sugar and water. If I was lucky, there was cinnamon. I called it "glue". Later I learned that if I bake it, it tastes a lot better and I don't need the sugar (and it warms up the apartment, very useful in winter. I actually got into the habit of big cooked dinners even if they're uncommon here because the heating couldn't keep up with winter nights and I was forbidden to use electric heaters. Takes comfort food to a whole new level ), but still...

I don't know, I find it really distressing to see the food disappearing, especially fresh stuff that takes up a lot of space. I also find the cost of food quite steep - buy little things here and there, that's OK, I don't see that adding up, but a huge bulk of actual food, perhaps for 3 or even 5 days? That really feels expensive...

Starting with the meal plan is the best thing. Everything works out better with a plan. Then you can decide what groceries to buy and make sure you check it twice so that you don't get frustrated if you later realize you've missed something. Next, change the way you look at how you grocery shop. I am fortunate enough to have a few grocery stores pretty nearby. I can understand if you don't have even 1 nearby how this may be harder. But try shopping more like a European. Its about getting a few things for the next day or two of meals and then doing it again a couple days later. This way you don't have your fruits or veg go bad. The next idea is if you are going to stock up, stock up on frozen veg. You will always have veg that you can steam. I know its not the same as fresh but its a good backup if needed. If you have a blender and like smoothies, then you can get your fruits in that way too. frozen fruit. I almost never let a fruit go bad in my home. If it looks like I may not get to it before its due time, I cut it up and put it in small protion freezer bags so that when I want to make a smoothie, the perfect portion is right there to throw in the blender with some yogurt or milk or whatever you like in your smoothies. ALso when making your meal plan, do it while looking at the groceries circular. Base it on what things are on sale, like boneless chicken thighs and broccoli maybe on sale. That sounds like a good stir fry to me. Hope these ideas are helpful.

I do have a big store near, actually very close and they carry pretty much everything. I get stressed out by all the people. Everyone's so nervous and tired and blocking each other's path... a human anthill. I do like to make the cashiers smile by saying something nice, though. Sometimes for that reason I go in before the closing hour, but I would often forget or not have the time or just don't feel like it. I used to aim to shop mostly every other day or so, I AM an European, after all A bit more east than these notions generally have in mind, though I really like the idea with freezing stuff, it never occurred to me you can actually do that. Which is weird, my grandma has her freezer full of frozen fruit and vegetables from the garden. It's just... buy and freeze... not used to that notion. I don't have a blender, but frozen is no problem for cooking. It is true that one of the things I dislike about a plan is that it makes taking advantage of sales a bit difficult, but it IS possible to do it, I just didn't try...

Maybe another idea is a prepackaged food plan, like Nutrisystem or WonderSlim. You just add in one fruit a day, some protein and a small amount of veggies. Might work?

I use WonderSlim and really like the convenience (and the taste!)

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Joyce

Wow, I had/have the same problems as you - I live alone, and my supermarket gets really crowded and gives me anxiety! What I am doing is detaching myself from the situation, I don't think about it. I put my headphones on, sometimes even sunglasses. Sometimes I laugh at how long the lines are and even take a photo of it (the country I live is one the most overpopulated in the world and that brings a lot of issues, yet the natives are arrogant and will swear they live in the best country in the world!). Luckily I am leaving soon, so I try to take an outsider's view to keep myself detached from it and from the rudeness.

After throwing away so much fruit and veg for so long, what I do now is I only buy bananas, which I use in my overnight (fridge) oats, and also use for smoothies. I keep frozen fruit which I use in the smoothies (with banana + 0% fat greek yogurt + baby spinach = tastes great!).

I have two or three go to meals that are TASTY and have become very automatic for me to make: 1) burrito with either chicken or ground beef, each seasoned a different way. For the chicken I use salt, pepper, lemon juice (you can buy a little bottle), coriander seed powder, sometimes garlic powder, garlic sometimes as well, on whole wheat tortilla, with fresh coriander, maybe avocado, and a bit of greek yogurt, tastes great. If using ground beef I just use a taco seasoning packet, and cook the beef with some tomatoes. Another meal revolves around brown rice (with mushrooms sometimes) with chicken or salmon.

