# Grocery shopping disasters - how to shop efficiently?



## shyextrovert (Jan 2, 2015)

Is that interesting and descriptive enough?

I'm trying to become more structured because well I'm in an unhealthy place right now. 

I want to eat better but I have a hard time being structured enough to plan out my meals. Even if I do, then I get confused on how to best purchase groceries. I sometimes get over ambitious and buy a ton of stuff, only to forget about it or not desire it by the time I get to making it.. So then I end up with wasted spoiled food.. And end up picking up something which then wastes money.

And, even if I am inspired by a recipe, how do I avoid buying ingredients I'm not gonna use again for awhile? 

Step by steps will help 

Help?


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## Red Panda (Aug 18, 2010)

I think the best way to avoid wasting money and food is to plan your meals before. Start by doing it for every 2-3 days, make a list for the things you need and stick to it. 
As for the structuring of meals, well, it depends on what you eat generally, but for example it could be something like: in 7 days of the week, have fish 1-2 days, legumes 2 days, poultry 2 days, red meat 1-2 days, always accompany with salad. Have fruit for snacks in between meal times and decide what you like for breakfast to include in the list. So, you have a basic plan for what you need to buy, the only thing left is to stick to it. Perhaps you could be more specific.


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## shyextrovert (Jan 2, 2015)

Idk I just get real overwhelmed. I'm about to go in a bit so maybe I'll have more specific questions. Thanks @Red Panda


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## Red Panda (Aug 18, 2010)

shyextrovert said:


> Idk I just get real overwhelmed. I'm about to go in a bit so maybe I'll have more specific questions. Thanks @Red Panda


Okay, write anything here and if I don't see it tonight (I live in different timezone and it's almost bedtime), I'll answer tomorrow.


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## MNiS (Jan 30, 2010)

shyextrovert said:


> Is that interesting and descriptive enough?
> 
> I'm trying to become more structured because well I'm in an unhealthy place right now.
> 
> ...


If you buy too much and end up with wasted food then you may benefit immensely from buying pre-packaged foods. Try to go with healthy options and preservative free if at all possible. You should also always buy vegetables or salad packs with healthy dressings.

Depending on how much money you're willing (or able) to spend, you may want to consider something like this: 13 Companies Making Healthy Meals Easier


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## PowerShell (Feb 3, 2013)

Get rid of all garbage food in your house and then plan stuff out. Cook once a week and freeze the food so it won't go bad in case you don't eat it. Otherwise, you'll easily be able to reheat the food quickly and it won't be so overwhelming.


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## Catallena (Oct 19, 2014)

shyextrovert said:


> Idk I just get real overwhelmed. I'm about to go in a bit so maybe I'll have more specific questions. Thanks @Red Panda


If it's too overwhelming to write a grocery list, write a grocery *not-to-buy* list instead. Put down all the stuff to avoid, rather than worrying about whether you wrote everything you need.


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## telepariah (Jun 20, 2011)

Make a list and buy small amounts of the ingredients you will need to make what you are thinking about. I don't like to plan meals out at all, but I cook every day (I love to improvise) and we rarely have anything go bad. We have $600 a month budget for two on all food and groceries like cleaning supplies and such. And we eat very well. How do we do it? We buy the vegetables we use in smaller quantities like I said. Individual celery stalks are the way to go, carrots too. We buy the prewashed mixed greens and sometimes they are almost going bad from the start but we only buy enough for a few days so we don't have too much waste. A couple of onions, a single head of garlic at a time, one chunk of ginger at at time. Some things we buy more of but I grill them and then keep them in the refrigerator for up to a week. Broccoli, cauliflower, yams, zucchini, eggplant, etc. I also buy a dozen chicken thighs and marinade and grill them up for freezing. Then, when we are tired, it's really easy to put together a meal. We also make about 4 cups of rice at a time and freeze individual servings in plastic wrap. We eat a lot of pasta and other vegetables than I mentioned in spring and summer. All organic too. 

So it is possible. But for me, it takes building some process and ritual around it. We just got home from weekly shopping and I am about to start washing vegetables. I got some kale, that I wash and spin and use in smoothies every morning, a bunch of not yet ripe bananas and avocados. Going to roast broccoli and cauliflower in the oven while I get ready to grill meat and yams outside on the grill (it's finally warm after a deep freeze we were in since Christmas so I can catch up on all this food prep. 

