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momwise
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| Posted: Sept 17 2006 at 4:05pm | IP Logged
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I really hate to make quick trips to the store for missing/forgotten items. 
Last night I started up the bread machine for French Toast in the morning and went to bed. The power went out during a ferocious wind storm. Got up, went to Mass, came home, took the loaf out and it was a bit doughy needless to say. Ran to the store for the 2nd time since I bought groceries last Wednesday.
But I digress... 
I was wondering what tricks you have up your sleeve to avoid going to the store before shopping day. How desperate do you get before you decide to go?
I usually have a couple of brown bananas after almost a week, so most weeks we have a loaf of banana bread for breakfast or lunch.
Powdered milk is much hated but I almost always need a quart by milk delivery day.
I make bread but if I run out of flour we use tortillas from the freezer or make nachos instead of sandwiches.
I can revive celery to make Ants on a Log as a side dish when there are no more salad greens.
I'd love to get new ideas (more than I'd love going back to the store). 
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Gwen...wife for 30 years, mom of 7, grandma of 3.....
"If you want equal justice for all and true freedom and lasting peace, then America, defend life." JPII
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Sept 17 2006 at 4:46pm | IP Logged
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pwd or canned milk has a long storage life.. so keeping some on hand is nice.. and easy enough to use in things like gravy or other cooking where it's not near as noticable that's it's pwd milk... helps stretch the regular milk over the time frame rather than getting to the end and it being pwd or nothing.
I use a pantry system so just keeping up on that makes a huge difference.. but I do need to get fresh things.. taking a minute and writing down what I need means that I'm much less likely to forget something.. also taking that minute to check that I really do have all the ingredients means I start to make what I can finish without going to the store.
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guitarnan
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| Posted: Sept 17 2006 at 5:14pm | IP Logged
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Gwen,
I've heard that going half-and-half with powdered milk and regular milk, plus making it up the night before so it's good and cold, makes using powdered milk nearly undetectable.
One great series of books (older, but with tons of great dollar-stretching tips) are the three volumes compiling the Tightwad Gazette newsletters. There's a lot of info on shopping, making a price book, etc. In these books (sold separately or together) you can find a lot of tips on baking bread, using powdered milk, etc.
The Complete Tightwad Gazette
You might be able to find this at the library.
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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Dawnie
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| Posted: Sept 17 2006 at 6:36pm | IP Logged
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Gwen,
Something that has been helpful to me is to use a master grocery list. I made a list of all the staples I like to have on hand. Then, I print a copy out each week, go through my pantry and circle the items we're low on or out of. I also make a one-week menu and write the items I need to make dinner on the master list.
We do end up going to the store more than once a week, for stuff like milk, orange juice, bread, fruits, and veggies--we always run out of that stuff before a week is over and I don't have enough fridge and pantry space to buy a whole week's worth. But my dh does most of the shopping, so it's not a big deal for me. 
Someday, I'd like to get a 2nd fridge so we can buy a week's worth of perishables w/o having to go back to the store.
Dawn
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stefoodie
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| Posted: Sept 17 2006 at 9:24pm | IP Logged
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i have staples that i keep and make sure we always have them. e.g., rice, oil, etc.
every week i make a menu, and a shopping list from that menu -- we alternate weeks. on week 1 it's anything i feel like cooking (new recipes or ingredients i've never tried). on week 2 it's cook whatever's in the house. this way i don't get bored and there's always variety, and at the same time we don't waste what we already have.
and then on top of this i usually have 1 or 2 items that are emergency things. years ago that was ramen noodles + pasta and tomatoes. now that we can't have wheat i stock up on things like canned or frozen food, beans, sardines, rice noodles, etc. things i can put together in a hurry.
i change the emergency items from time to time; e.g., this month it's tofu and ground turkey that i got a case of each. just whatever's on sale at the organic co-op.
i go shopping once a week, usually on wednesdays because we get our CSA order every tuesday -- and i can decide then if i need to add more veggies/fruits or not. when the CSA season is over i'll go back to shopping every monday morning. i try to make the list detailed enough so i don't have to run to the store at all during the week. sometimes i miss something and have to go, but for the most part we try to do this because it saves us both money and time. the thing i don't like about it is we stock veggies and sometimes have to cook them when they're not at their peak anymore. one way i've tried to get around this is to plan for salads and things that will wilt/go bad for the beginning of the week.
hth,
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mom2mpr
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I have worked hard on this since the grocery store is 20 minutes away now! I shop once a week and CAN run in a store when ds goes to piano, but REALLY don't like too!
I also plan menus. I usually do 2 weeks worth and write the nonperishables for week 2 on the back of week one's menu so I do most of my shopping the first week. The second week I pick up milk and other dairy and produce and other misc(which are usually limited) and it makes for a nice easy second week of shopping
I have soy milk in my pantry IF we run out of cows-my kids like it  and i can cook with it. I also keep a few canned vegies and fruits if we happen to run out of fresh we have something to eat, somewhat healthy :) A few cans of soup also-though we prefer homemade.
I have started keeping frozen "meals" in the freezer in case we have company. I was lacking there for awhile. I had my menus and the correct groceries but if someone stopped over at mealtime I wasn't the most gracious hostess because I had nothing to feed them. It was hard.
Now I usually have some healthy frozen pizzas, raveoli, and hot dogs and buns. I can whip something up quickly and for a crowd. I am presently toying with storing a loaf of store bought bread, we usually make our own.
