Just curious about how those of you eating the whole foods/superfoods way do your grocery shopping! How often do you shop? Do you plan your meals in advance, or "wing it" when you see what looks good at the store?

I'm trying to find a better way to shop - until now I've been kind of random with the way I shop, and haven't been great at keeping a well-stocked pantry. Money is going to be a bit tighter from now on, and I would like to keep to a budget of about $80 per week. I will need to spend some extra money initially, getting the freezer stocked with more meat, chicken and fish as well as building up my pantry a bit or it won't be doable (our meat is organic and so the cost is higher). The plan is to get the freezer/pantry in a good place, then use the $80 to cover all the fresh fruit/veggies (some organic), bread, organic milk and eggs, etc. we need each week. I'll then use any extra to add to my freezer stock or pantry supplies. I'm just not sure whether it would be better to plan on a once-weekly trip, or to plan on more trips to the store, buying enough for only a couple of days at a time. On the one hand, I like the idea of buying very fresh foods more frequently - on the other, though, I can see that it's a lot more work to shop that way!!

What do you all do?

I shop really regularly because I really focus on buying fresh food. I buy eggs from a little farm on my way to school, most fruits and vegetables from a selection of farmers markets and farm stores, and meat from a great butcher who only sells free range, non-medicated, grain fed meat. I usually wing it when I go, and just buy whatever looks tastiest and freshest. I used to find that I bought a lot of junk if I shopped this way. I've pretty much conditioned myself to stay out of the middle aisles in the grocery store, though, which is where all the nasty processed/packaged food is. I only go down them if I need something specific, and I never wander down these aisles just to see if there's anything I need, so that I'm not tempted.
I definitely like buying more frequently - I find that we have a lot less got to waste, and we get a good variety of seasonal stuff.

Well, when I started to change eating/cooking habits, I decided that since I wasn't making huge investments in a weight-loss program (I attend TOPS for $4/month), I would be able to afford the luxury of not having to bargain shop and just focus on health ... there are enough complications with that.

I usually start by looking in my cupboards/refrigerator/freezer at what I have and what I'd like to make with it. I create a list of things that I need to complete the recipes. I then check my favorite stores' ads and purchase whatever produce or goods are on sale.

I live across the street from a grocery store, so I go there most frequently (about once every few days) for mostly fresh produce. I make a monthly trip to other stores - the farmer's market, Trader Joe's, or maybe Cub Foods, but I try to keep my shopping as local as possible. I just heard from a friend that Asian markets sell produce and certain items cheaper, so I am going to try to check one of them out.

I tend to have a list with me when I shop although I am flexible. I also look for specials on things I buy regularly. Are canned tomatoes on sale? Are beans on sale? Is wild salmon on sale? I need fruit, what are some good prices on fruit? I need some veggies for munching (celery, cucumbers, carrots), are they at a good price? I need frozen berries, what looks good?

Those are the questions I tend to ask myself when I go shopping. Another method I use is to find recipes that I want to try then make a shopping list with the ingredients.

Planning your food is helpful just so you aren't scrambling at meal time and also know what items you usually need.

I do have certain staples that I try to keep in stock at all times:
Brown rice
Unsweetened soy milk
nonfat plain yogurt
Canned tomatoes
Fresh tomatoes
Bananas
Natural Peanut Butter
Some kind of canned beans
Boneless skinless chicken breasts
Some kind of frozen fish
100% whole wheat bread
Raisins
Some kind of unsalted roasted nut
Some kind of frozen berry
Some kind of frozen veggie
Some kind of fresh fruit (besides bananas)
Some kind of fresh veggie

So with what I have in stock, I have a general idea of what I need to buy. I will also buy some things out of the normals but not too often.

I usually shop several times a week due to all the produce I buy.

On Sundays, I plan out breakfast/lunch/dinner/snacks for Monday - Friday lunch. On Friday nights after work, I plan/shop for for Friday night - Sunday.

I usually only buy what is on my list (ingredients for the planned meals). I do keep a fairly well stocked home - jarred garlic, whole wheat tortillas, frozen brown rice, plain yogurt, salsa, bread, natural peanut butter, frozen berries, whole wheat pasta, canned tomatoes, canned chickpeas, olive oil, usually have all that stuff on hand at all times.

I generally end up at the store a couple other nights a week, always seem to need something. I usually only buy produce for a couple of days. Like Sunday, I bought 2 peaches since they go over so quickly. I ate them Monday and Tuesday, so tonight I have to go buy more fruit. I don't mind, only takes a few minutes!

I don't have time to run to the grocery store more than once a week, so I usually buy enough fresh veggies to last a couple of days so they don't go bad. I also buy a couple packages of frozen veggies for the later days in the week. Fruit is a bit harder, but so far I've managed (I do run out of strawberries early in the week, though!).

I buy my meat when I need it and freeze it in individual portions, so if one person isn't going to be around for dinner, I'll pull 3 portions to cook so as not to waste the extra portion (unless I feel like having leftovers around).