Today I also bought some ground pork and chorizo and a couple pounds of dried white beans. I will soak the beans tonight and make cassoulet tomorrow. I guess it helps if you love to cook as I do. 

I'm also going to make a dozen chile egg and yam breakfast burritos that I will freeze so I don't have to make them every morning. I take a day to do this every couple of weeks and it's amazing how well you can eat this way. 

Best of luck! Eating healthy food that you prepare yourself is very satisfying and cooking is somehow therapeutic for me.


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## PowerShell (Feb 3, 2013)

Otherwise find food you like and buy it in bulk at Sam's Club of Costco. That's what I do. I'll buy 15 dozen eggs at a time, 5 pounds of cheese, and 3-6 pounds of bacon and just live off of that.


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## telepariah (Jun 20, 2011)

Forgot to say for spices, don't buy in a jar. They are way expensive that way and you won't use some of them in two years. Buy really small amounts in the bulk section. 

I eat a lot of eggs, but I only buy two dozen at a time.

My pattern is one day a week of massively stocking up and then I don't feel too bad if I have to go a couple of more times during the week to pick up one or two things to make a meal I've been thinking about.


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## the_natrix (Aug 10, 2011)

You might consider finding ingredients that have a good shelf life. Root vegetables and dry beans come to mind, then there's frozen fruits and vegetables, eggs, and winter squash stores well too. If you have this sort of stuff on hand in good supply then you'll be able to buy a short list of more perishable items when you know you need them.


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## shyextrovert (Jan 2, 2015)

I want to shout out each one of you for all your help but then I'll never get to the store!

I printed out a poop ton of information and trying to condense now to make sense and then put this into action! Thanks everyone for all your practical help, I'm excited to try this out. My poor brain has had a hard time.. I'm getting distracted by everything while trying to condense this all but I'm motivated now. Thanks again all


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## PowerShell (Feb 3, 2013)

shyextrovert said:


> I want to shout out each one of you for all your help but then I'll never get to the store!
> 
> I printed out a poop ton of information and trying to condense now to make sense and then put this into action! Thanks everyone for all your practical help, I'm excited to try this out. My poor brain has had a hard time.. I'm getting distracted by everything while trying to condense this all but I'm motivated now. Thanks again all


Do you have a lot of food lying around? A lot of times you have a couple weeks' work of food just laying around in your pantry. Maybe focus on getting that all eaten up.


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## Biracial (Sep 8, 2010)

Completely stop eating food you do not cook. 
Cook for the week on Sunday/meal planning
Freezing and canning
If you're not getting through veggies quick enough, throw them in the blender/mixer/nutribullet/juicer/etc


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## PowerShell (Feb 3, 2013)

I'm in the process of planning out so I only have to basically shop once a month for groceries and do the majority of preparation once a month or once a week. For the omelets I eat for supper I'll have to fry them up each night but the eggs and everything else will be pre-prepared. Basically I'll be able to throw it in the pan and have it made in a couple minutes.


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## nonnaci (Sep 25, 2011)

Buy frozen packaged fish, chicken, frozen mixed veggies, bread, salt. If you don't feel like eating them, just dump them back into the freezer. Cooking amounts to mixing some conolola oil on a pan with ingredients for 15 min. Bon apatite.


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## dragthewaters (Feb 9, 2013)

Fruits and vegetables should be the cornerstone of your diet. Kale is probably the most nutritious vegetable (it has ridiculous amounts of nutrients) if you're looking at things with a health angle. There are a million and one recipes involving kale, but I usually just have it raw in a salad, or make a kale/banana/unsweetened coconut milk smoothie (which is the best ever, just sayin).

You should have a salad or some other type of vegetable every night. Every day you should have a green vegetable (ie. Romaine lettuce or green beans, high in folic acid and niacin and so on), a red vegetable (ie. tomatoes or peppers, high in vitamin C plus some other stuff) and an orange vegetable (ie. carrots or yams, high in vitamin A; kale counts as this also). You're also supposed to have at least one or two servings of fruit a day. So plan your meals around that.

Try to figure out what day your grocery restocks the produce and, if it's feasible with your schedule, go the day after so you get the produce with the best dates (my fiance and I go on Monday night). That way it will stay good the whole week.