I eat broccoli (frozen) with these meals. Broccoli is possibly the best and most convenient vegetable, lots of fiber, lots of vitamin c.

Other go tos are single serving canned/boxed soups.

You just have to find 2 or 3 recipes you enjoy and they will become really automatic for you. I used to get home tired from work and could not bear the thought of cooking and would order food. Now I get home and can prepare a meal in what feels like 10 minutes, PLUS you burn more calories preparing the meal as opposed to sitting waiting for delivery!

I have a meal plan so there is no guessing.

Once a week I shop for staples - butter, flour, eggs, rice, yogurt, cheese etc.

And then everyday I buy the essentials for that day's cooking which is usually just protein and a veg. For example Wednesday I always make chicken, chicken breast or a stew or a roast chicken. I'll get to the grocery store and see beautiful mushrooms so I'll quickly decide to make chicken breasts with sauteed mushroom sauce. I'll look at the vegetables and choose whichever looks appealing and have time for. Oh look I have extra time today so I'll get swiss chard (I need extra time to wash it thoroughly, where as broccoli is a good choice for when I'm in a rush). I already know I have rice at home.

When I shop like this it doesn't matter if the store is busy or not, because I go through the express check out. I like to go to the grocery store as soon as I drop my kid off at school but that's because I don't have to go into work until the afternoon. If you can only shop in the evening after work it will understandably be very busy at the store. But even so, maybe you can go to the store during your lunch break and store your groceries in the fridge at work.

There are now a number of services that deliver fresh, pre portioned, meal ingredients to your home or apartment. You can choose the meal from a number of selections. The quantity is probably 4 or at least 2 servings, but you could store the extra servings in the fridge either cooked or uncooked.
I don't use these services, since I just plan and do my own shopping, but for your situation, a service of this type might work well.

MorningGlory1950 I actually thought about pre-packaged meals. The price for such services in my area is very restrictive and from what I've heard, the quality is very poor. Also I do enjoy cooking and preparing the food.

happynottsgirl: I used to have a few go to meals as well - green chickpeas with garlic and onion, lentils with tomato paste and sunflower seeds, all things that keep exceptionally well and taste good. At one time I ate barely anything else. Now I can't bear having these more than once a week. Hmm. I might have a few favorites that keep just as well... It's about the lack of proper planning, really.

I'll try the banana-spinach thing. Sounds very interesting.

Palestrina: What I have is basically an assortment of meals that can be mixed and matched, giving me a compromise between flexibility and structure. About the shopping time... well... I'm working from home, so I theoretically have completely free reign. But as a night owl I feel best when working overnight, meaning I often get up only in the afternoon. And even without the people... I'd honestly rather take my dog for a walk or something. And the hard truth is that most of the time I simply forget or don't realize I'm running out. It's just about the planning. I need to learn to make plans AND follow them.

Ah ok, I can't relate to that. I've got a really hectic schedule and a kid to take care of so I keep my schedule tightly organized. It takes planning and follow through but it can be done.

Yeah. I only have my projects, the deadlines are basically the only given structure in my life besides night/day cycles. I don't care for time of day, day of week - not a problem to go for a holiday Wednesday, not rare to be working through several weekends in a row. Some days I work 2 hours, others I work 16 (sometimes more if necessary). I always loved making plans. Made me feel like I'm doing something right I never was so enthusiastic about keeping them, though. I was diagnosed with ADHD as a kid, never really believed it, but lately as I'm looking at how I live and especially what I write about it here I'm starting to wonder if there is some merit to it... It's almost like I've learned to channel the hyperfocus on large tasks, but small daily necessities get sidelined.

I can definitely identify with that, I don't have ADHD but as someone who runs my own business from home I have large chunks of my day where I have to self-manage. I wasn't always able to organize myself well, but today for example I am at hone from 8am to 2pm and within that time I have a list of things to do including work related phone calls, grant writing, an application to fill out, a run to the copy store, as well as household stuff such as doing laundry, cooking dinner and cleaning the bathrooms. Then I pick up my son, bathe him, feed him, help him with his homework, spend some time with him before I go off to work in the evening. Having a plan is great, but it's the follow-through that counts. I find that keeping a bullet journal is a life saver for me. http://bulletjournal.com/