I always shop with a list, but I have to admit, I don't really have to worry about price comparison. If I see something that I want (like some fresh wild sea bass last week) I'll buy it. That was one expensive dinner!!! But oh, so good! For convenience, I often buy prepackaged, precut veggies, so all I have to do is steam the package in the microwave. Like I said, I don't have a whole lot of time!

I buy almost all of my produce at the farmers market partly because I feel that it is really important to support the local economy and also because because it is so much better than what I can get at the grocery store (esp. the fruit and tomatoes). So that means that other than the fresh produce I get out of my garden, I am pretty much only buying produce once a week (the farmers market is only open on Sat mornings). For the most part, I wing this shopping. I buy whatever looks good but sometimes I will have a couple of recipes in mind and will buy stuff for them. I have to be a little flexible because if something isn't in season, it's not available at the farmers market. Also, as we head into the late summer, the garden is going to start producing more and every week it will be struggle to use the food before it goes bad.

When I get home from the farmers market, I plan out my recipes/meals for the week based on what I purchased there. I hate having to make a bunch of small trips to the grocery store, so I try to get everything for the week at once. I also enjoy planning my meals. Once I make out my list, I go to both Trader Joe's and Safeway. I buy as much as I can at Trader Joe's because it is usually cheaper there and I prefer to support small farms, producers, etc., rather than the comglomerations that make the food Safeway sells. But there is some stuff you just can't get at Trader Joe's, so I go to Safeway for that. I generally stick to my list at both Trader Joe's and Safeway.

I also have a standard list of things that I keep my pantry stocked with and I keep a running grocery list on fridge. If I use up something that is part of my standard pantry, I immediately write it on the list so that I don't forget to buy it.

- Barbara

I'm like Allison - I don't have time to grocery shop more than once a week and I don't worry so much about comparison shopping. I do my main shopping @ Kroger, which is right around the corner and supplement w/ items from Costco (go there once every 6-8 weeks), Whole Foods and Central Market (a real "foodie" grocery store). Farmer's markets are just starting to get popular here but I am SO not a morning person on the weekend! In the summer we do go to some nearby farmstands for produce. I'm ashamed to say I rarely take advantage of the great and HUGE (this is Texas, after all!) ethnic (Asian, Mexican, Southeast Asian. etc.) grocery stores we have and now that I think of it, I need to change that.

Hubby is responsible for his own breakfast and lunch so that leaves dinner planning. I'm not home 1-2 nights a week and he's usually working late or has something to do one night, so we usually plan for 4-5 dinners (we eat out once). Since we don't do recipes per se during the week, we usually have some form of chicken breast one night, pasta one night, fish one night and beef or pork one night, either roasted, baked, sauteed or broiled. We pretty much stick w/ green veggies and then a grain or starch. Throw in the fruit, milk, yogurt, etc. that are staples for lunches and snacks and we're set.

At my best I have coupons with me (use them only if they are a wise buy)

I look into my pantry to determine what I have and need (sometimes I write down what I HAVE instead of what I need). This gives me more meal ideas at the store. I write down any recipes/foods I've been wanting to try or family requests.

Then at my best, I take sales ads with my (already circled) to Walmart Super Center (they ad match).

I go with an open mind and I write what I put in my cart and the cost rounded to nearest $0.25. I have an ongoing budget and I can see what's there if I need to put things back.

When I have stuff to make a meal, in a separate column I write that meal down. Same for a snack, breakfast, and lunch column. I can clearly see if I have enough of each category to last all week long.

It's fun to write as I go. I gives me a sense of control (even if I didn't control too much before I left my house).

When I have a lot of new items I want to try, then I do a meal plan. Otherwise I leave it open because stores will reveal secret things I've been craving/wanting and/or better sales and deals for that week.

For meat, I watch for sales, buy a lot of it, and throw it in the freezer so that I always have a good variety on hand to work with.

Then I plan a weekly menu by determining what produce is in season and consulting my cookbooks for recipes that use those ingredients. I buy the fresh produce at farmers markets a couple times a week, and make a couple trips a week to the grocery store for the things that are not available from the farmers markets. I have chickens, so I don't need to buy eggs.

I cook a lot of asian dishes, so I also make twice-monthly trips to the asian market for spices and weird little dried things.

I go once a week with a plan. Since I have a large family to shop for I have an idea of what we'll be having that week and the staples we need. I usually go back mid week for more fruits and veg since they don't keep the whole week. I do have a small garden for salad produce (tomatoes, lettuce, green peppers, zucchini, broccoli) and finding farm produce is fairly easy as I live in a rural area.

A good site for meal planning is organizedhome.com - look under "Get Organized" on the left hand side of the main page and click on "In the Kitchen" this site has great tools for menu planning, stocking your pantry & freezer and once a month cooking. I found this site very helpful.

It takes some time to put it together but menu planning is well worth it - it is so much easier to know what you are having and take the fixings out of the freezer in the morning rather than getting home at 5 p.m. and wondering what is for dinner.