If you have bananas, don't pay attention to what anyone else says, put them in the fridge (not in a bag). The skin will still get brown spots, but they will ripen more slowly and won't get all slimy and gross, and they'll still be good after a week.

Honestly a lot of healthy foods don't even require preparation, or only minimal preparation. I don't even have a stove and I only cook using the microwave or water heated in an electric kettle. I also don't have a break room with a refrigerator at work so I can only bring nonperishable lunches. Yet I still eat healthy. However I eat pretty much the same thing for breakfast and lunch during the week so you may not want to do it that way.

Here's some healthy foods that keep for a relatively long time and require minimal preparation:
*plain Greek yogurt (you can add your own fruit and cinnamon to flavor it; honestly I just like it by itself)
*oatmeal (can also add your own fruit and cinnamon to this, and add some coconut oil to make it really awesome)
*cheese
*nuts
*peanut butter
*whole grain crackers or breads
*pasta (they have whole-wheat varieties and varieties made with vegetables)
*tofu
*eggs
*brown rice (buy brown rice instead of white)

Beans and legumes (ie. lentils) also keep for a long time, but require more preparation. You can either buy a slow cooker to make those, or just buy them pre-cooked and canned (but that will have some sodium).

If you have trouble knowing what type of meats to buy, why not buy meats and freeze them until you know you're going to use them? Or even cook them and then divide into portions and freeze for later. Most meats freeze very well. (I buy the precooked frozen meats because I don't have a stove and I always hated cooking meats anyway, but you could do it either way. The store also should have stuff like precooked frozen fish and shrimp, if you're into that.)

A lot of vegetables are flash-frozen, so that actually preserves the nutrients just as well as if they were fresh. I have a bunch of frozen vegetables just in case I run out of fresh ones. If money is tight or you don't want to end up throwing out a bunch of vegetables, you can go with this option. However the taste and texture won't be as good. (Also don't buy frozen squash, it will taste like nothing and make you sad).

Also for frozen pre-cooked foods, there are a lot of organic brands of frozen food these days. Amy's Organic and Kashi for example. Those tend to be a bit expensive but I like them for when I want a quick lazy meal or snack.

Oh also use MyFitnessPal. It will give you a good idea of what nutrients you need to be getting more of and if your diet is too high or low in fat/protein/carbs/etc.


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## dragthewaters (Feb 9, 2013)

telepariah said:


> I'm also going to make a dozen chile egg and yam breakfast burritos that I will freeze so I don't have to make them every morning.


Yams in a breakfast burrito sounds AWESOME. Why hasn't anyone thought of this before?!


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## telepariah (Jun 20, 2011)

Thanks! These are purple yams... very special with my pork green chile and soft, sunnyside or basted eggs on a bed of refried beans and corn tortillas. But that's not a burrito that I can carry in my pocket. :tongue:


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## Red Panda (Aug 18, 2010)

@thismustbetheplace juust a couple of points to add
spinach is awesome and much more nutrient-packed than lettuce really and over 9000 times more delicious 
1-2 servings of fruit, make that at least 2-4. The recommendations are about 500g of fruits and veggies combined per day, and given that veggies usually weight very little, you'll have to add more fruit. 
I think cronometer is better for overall nutrient overview since it shows vitamins and minerals as well. Unless myfitnesspal has that somewhere and I haven't noticed.

Come on, @shyextrovert keep us posted on your progress xD


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## dragthewaters (Feb 9, 2013)

Red Panda said:


> @_thismustbetheplace_ juust a couple of points to add
> spinach is awesome and much more nutrient-packed than lettuce really and over 9000 times more delicious
> 1-2 servings of fruit, make that at least 2-4. The recommendations are about 500g of fruits and veggies combined per day, and given that veggies usually weight very little, you'll have to add more fruit.
> I think cronometer is better for overall nutrient overview since it shows vitamins and minerals as well. Unless myfitnesspal has that somewhere and I haven't noticed.
> ...


But is spinach more nutrient-packed than kale? Don't think so. I also hate lettuce but some people like it.

2-4 adds up to be a lot of sugar though (4 servings of fruit would be about 60-80g of sugar!). I looked it up a couple of weeks ago and apparently the FDA only recommends two these days.

MyFitnessPal has the basic vitamins but not minerals. However most nutrition facts don't list those, so I think that's why they don't include them.


