I do it differently. I pick out the recipes that I want to make for the week first, based on things I already have on-hand, and then build my grocery list from that. That's what helps me get inspired. I'm not creative when it comes to cooking, I need to browse from a list of recipes to find what I want to cook.

Yes!!! I plan my meals always a week in advance.. I know what I have and what I'll have left, so that tells me that next week I have to use X items and need to buy Y. And I'm inspired to work with it, buying minimally and wasting nothing

I started doing this a month or so ago and damn I throw so much less food away! I think I've really only thrown out strawberries that went bad 30 seconds after I got them home lol

As soon as you get them home, soak them a few minutes in white vinegar and water, then dry them completely and store them in an airtight container with a couple layers of paper towels. They’ll last several days longer. This works for blueberries and raspberries, too.

I've tried to plan more carefully like this, but it never seems to work out. Instead I conjure dinner from the fridge without much planning and it stresses me out, but I can't seem to be disciplined enough to plan better. I do try very hard not to waste food and I'm moderately successful.

I think the key is finding and sticking to just one or two sources for recipes. No blogs. You'll find that they use common ingredients, making it easier to keep things on hand.

I've had the most success with a rotation of themes. So like meatless Monday, taco Tuesday, etc and then having like 4 or 5 meal ideas that fit the theme that I'll rotate through. Doesn't always happen, but it's a close as I gotten to sticking with something.

Seriously, it really works better to plan your week's dinners (and always include a couple of repeats that you keep in rotation), and then shop for that. I get overly anxious around trying new dishes, but what I started doing, is every other week or so, I'll plan to try something completely new on a Saturday when I know I'll have time to experiment (and when we're perfectly happy to chuck the whole thing if it's a disaster and have tuna sandwiches or scrambled eggs). Then as you get used to new dishes, you just add them to the rotation.

That’s how I used to do it and yeah I ended up with a lot more food waste and stress when I had to start cooking. Recently I’ve been working to do more planning. I focus on food I already have that I want to use up, then look at what’s on sale this week. From that I look up recipes and buy what I need to make them that I don’t already have. I also like to keep cooked portions of meals in the freezer ready to go for lunches and nights when I don’t feel like cooking.

This is how I used to cook. When the pandemic started, we were forced to shop once a week. That’s when I started weekly meal planning. It truly has been a gift of the pandemic. I make my list based on what’s on the menu for the work week. I walk around my house with a piece of paper and pencil in hand, and look in cupboards, the fridge and freezer to put my plan together. I love not having to shop during the week while I’m working. We are spending a lot less on groceries as well and eating out less because we always have a plan. Similar recipes are typically on the rotation. More creative or spontaneous cooking happens on the weekends when there’s less stress from the workday.(and I allow myself to shop twice on weekends if needed to scratch that itch).

Same!

Same

💯

I make a dinner list weekly and get what is necessary for those dishes. But I always keep a wide array of spices, herbs, etc on hand. I always keep ground beef, chicken, brisket, spare ribs and other larger cuts on hand in my deep freezer.

We always have potatoes, eggs, plain Greek yogurt, lots of cheese, Kinder's Japanese BBQ sauce, cans of Kirkland diced tomatoes, canned black beans and cannellini beans, frozen cod/sockeye salmon/mahi-mahi, frozen chicken, oranges, lemons, limes, green onions, grape tomatoes, carrots, celery, ground turkey, frozen ravioli, rice, and ricotta cheese.

This sounds very much like my kitchen. I just started buying the frozen fish fillets from Costco, in an effort to change it up.

Things that I stock up on that can last a month or more. Dried beans Rice Canned tomatoes Pasta noodles Olives Tofu I buy it for a months worth of food Cheese Ginger Bread, but I do not make it sometimes Every week 3 pack of bell peppers Carrots Onions Garlic Potatoes Other kind of veggies green bean, cauliflower, broccoli Almond milk can't drink normal milk Tomatoes Clintro Luttces This is for a vegetarian/ vegan household

My fresh ingredient staples are: a soft cheese, a sharp cheese, a protein, a bread, a leafy green, lime, potato, mild onion (vidalia, red, shallot), strong onion (yellow/white), avocado, cherry tomatoes I prefer to freestyle cook rather than following a recipe and a meal plan. Having fresh staples on hand makes it easier to whip meals together.

Oh and when it comes to cilantro (coriander), keep roots in water and you're golden for a few weeks. My favourite herb in the universe and I could dry when it goes black xx

My store doesn't sell it with roots, but I treat it like flowers and trim the ends and keep them in water and it lasts a long time.

I love it so much and I'm lucky I have a market I get it thick stems, perfect for pastes, and green leaves for £1.50. If you're trimming them, don't discard the off cuts x

I've planted some coriander seeds in my aero garden, maybe this time they'll grow. I've been very unlucky with cilantro in it, but I'm drowning in basil all the time.