We buy extra bananas for them to go old to toss them in the freezer for smoothies--they can also go in breads and muffins after the freezer too! We get crazy when the frozen banana stash gets low. Smoothies MUST HAVE FROZEN BANANA!!
If we run out of something we fudge til shopping day. We can do without cows milk for a day or two. We drink water or iced herbal tea and have oatmeal for breakfast. If we need fruit or vegies the cans in the pantry are used.
Hope that helps some.
Anne
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JennGM
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Great hints. I constantly forget and run out of things. I just read Leanne Ely's latest book and posted a review. She had a section on making dinners from the pantry when you're running low with the basics. Not all the book will apply to your question.
If you put celery in aluminum foil it lasts FOREVER!
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teachingmom
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| Posted: Sept 18 2006 at 6:12pm | IP Logged
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JennGM wrote:
| If you put celery in aluminum foil it lasts FOREVER! |
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Very interesting, Jenn. Do you wrap an entire bunch in foil and just stick it in the fridge?
I can usually get by for a day or two without milk and bread, but usually not both. Breakfast seems to be the deciding factor. We need either cold cereal (thus the need for milk) or toast as a backup if all other options in the house are gone. We can usually make due for dinner with freezer meats and vegetables, and lunch with soup from the pantry or something like tortillas and cheese or peanut butter or cheese on crackers.
With two refrigerator/freezers, I usually buy a bit more milk and bread than we would use in a week, just to be sure, and put the extra in the basement fridge.
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JennGM
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teachingmom wrote:
JennGM wrote:
| If you put celery in aluminum foil it lasts FOREVER! |
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Very interesting, Jenn. Do you wrap an entire bunch in foil and just stick it in the fridge? |
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Yes. That's what I did. Lasted for weeks! I was surprised.
I got the info from Elena's blog...she said this was Martha Stewart's "way". I gave it a try and it worked better than I thought it would!
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stefoodie
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| Posted: Sept 18 2006 at 6:55pm | IP Logged
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another tip, this one for parsley, which i was buying the whole spring/summer because i didn't grow my own this year -- separate the bunch, remove the twistie or the band or whatever, spread out on a sheet or 2 of paper towels and roll-up the parsley so that there's alternating layers of paper and parsley. put back in plastic wrap -- will keep for a couple of weeks. works for cilantro too, or any other fresh herbs you buy. (or you can dry them)
or,
cut an inch off from the ends and stick into a glass of water in the fridge. this works for asparagus spears too, with a baggie over the spears so they don't dry out.
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stef
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Willa
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If your kids will drink soy milk
--you can get those cartons of soy milk at Costco that don't have to be refrigerated. A bit pricey but useful when the milk is gone, as an alternative to powdered milk.
My husband does the shopping; we live an hour from the nearest Costco. He tries to buy extras of a couple of the things on the shopping list, whenever he can. So that way we usually have extras in the pantry or in the extra freezer or fridge.
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mom2mpr
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Oooooh! Thanks for the cilantro/parsley trick!! I will have to try that--I usually pop it in the freezer then throw it in some soup--after I have used it fresh for some recipe that calls for just a wee bit
Anne
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marihalojen
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It is the perfect time across much of the USA to plant an Autumn Veggie Garden, it won't help with milk and bread but will extend the $$$
Hardy Vegetables
(tolerates hard frost)
Broccoli
Brussels Sprouts
Cabbage
Collards
Kale
Kohlrabi
Mustard Greens
Onion
Parsley
Peas
Radish
Spinach
Turnip
Semi-Hardy Vegetables
(tolerates light frost)
Beets
Carrot
Cauliflower
Celery
Chard
Chinese Cabbage
Endive
Lettuce
Parsnip
Potato
Salsify
There is plenty of time for quick maturing varieties like Radishes (28days) and Fall Peas. Lettuces are great in the Autumn, there are actually whole pages devoted to Autumn Lettuces in Garden Catalogs, yummy!
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momwise
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Thank you, thank you Jennifer. I had just assumed it would be too late start from seed now but especially if I have a movable bed (or pot) it would work!! My summer garden produced badly.
Thank you everyone for the ideas. Now, what do you serve as snacks when company drops by and the pantry is looking skimpy?
We almost always have a large bottle of salsa and a huge brick of cream cheese so we make pinwheels with flour tortillas.
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Gwen...wife for 30 years, mom of 7, grandma of 3.....
"If you want equal justice for all and true freedom and lasting peace, then America, defend life." JPII
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JodieLyn
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you can also chop and spread cilantro or parsley on a cookie sheet and freeze 'em then once they're frozen move into a freezer baggie
onion, bell peppers (green, red, yellow, etc) can be just chopped and put into freezer bags and frozen. No special prep necessary.. and you can munch 'em up in the bag and just grab handfuls.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
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anniemm
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I am currently experiencing this streching thing, because payday is Friday and there is no more money for groceries until then... I have a smaller family than many of you I think...but my go-to is eggs. I buy a lot of eggs (I prefer organic, more expensive, but worth it to me for lots of reasons) because a) they last and b) they are versatile. In fact, I am boiling some up right now for lunch for my girls because I am all out of my usual lunch staples. I use eggs througout the week in baking, breakfasts, the usual. But as we near the end and I can't run out for more grocries, they are my saving grace. I also love to make egg-salad sandwiches, as I always have mayo and sweet relish on hand. I prefer them with chopped celery also - so I *loved* the tip above about wrapping it in foil!
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Topic: Stretching the groceries