A slow cooker is a great investment. You can cook overnight, put the item in the fridge that morning and all you have to do is reheat when you get home at night

What I did was make a list of the foods that my DH and I like to eat most of the time.i.e. meats, fish, types of veggies, grains, breakfast items, lunch items, drinks and snacks etc.

I then made menus for 1 week which included breakfast, lunch, and dinner as well as healthy snacks. Then I looked for my favourite healthy recipes form my cookbooks and files and planned regular meals and one new recipe per week.

From the menu I made a grocery list including the ingredients for my new recipe.

I did this on the computer and saved it so that I could use it as a template and just insert any changes and save them as a new menu. This means that I now have 4 weeks worth of menus to play with that already has the points values figured out.

I also made a master grocery list to go along with each menu which I print out and take to the grocery store with me. It saves me time and money at the grocery store too.

It took me about 2 weeks to get it all done and set up but it has been a great system and I use my menus all the time.

I ususally shop at the farmer's market, health food stores and one particular grocery store and roughly once or twice a week. There is an area near wear I work that is all specialty food shops (Italian, Lebanese, Indian, Japanese, tea, coffee, cheese, produce etc.) that I pop into on my lunch hour if I need anything in particular and I have several Asian stores right up the street from where I live.

I copied and pasted from a post of mine that was on another thread here at 3fc - hope it has som ideas that can help someone else.

My food list: (things I buy on a regular basis)


Veggie:

Broccoli
Cauliflower
Potatoes (once a week)
Green beans
Asparagus
Tomatoes
Romaine lettuce
Leaf lettuce
"Spring Mix" greens
Spinach
Cucumbers
Radishes
Peppers (red, yellow, green, orange)
Red onions
Bean Sprouts
Alfalfa Sprouts
Yellow onions
Shallots
Garlic
Green peas, fresh or frozen
Snow peas
Carrots
Beets
Avocado

Fruit:

Grapefruit (red)
Oranges (madarins are my fave)
Bananas
Assorted Berries (in season)
Pineapple
Kiwi
Mango
Cantaloupe
Honeydew Melon
Grapes (seedless)
Apples (granny smith and Macs)
Cherries (in season)
Pomegranates
Pears
Dark plums
Peaches
Nectaries

Nuts for snacking and to use in recipes:
Walnuts (whole)
Pecans (whole)
Hazelnuts (whole)
Unsalted cashews

Pantry Staples:
Canned tuna
Lentils
Chickpeas
Tahini
Navy/canelli beans
Dried split peas
Kidney beans
Barley
Whole wheat couscous
Basmati rice
Brown rice
Whole wheat pastas
Whole wheat/grain breads
Whole wheat pita bread
Bran flakes
Scottish oatmeal (I think it is the similar to steel cut oats)
Canned tomatoes & paste
Vegetarian soup stock base
Whole wheat all purpose flour
Whole wheat bread flour
Yeast
Powdered milk(for bread machine)
Raisins
Dried Apricots
Dates
Semi-sweet chocolate chips
Olive oil
Assorted vinegars (Red Wine, White Wine, Balsamic)
Light Soya sauce
Low sodium teriaki sauce
Chinese oyster sauce

Must have spices:
Nutmeg
Allspice
Cinnamon
Cloves
Bouquet Garni
Madras curry powder
Garam Masala (Indian Spice blend)
Chinese Five Spice Blend
Tumeric
Fennel
Cumin
Mustard seeds
Lemon pepper
Rosemary,Thyme, ect.
Garlic powder
Hot chili paste
Chili powder
Smoked Paprika
Dried chilis
Various hot sauces
Black peppercorns and peppermill
Coarse sea salt and salt mill
Honey
Brown sugar

Dairy etc.:
2% milk
1/2 &1/2 cream fo coffee (can't live without it!)
yogurt
strong flavoured cheeses
butter

Meat: (we by a lot less now since we are eating more vegetarian meals)
Turkey bacon (occasionally)
Organic beef
Organic poultry
Salmon
Fish sticks for hubby (only way he will eat fish )
Frozen Shrimp
Eggs - free range, grain fed

Other:
Spanish peanuts
Peanuts in the shell
Tostitos
Salsa (we make our own sometimes)
Popcorn for air popping
Popcorn spices
Sunflower seeds
Organic dark chocolate
Granola bars
Jello mix (for hubby)
Pudding mix (for hubby)
The occasional tin of rice pudding (as a treat)
Natural peanut butter from the health food store
Pure fruit jams or homemade preserves
Wheat crackers
Good coffee
Decaf & herbal teas
Crystal Light
Bottled flavoured water
Birds' custard mix
Club Soda
Rose's Lime Cordial

In the summer I have an herb garden and in the winter I plant herbs in pots on the kitchen windowsill.

My favorites:
Dill
Basil
Flat Leaf Parsley
Chives
Cilantro
Mint