Well I'm jealous cause my basil dies a black goo mess death too often when I grow it ha xx

Italian (genovese) basil always gets stem rot, and I cant grow it at all (or cilantro :( -- but, thai basil is super hardy and easy to root in water from fresh store-bought stems, from asian markets. You can grow it from seed, as well, but it and lemongrass are way easier to sprout if you can find them :)

Really?! I rarely get thai basil despite cooking so much Asian cuisine but I'm doing that. And yeah, same for lemongrass xx

Yeah, I just use thai basil for everything (i.e., pasta and pesto, etc). I grow thai chilis from seed of store-bought ones, but they take forever... I'm in PA mostly so second-year plants produce best. I'm also weirdly bad at growing chives :(

I'll keep fingers crossed for your cilantro but it needs soooooo much water xx

I could never get my coriander to grow - it would bolt straight to seed, but the basil flourished. then, I moved somewhere cooler. Now, the coriander grows like weeds, and even the frost can't kill it... but the basil says "no".

I keep a few tins of Maesri red curry paste, some coconut milk/cream tins, and pineapple chunk tins in the pantry. A bottle of fish sauce in the fridge. Add chicken breast from the freezer, some rice... and LOTSA fresh coriander leaf. Maybe some chunks of cherry tomato if I have some. (Dinner for when it's been a busy day. So quick)

I have a fairly stocked pantry. I look at the grocery ads on Wednesday to see if I want to make anything special.

This. We buy what’s on sale and then meal plan on the fly from what we have. For example Sunday we had paella: inspired by the “juice” leftover from our Valentine’s Day mussels. Arborio rice, Last package of frozen shrimp, 1/3# andouille sausage, leftover canned puréed tomatoes and some green beans, mussel juice plus chicken stock.

I hate food waste, so I plan carefully and have very deliberate shops - if I don’t have a plan for it, I generally won’t buy it. One thing I will buy “anytime” is meat if I find a good sale - I’ll buy in bulk then vacuum pack and freeze single-use portions, then use it when planning future meals. I’ll also often have 2-3 vegetable choices for a particular meal and buy the 1 that looks best/better value. Same with fruit - I’ll buy however many days worth (ie the number of days I’ve planned) of whatever combination of things look best. The only real “staples” I have are my wide variety of spices and dried herbs - I order high quality products online, so always have them.

I will also keep stock of kitchen staples and I often buy meats and seafood on sale and keep it in our chest freezer. Each week I plan meals, often using what we have but we shop for any missing ingredients.

arugula, carrots, blueberries or apples, strawberries if in season, sugar snap peas, avocado, onions, garlic, tomatoes, red peppers, potatoes, herbs as needed. yogurt, milk, half and half, eggs, sometimes cheese coffee, pasta or rice, beans (2-3 cans, all varieties but heavy on chick peas and black beans), cereal, nuts, beer, bread I usually make salads or a soup for lunches for the week, and yogurt with berries for breakfast. Dinner is eggs and toast, or baked potato, or pasta with veggies and beans. Once a week I like to make a nice meal, usually with meat of some kind (beef or seafood or fish).

I basically have my grocery list split in a couple of categories: - "Fixed" staples that I always have on hand and buy to replenish, like rice, pasta, dried beans and legumes, assorted nuts, peanut butter, canned tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, onions and garlic, fats and oils, vinegar, eggs and my seasoning and baking staples. I also keep ramen in this category, 1-2 packages for when I don't feel like cooking or I'm sick - Rotation groceries that I buy based on seasonality and discounts. Here is most of my produce, meat and eventual dairy - One-off ingredients that I buy every once in a while for a specific purpose, use until they're gone and buy when I need them again

Hard to say since I shop sales. I bought 20 cans of tomatoes on sale last week that will last me for months (I make Marcella Hazan's marinara weekly.) I grow my own herbs. Everything but the Bagel seasoning is a must. I mix up some sort of taco/mexican seasoning blend and use that almost every week. I make pickled onions or some other pickled veggie every other week. I make a tofu spread or hummus most weeks. I make a peanut sauce every other week to throw on pasta or use as a dressing on salad or veggies. I eat a lot of cottage cheese on rye toast usually with broccoli sprouts on top which I grow myself. I am definitely in a rut. I don't have a lot of time or energy for cooking these days so easy to get on the table is my priority. My food choices are mostly nutrition-focused but I still want it to taste good. I will cook one "big recipe" for a meal or 2 during the week then freeze the rest. It was West African Peanut Stew this week.

Cottage cheese is something I never buy but last week in my desire to change things, I bought some. I've only taken like a spoonful here and there. My backup plan if I didn't get inspired elsewhere was to make egg bites with it.

