Beware of the Grocery Store Maze!

I love grocery shopping. I love food and cooking and planning menus, so a trip to the grocery store combines those elements together into one big happy excursion. Before empty-nesting,  I would spend hours planning the week's meals, looking through cookbooks, making my grocery list; separating out ingredients I needed to buy from speciality stores versus what I could find at the local grocery. Sunday dinner was a big adventure for me. My youngest daughter's rock band practiced at our home on Sunday and dinner time included all four band members, plus their girlfriends and the occasional best friends. We always had 6 to 10 people over for dinner on Sunday including my husband and me. And it was an opportunity to cook something new or different with a captive audience of eager eaters. What fun! I would grill kabobs, shrimp with pineapple and red pepper, chicken with celery and new potatoes, sirloin with onions, mushrooms and green peppers, vegetable kabobs and fruit kabobs for dessert to be dipped in chocolate fondue. Make tacos including black bean salsa and vegetarian taco options. Or experiment with a casserole. Anyway, the point is, there was a lot of food and in order to have a lot of food on the table, I spent a lot of time and money at the grocery store.

So it's no surprise that when I moved and went to a solo-empty-nesting lifestyle, grocery shopping was the hardest adjustment for me. I'll never forget my first grocery shopping experience as a solo-eater. It took me 2 1/2 hours and I spent over $200.00! Remember, I was only buying for me and I was on a diet! I got home with all of those groceries and as I was putting them away I laughed out loud at myself. What was I thinking? I made myself a promise that from now on I'd stick to my list.

The first problem was I have moved to a new part of town so I had to "break in" a new grocery store. I was so familiar with my old grocery, I should've been considering how much time I spent there! But this one was bigger and everything was arranged differently. Plus it has a lot more prepared food options and a huge made-to-order section that my old store didn't have. On man - that is so dangerous for a "foodie". Anyway, that's one reason it took me so long. The other reason is because I was literally wondering around in a state of shock. I had NO IDEA how to shop for one. I had a list with me, but I let myself get totally confused by the selection and the prepared food options. And I hadn't really accepted the fact that I was cooking for just me, myself and I. After that experience, I have tried to do a better job of planning ahead and here are some things that have worked for me:

• Plan your week's meals - it's still fun to find recipes and plan the week's menu. You just have to cut the recipes in half so they serve two rather than 4.
• Adjust your grocery list according to the new serviing sizes - especially with fresh produce or meat, you will just waste what you don't use if you don't have a plan
• Include lunches and meals out in your plan - so you make sure and buy appropriately. If you know you'll eat out at least once, that saves you on your grocery bill. And if you are making meals for two you have the choice of eating the dinner two nights in a row, eating a portion for lunch or freezing a portion. Put that in your plan.
• Don't buy in bulk - it won't save you money, it will just waste the food and your cash.
• Avoid prepackaged fruits and vegetables - get only what you need for the week so you can avoid waste

I went from over $200 a week to about $80 a week, including dog and cat food. See yesterday's budget blog for ways you can reallocate that savings!

Here's a great dinner option that includes ingredients you should have on hand for other meals:

Asparagus, "bacon" pizza

1 12-inch whole wheat pizza crust

1/4 pound of fresh asparagus, trimmed and sliced horizontally in thin strips

4 strips of bacon ( I use Morning Star fake bacon)

3 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

1/4 cup of parmesan cheese

4 green onions, chopped stems and all

1 medium red pepper

1 clove of garlic

Fresh basil - about 1/4 cup chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Cook garlic, chopped red pepper, onions and bacon in olive oil  about 8 minutes or until tender and bacon in done throughout. Spread this mixture over top of pizza crust. Top with asparagus, parmesan cheese, basil and salt and pepper. Bake on 400 degrees for about 10 minutes. One serving would be 1/2 of the pizza. Wrap the other half in foil and take for lunch the next day.