Not sure how much to buy when grocery shopping

[shaina]

I have in the past just bought frozen vegetables, but I'm trying to make an effort to cook different meals with fresh vegetables. Problem is, I'm not sure how much to buy. Same with meat. I don't want to buy too much and have it go bad, but I don't want to buy too little and not have enough to last me the week. I usually only go grocery shopping once a week.

 

How do you guys manage this? I'm shopping only for myself, which is what makes it especially difficult.

[kirkor]

There's several weekly guides to recipes and corresponding shopping lists, so you can use that as a guideline. There's also estimates on "pounds of meat per person" on several paleo-centered blogs.

Keeping eggs on hand is a good way to fill in the gaps if you bought too little ... being okay with sticking stuff in the freezer can help when you've bought too much.

I use a lot of frozen veggies because I hate it when fresh stuff spoils too quick.

[GFChris]

I shop for me and my husband. What works for me is I plan meals 2-3 days out. I buy whatever I need for those meals that isn't already in my pantry. That typically means buying 1-2 non-egg proteins and 3 different vegetables at a time, and hitting the grocery store twice a week. I always have 2-3 dozen eggs on hand, plus canned chicken and salmon, sardines, celery, homemade mayo, clarified butter, baby carrots, sweet potatoes, spinach and cauliflower.

[chezjulie]

That's a really good question. I try to think about what I'm going to have as proteins for about 5 days, what things I know I'm probably going to want every day (e.g., a sweet potato and half an avocado), and what veggies and fruits I need to fill in with. 

[Higgles]

I plan my meals for a week out, the recipes that we use for dinner will double for lunch as well. Typically I will buy a pound of meat for each recipe, which covers my husband and I for dinner and lunch (so 1/4 lb each per meal). For veggies I find that the way they are packaged typically works for each meal, a head of broccoli is usually enough for us for dinner and lunch, same with a bunch of asparagus, etc. When I'm mapping out the meals I plan the veggies instead of just going and buying a bunch of vegetables because I absolutely hate wasting food so I want to make sure I always have the approximately right amount.

[BCarlson]

I do it two ways.

 

1) A general trip to the store to stock up on what I know I will use through the week and will generally keep well.

 

2) I make shot trips during the week to pick up items I am a little more picky on, and to maybe catch a good deal on meat.

[tracyspinner]

A LOT. I bought 10 sweet potatoes, 4 zuchinni, 4 squash, 5 tomatoes, 5 avocados, pint cherry tomatoes, 2 pints of blueberriessss, 2 pints of strawberries, 2 pints of raspberries, 1 bundle of bananas, 2 pre-made containers of organic Spring Mix, 2 onions, 1 bunch of kale, 2 bunches of carrots, 5 portabello mushrooms, 1 package of mushrooms, 12 chicken breasts, 1 lb of ground turkey, 1 lb ground chicken, 1 lb ground beef, 1/2 gal of coconut milk, a dozen of eggs, 5 bottles of Kombucha.

This was all for me for ONE week. So when I say A LOT, be prepared to buy A LOT. I was surprised how much food I eat at each meal.