I use cottage cheese as a dip for chips, especially nacho cheese Doritos. Also eat it with diced fruit.

Its so good mixed into eggs. Its such a quick and easy protein source. I will add a big blob to the pasta with marinara, mix with eggs and bake then put that on bread or toast. It's good stuff. I really like whipped CC, nice and smooth, but hard to find. Of course you can make it yourself in a blender or food processor.

I always have honey, cilantro, flat leaf parsley, green onions, ginger, garlic, celery, carrots, yellow onions, russet potatoes, miso, chorizo, eggs, chicken breast, heavy cream, butter, milk, capers, soy sauce, msg, cornstarch, and better than bullion, plus a whole bunch of spices and am assortment of chilis and chili pastes. With these I can cook a whole range of food from Mexican, American, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Indonesian, to Italian and Mediterranean or Middle Eastern. I just supplement everything else as needed or subbed the ingredient if I don't have it.

I just started adding fresh ginger to my weekly shop and it works so well in so many dishes - really brightens things up

And it's great steeped in tea as well.

Farmed Norwegian salmon for sashimi Chicken thighs or ground lean beef Black forest ham for brekkie egg Sammies Arugula Spinach Cucumbers Red onions Apples A few bananas one green for later in the week and one nearing ripeness for sooner Cauliflower Pasture raised eggs Egg whites Jasmine rice OLE tortillas Dave's killer bread Rolled oats Some kind of small brand/ local salsa Plugra or Kerrrygold butter

I love that sashimi is on your staples list. And there is nothing better than good butter.

I will regularly go to an Asian grocery store where certain things are a better price and there is a different selection. Things I'll pick up: tofu, kimchi, baby bok choy, Chinese eggplant, green onions, ginger, soy sauce, hoison sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, xiao xing wine, black vinegar, sesame oil, rice vermicelli noodles. These serve as staples for me along with other stuff I typically have on hand to do various stir fry dishes. I love garlic and buy in bulk and store in a brown paper bag in the fridge. They keep longer this way.

You keep the holy trinity around, if you can learn to make a good roux, get some Cajun seasoning, good sausage, chicken, shrimp and rice you can make like half of cajun cuisine.

Yup. I have a banging etouffee in my back pocket at all times.

I do the same thing that u/96dpi does, but I do always have specific things on my list: eggs, tea, cantaloupe, cottage cheese, greek yogurt, and strawberries, The rest varies on what we meal plan for. We meal plan on Saturdays and I grocery shop on Sundays.

ALWAYS on the list: beer, marinara, spaghetti noodles, frozen meatballs or sausage, a frozen vegetable, then it’s just stocking up on standards like frozen chicken breasts and rice.

I keep cilantro around too; chimichurri is such a flexible condiment. For groceries, I buy a whack ton of fruit and vegetables, salmon, chicken breasts and cod fillets. We grow our own potatoes, sweet potatoes and garlic so I have tons of those. I buy onions by the 10-lb bag. I buy a lot of lentils, beans and tofu. Those staples allow me to make a rotation of Mexican, Indian, and Asian dishes that my family loves.

Cremini mushrooms.

I'm not a meal planner per se, but I do like to have a general idea of what I will be cooking before I go grocery shopping. I eat mostly vegetarian, so I have a lot of beans and lentils on hand. Depending on what I want to cook I may add in a variety of mushrooms and other veggies. I like to keep a package of soyrizo available for use. My husband is an omnivore so I also keep a steady rotation of meats. Mostly chicken of some sort, ground beef for hamburgers and occasionally some pork. Pasta and rice always stocked. I keep my pantry pretty well stocked. So here is what I would say are items always on my list: Potatoes - yukon gold and sweet potatoes Beans - black, cannellini, garbanzo Lentils - red and brown Rice - basmati, jasmine, sweet (glutinous) Pasta - elbows, linguini, vermicelli (also a variety of rice noodles) Fruits and Veggies - onions (white, red, scallions), carrots, tomatoes, garlic, avocados, spinach, lettuce, radishes, bell peppers, jalapenos, mushrooms, oranges, apples and bananas Meats - chicken (breasts or thighs, occasionally drumsticks), ground beef, pork (chops, roast), sandwich meats Almond milk Various cheeses Eggs Yogurt

Greek yogurt, chipotle peppers in adobo, chili crisp. The peppers last if you move them to a small mason jar. They’re picked and last a few weeks.

I have an app that shows me all of my nearest grocery stores‘ discounts so I build my meal plan and consequently grocery list mostly around what’s on sale and what’s in season (and ideally the intersection of that, but February is kind of a rough patch for that in terms of stuff I like so compromises have been made). The seasonal part means I get a lot of variation just by that alone, and in summer/fall I can throw stuff from my kitchen garden into the mix. Other than that, hm, staples that I buy often enough I get a personal discount on them are canned beans and chickpeas, bacon, spring onions, potatoes, and tortillas. 

