I'm somewhat the same way about not knowing what I'll be hungry for. (Complicated the last six months by an utter lack of appetite which has lead me to "Eating *something* is better than eating nothing, which has meant more frequent grocery trips).
Stuff that's helped: - Shopping places that are reasonably pleasant to shop at. I shop once a week and mostly alternate between Trader Joe's and my local co-op each week, with occasional stops at a mainstream chain grocery for the things that neither one of those carries. Both treat their employees well, the people working there are happy and cheerful but not painfully perky, and the stores are clean, well-lit, and even if crowded, it's pretty easy to get in and out fairly quickly since I know where everything is.
- I think one thing that helps is that both are sort of mid-sized stores: big enough for some variety, but small enough that I don't normally hit choice paralysis. (Except in the cheese section).
- I have a list of things that I will pretty reliably eat. (Cheese. Chocolate. Tomatoes. Avocado. Lemon juice to put in my water. Pasta.)
- I have some stuff that keeps really well that I like reasonably often, and that I keep on hand: if I run low on these, they go on the shopping list. (Marinated artichoke hearts. Capers. Certain soups. Pasta. Some frozen foods.) I don't want them all the time, but often enough that if they're in the house, they're handy (and they won't go bad between when I buy them and when I might want to eat them.)
For example, I pretty much always keep one or two of several Trader Joe's items in the freezer, because if I don't want them this week, I almost certainly will in a week or two, and they're a great filler for days when either that's exactly what I want *or* when I come home from work and don't want to do anything I have to think about much.
- I then have a list of stuff I look at before I go shopping and go "Hmm. Does that sound sorta good this week?" If so, I often get it, or I get something that's reasonably similar. Usually figuring out why I'm craving something helps with this bit, if I am.
- All these lists live on an application on my iPod touch, which comes shopping with me. I deleted all their existing groceries, and only put in the ones I'm likely to actually buy. I can also get a default list for each location, and then delete the items I don't need more of. Bread is one of these, for me - I like baking, so I pretty much only pick up breads I'm not able to bake myself, or if I really don't have time/energy that week.
- While I do get some sudden unpredictable urges, I found that most of mine fall into some general categories where I can either keep some on hand, or I can figure out I might tend that way this week. For example, I pretty much always want cheese, but some weeks I trend towards Swiss, and sometimes fresh mozzarella, and sometimes Stilton, and so on - but if I have cheese in the house, I'll probably eat it by the end of the week, so cheese in general is a safe bet.
Don't know if any of this helps you, but you're definitely not alone in the pre-planning not being the ideal thing.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2010-03-13 02:51 am (UTC)Stuff that's helped:
- Shopping places that are reasonably pleasant to shop at. I shop once a week and mostly alternate between Trader Joe's and my local co-op each week, with occasional stops at a mainstream chain grocery for the things that neither one of those carries. Both treat their employees well, the people working there are happy and cheerful but not painfully perky, and the stores are clean, well-lit, and even if crowded, it's pretty easy to get in and out fairly quickly since I know where everything is.
- I think one thing that helps is that both are sort of mid-sized stores: big enough for some variety, but small enough that I don't normally hit choice paralysis. (Except in the cheese section).
- I have a list of things that I will pretty reliably eat. (Cheese. Chocolate. Tomatoes. Avocado. Lemon juice to put in my water. Pasta.)
- I have some stuff that keeps really well that I like reasonably often, and that I keep on hand: if I run low on these, they go on the shopping list. (Marinated artichoke hearts. Capers. Certain soups. Pasta. Some frozen foods.) I don't want them all the time, but often enough that if they're in the house, they're handy (and they won't go bad between when I buy them and when I might want to eat them.)
For example, I pretty much always keep one or two of several Trader Joe's items in the freezer, because if I don't want them this week, I almost certainly will in a week or two, and they're a great filler for days when either that's exactly what I want *or* when I come home from work and don't want to do anything I have to think about much.
- I then have a list of stuff I look at before I go shopping and go "Hmm. Does that sound sorta good this week?" If so, I often get it, or I get something that's reasonably similar. Usually figuring out why I'm craving something helps with this bit, if I am.
- All these lists live on an application on my iPod touch, which comes shopping with me. I deleted all their existing groceries, and only put in the ones I'm likely to actually buy. I can also get a default list for each location, and then delete the items I don't need more of. Bread is one of these, for me - I like baking, so I pretty much only pick up breads I'm not able to bake myself, or if I really don't have time/energy that week.
- While I do get some sudden unpredictable urges, I found that most of mine fall into some general categories where I can either keep some on hand, or I can figure out I might tend that way this week. For example, I pretty much always want cheese, but some weeks I trend towards Swiss, and sometimes fresh mozzarella, and sometimes Stilton, and so on - but if I have cheese in the house, I'll probably eat it by the end of the week, so cheese in general is a safe bet.
Don't know if any of this helps you, but you're definitely not alone in the pre-planning not being the ideal thing.