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## Red Panda (Aug 18, 2010)

thismustbetheplace said:


> But is spinach more nutrient-packed than kale? Don't think so. I also hate lettuce but some people like it.
> 
> 2-4 adds up to be a lot of sugar though (4 servings of fruit would be about 60-80g of sugar!). I looked it up a couple of weeks ago and apparently the FDA only recommends two these days.
> 
> MyFitnessPal has the basic vitamins but not minerals. However most nutrition facts don't list those, so I think that's why they don't include them.


No, kale is no. 1, but spinach is close, certainly much better than lettuce. 
Sugar is fine from fruit, there's no study so far that has showed any problems with fruit consumption, quite the opposite. Even in vegetarians and vegans who naturally have higher consumption, health indices are better. FDA probably recommends 2 because 2 1/2 cups of fruit & veggies is the minimum that showed improvement in cancer and other illnesses and because Americans eat much less than that, so there has to be a recommendation that is more realistic as a goal. Dietitians here that we use the Mediterranean model recommend at least 3-4 fruit and 5-6 (cups) vegetables. It's more cultural than scientific sometimes, especially in US where animal products and grains are much more promoted, or at least have been for the past years.
Here's an interesting video regarding this


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## dragthewaters (Feb 9, 2013)

Red Panda said:


> No, kale is no. 1, but spinach is close, certainly much better than lettuce.
> Sugar is fine from fruit, there's no study so far that has showed any problems with fruit consumption, quite the opposite. Even in vegetarians and vegans who naturally have higher consumption, health indices are better. FDA probably recommends 2 because 2 1/2 cups of fruit & veggies is the minimum that showed improvement in cancer and other illnesses and because Americans eat much less than that, so there has to be a recommendation that is more realistic as a goal. Dietitians here that we use the Mediterranean model recommend at least 3-4 fruit and 5-6 (cups) vegetables. It's more cultural than scientific sometimes, especially in US where animal products and grains are much more promoted, or at least have been for the past years.


Hmm I see. But I've found that just 5 servings of vegetables alone provides more than enough of the daily recommended nutrients, so is there any particular reason why they are recommending so much fruit? Fruit industry lobbyists?

Personally I only have two servings of fruit a day because I have genetically bad teeth so I try to avoid acidic foods.


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## Red Panda (Aug 18, 2010)

thismustbetheplace said:


> Hmm I see. But I've found that just 5 servings of vegetables alone provides more than enough of the daily recommended nutrients, so is there any particular reason why they are recommending so much fruit? Fruit industry lobbyists?
> 
> Personally I only have two servings of fruit a day because I have genetically bad teeth so I try to avoid acidic foods.


We can't really know if 5 servings are enough for nutrients because there could be absorption issues with minerals combined together. I think it's probably best to have as much as you can, especially since phytonutrients and antioxidants are important, and there isn't a recommendation regarding these. Vegetarians and vegans surpass the recommendations and have better health when it comes to chronic diseases and mortality and I believe it's closer to the natural human diet of having plants as the base. 

We don't really have fruit industry lobbyists, as all fruit and veggie production comes from individual farmers and not corporations or anything similar. I suppose they do have their unions, but I doubt they have such control, it's more about the traditional diet than anything else. And because the Mediterranean diet has been studied and proved to be a very healthy diet model there is no reason to not promote it really. We've strayed from that unfortunately during the past ~30 years, with all the processed stuff culture growing, but now with the crisis we've turned again to eating more plants since they are much cheaper. Many traditional, common dishes also are highly vegetarian so it's not that difficult.

If you can have many vegetables to counterbalance it's okay I suppose. You could have less acidic fruit like bananas that are alkaline and berries, plums, mangoes etc.


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## shyextrovert (Jan 2, 2015)

Red Panda said:


> @thismustbetheplace juust a couple of points to add
> spinach is awesome and much more nutrient-packed than lettuce really and over 9000 times more delicious
> 1-2 servings of fruit, make that at least 2-4. The recommendations are about 500g of fruits and veggies combined per day, and given that veggies usually weight very little, you'll have to add more fruit.
> I think cronometer is better for overall nutrient overview since it shows vitamins and minerals as well. Unless myfitnesspal has that somewhere and I haven't noticed.
> ...