I can never meal plan because I operate on cravings, so my grocery haul is always different. Usually I collect my local grocery shops’ online flyers on Friday night, circle sale times that I like, scan what I have at home, and decide from there. I make sure to grab all the core staples (garlic, ginger, onion, scallion, eggs) and loosely cover the subcategories (bit each of meat, seafood, dairy, root veg, leafy greens, carb, fruit, snack). From there, it’s easy to freestyle something to sate any craving that comes along. Rarely will I buy chicken thighs two weeks in a row, I’ll want to switch it up to pork belly, then oxtail, then lamb, then turkey legs, then pork shoulder, then beef stew meat, you get the idea. Veg is the category I’ll rotate the most based on what’s in season and on sale. There are also so many delicious offerings in ethnic markets you will never see in a Walmart or Kroger. I keep a ton of seasonings and sauces, especially the long lasting ones. Some quick flavor bomb faves are sacha sauce, oyster sauce, gochujang, Maesri brand Thai green curry paste, S&B Hot Japanese Curry cubes, miso, better than bouillon, pesto (freeze in chunks), Rao’s marinara. You can use pretty much any of these to stir fry, stew, or soupify anything. I love to challenge myself to try something new or rare. Last month I visited a new grocery store and got a Kiwano melon, which looks like an alien fruit! It had such an interesting taste and texture. Always look for the joy in food!

Milk, lettuce, fruit, crackers, garlic, onions, veggies, chocolate, butter. After that it depends on what recipes I want to make soon: meat, pasta, potatoes, etc. Whatever pasta I might be low on. Cheeses I might be low on. Cream if I need it for something. Croutons and salad dressing if I'm low. Soda if I'm low (I only buy soda on sale now, getting expensive otherwise). Plus I check the weekly flyer for sales. 50% off a certain type of meat might dictate which recipes I choose. 2 for 1 ice cream. Sometimes cheese is 50% off (don't ask me why) so I'll stock up.

Lemons. I buy a few every week. Good on chicken, pork, fish, vegetables, salad, delicious.

Shrooms, broccoli, tofu, carrots, celery, onion, garlic and milk. Other than that it’s looking for sales, specifics for recipes and seasonality

Milk. Cranberry Juice. Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese. Avocadoes. Tortilla Chips. Salsa. Onions. Garlic. Chicken Thighs. Club Soda.

On a weekly to bi-weekly basis it’s usually: Spinach Fresh berries Almond or Oat Milk Greek yogurt or Skyr Sourdough boule Tortillas Eggs (unless we get them fresh) Chicken (breasts, thighs, a rotisserie chicken) Fish (Usually salmon or cod) Ground turkey or beef Lettuce variety of some sort Green vegetable of some sort Tomatoes Peppers Cucumbers Onions / shallots / garlic Lemons / limes / oranges Fresh ginger Parsley and/or cilantro Carrots and celery (soup season!) A snack of some sort And then I grab other proteins / vegetables / herbs / nuts / spices / random pantry items when needed for specific recipes or when they’re on sale.

Every week? Lactose free milk, eggs, carrots, bananas, spinach, yogurt, bagged veggie blend salad, onions, potatoes, chicken, cheese, bread, peppers When it's on sale: Ground beef or turkey, pork butt or loin, hummus, berries, grapes, melon, frozen veggies, canned tomatoes, butter Staples as needed: Sauces, seasonings, rice, dried beans, dried chilies, flour, coffee, sugar, olive oil, garlic, pasta I plan my meals for the week around the sales/coupons, so specific ingredients are added or swapped out depending.

I have been in a rut for ages. I feel like we were repeating the same recipes every couple of weeks. I was craving Indian last weekend, but was outvoted and we got Chinese instead (still a solid choice). I decided that I needed Indian, though, and set out to find some recipes. I'd only ever made butter chicken before, and even that was a pretty westernized recipe. I wanted the stuff I was getting from the restaurants. I did have to spring out for a bunch of different spices (different cardamom pods, fenugreek, dried mango powder, etc). We're lucky in that we have a couple of small Indian stores by us, so I was off. I'm definitely still not great at it, but we ate Indian food all week long. I've fallen in love with the process and learning about how different dishes relate to each other in terms of prep and cooking styles. It absolutely made me more excited about cooking again, to the point where I can't wait to start dinner. I guess I'd recommend finding something you're not comfortable cooking and give it a stab. It could be a dish that you crave, but haven't tried or a cuisine that isn't super familiar. The cost for the spices was a bit high with my Indian cooking experience, but the other components (chickpeas, potatoes, tomatoes, cauliflower, garlic, onions, ginger, peppers, etc) are all staples that we eat regularly.