I went shopping today while hungry. I know, bad form. And yes, everything looked so. dang. good. But I only took 2 optional items, so I'm saying it wasn't a terrible venture.
Optional items, you ask? See, here's how I do grocery shopping:
- I meal plan. 3-7 meals, depending on if I'm feeling frisky or not.
- I look at the recipes for the meals, and write down all of the stuff I don't have, grouped by department in the grocery store (dairy, produce, meat, etc.)
- I shop, mainly sticking to my list, but grabbing one or two optional items as the mood strikes me. Today my optional items were Jif Hazelnut spread (coupon, bonus!) and some knock-off Butter Keks (that were actually the name-brand butter keks, but they're (a) less amazing and (b) more expensive, so I like them less on principle). Sometimes I buy fancy cheese.
If I wouldn't have made this meal plan/menu before I went, I would have just grabbed stuff willy-nilly, gotten completely overwhelmed, traipsed back and forth across the store 7-8 times, forgetting things, and still need to go back later. So for me, taking the time to decide what meals we're having this week is sooo worth it! I also hit up the local (or not-so-local, if you look at the stickers on the cantelopes that say "Peru") fruit stand before I went to the big store, and my goodness, the selection was incredible! So I might have snagged some "optional" green beans, too, but I just wrote them on the menu and cheated that way.
And here's the plan! If you can't make it over for dinner, you may as well feast with your eyes, right?
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| Chicken Meatballs & Spaghetti |
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| Sweet & Slow Chicken w/ Broccoli & Sweet Potatoes. I might be lying about the sweet potato part. I just felt pressure, after writing "w/ Broccoli" up there, to add something else. I didn't even buy sweet potatoes. We have one. We'll split it 3 ways. Happy?! |
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| Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza. Except I forgot the bacon. My list! It failed me! |
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| Zucchini Lasagna. Obvi. |
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| Better-than-takeout Chicken Fried Rice I love fried rice. Its my comfort food. |
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| Mexican Stuffed Shells. SO good! |
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| Parmesan Tilapia. AKA - The fish that tastes like doritos. That's a kind of fish I can get behind. |
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| Slow cooker Chicken Philly Sandwich Except I forgot the provolone. Seriously. Listen to nothing I say. Unless I'm telling you this sandwich is the bomb-diggity, and its easy as pie. Because that's the truth, yo. |
So that's what the plan is. Execution, well, I know I'm making the fish because its fresh and ready to go. Everything else, we'll try our best! With the exception of the meatballs and the sweet & slow chicken, everything else is old news - delicious, but old. Know of anything that I need to be eating? I love recommendations!
<3 M.
That's pretty much exactly how I do the grocery shopping. These last couple weeks have been more of a day-by-day thing, though. I severely underestimated the amount of time I would need to eat baby-food-type-things after getting my wisdom teeth out.
ReplyDeleteThat zucchini lasagna is amazing, if you haven't had it yet. I'm totally gonna try that tilapia sometime.
I haven't had the zucchini yet, I'm excited to try it! And the fish - I LIKED IT! Ah-mazing, I know;)
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