My mom used to be able to shop once or twice a month, and spend $100 at a time and load up. I tried to do that, but ended up with 4 soggy heads of lettuce sitting in the fridge. $200 a month divided by 30 days equals about $6.50 a day, so that is how much I spend (or less) every day on my way home from work. Since Vons is on the way home, thats where I usually shop, but I will also frequent Trader Joes, specifically for the mango lemonade, and Costco, for the free samples, hot dogs, and Tillamook cheese!
Once I knew I could spend a little bit each day, it made it a lot easier (and I wasn't stuck thinking of meal ideas for a week.)
Heres an example of how it works, except its not an example and its really the exact menu for the first week I figured out that this way to shop!
On Monday at work before going home I went to epicurious.com (my go-to site for recipes) and typed in "phyllo sheets, feta cheese" because I knew I had those two ingredients at home. No, I don't usually have phyllo sheets in the fridge, don't worry about this being a fancy food blog. The option that looked most appetizing was "Mama Voula's Spanakopita." (Still learning, I'd give this a 5..) I had all the ingredients except spinach and leek, so I knew I only had to buy two ingredients that day and I would have dinner. Lucky for me, the 50 pound bag of spinach was on sale for $2.50, so guess what was on the menu for...
..Tuesday, typed in "spinach" and most appetizing-looking recipe goes to: "Baked Ziti with Spinach and tomatoes" (this gets a 9)
Wednesday, still had about 40 lbs of spinach (and some feta cheese) so I type in "spinach, feta" and come up with "Feta Cucumber and Spinach Pita Sandwiches" (10 stars, make sure the pitas are really warm, don't bother with the $10 sun dried tomatos.) I spent $3.50 on pita bread and a cucumber and I was set.
Continue on until all spinach is done and you are now Popeye. But seriously, just look at whats in your fridge and type it in the search box, it's hard to waste anything, and dinner doesn't have to be the same each night.