Haha sorry! Ok so I printed out a clean eating grocery list and got stuff that I thought I would use based on recipes I have. 

Despite still possibly overbuying produce, so far I've made bbq chicken quesadillas which were easy and yummo. Then tonight I made ground turkey with red bell pepper and garlic pepper (the spice), then added salsa and avocado slices and it's so yummy! And I have leftovers for tomorrow's lunch or dinner. Woop! 

So I'm still a bit overwhelmed because I'm kinda learning the basics as I go, but I'm feeling more confident. Yay! 

Thanks for all your help guys! <3


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## shyextrovert (Jan 2, 2015)

Oops, I probably should've specified that I also never really learned how to cook haha


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## Entropic (Jun 15, 2012)

I would start with learning how to cook. There's no point in what you can buy grocery wise, if you do not possess the skill of how to transform the groceries into meaningful meals. The perk of knowing how to cook is that what you cook will taste much better than anything you could buy pre-processed, and you have absolute control of what goes into your meals.

I would first of all make a list of what kinds of foods and dishes you enjoy, and look up how to cook those online, and I would make some generic budget of how much money you can spend on food each month including how much time you have each day for preparing food, which also includes the time it takes to eat it. For example, are you vegetarian or a meat eater or do you have other forms of specific dietary concerns regarding how to cook it? Depending on where you live, certain types of food also cost more than others e.g. red meat is very cheap in Latin America, pork is cheaper in most of Europe, poultry is cheaper in Africa etc. This will vastly affect what food you can buy. Don't like legumes that are a common vegetarian replacement for meat? Maybe tofu is a better option etc. 

I would then consider how important taste is for you. No one likes bland food. Frozen food is for example always an option if you do not mind a bit blander taste and rather want to stick with a cheaper option. For others, this is non-negotiable compared to fresh food. I often avoid buying frozen vegetables because of their blandness but for someone who is less concerned about taste, this may be a non-issue. 

After you've made your list, you can rate the difficulty of each meal depending on how many steps are required in order to cook the dish (a lot of online recipe sites also have a rating of how difficult it is to cook this particular meal) based on your previous experience with cooking. For example, I would skip cooking dishes that require one to make say, sauces to go with the dish that are served on the side as it takes more basic skill to make a sauce than it is to cook some rice to serve with a stir fry. Be practical and realistic when approaching your cooking skills, including considering how much time you have to cook each day. A simple pasta for example, requires very little effort, but a salad can take a lot of time due to the amount of chopping etc. that is required, even though it's simple to put together. A lot of people under-estimate the power of the oven and how a lot of dishes are dishes that cook on their own e.g. stews. If you got little time on your hands, these are the kinds of dishes you should go for since they require little skill and effort and take little time to cook and prepare (though actual cooking time can be great when it comes to stews). 

First of all though, it's important to consider what food you are willing to eat. After you've narrowed that down, you can look into what you need in order to prepare those foods and what each dish requires. It is important to get a decent understanding or make a list of some basic dishes that require similar or the same ingredients in what you eat; that's the simplest way to avoid spoiled food. For example, I rarely eat dishes containing potatoes because I am not fond of potatoes, but when I do eat a dish that contains potatoes, I often try to make as many dishes as I can that include potatoes in them e.g. one day I may make mashed potatoes, then out of the leftover mashed potatoes I may fry it to serve with something else, since unfortunately, supermarket logic has taught us that more is less. It is however important to remember that only using exactly what you need is the cheapest way to buy something so if you only need 1 kg potatoes for this dish and the amount of people you are going to cook for, only buy 1 kg. So with that it's also important to understand how much you eat and the size of each meal is for you and the people you are going to cook for. A single household is going to require a lot less than a family, and someone who is working out regularly may need to eat more than someone who is not. 

I think the best way to approach it is to not be afraid and just buy whatever you feel like buying. Want a stir fry today? Go for it, but try to keep in mind to include what you currently have. Good and economic cooking also means to take care of what you do have at home. We often have a lot of individual pieces that can be made into a dish if we used some fantasy. Got some eggs and some vegetables? You can make an omelet. Got some flour, ham and cheese? You can bake a pizza. 

The more you cook the more you will learn about what ingredients are used a lot and what are not and what ingredients you end up using over others. I use rosemary and thyme a lot, sometimes basil and parsley and I absolutely adore garlic. These are spices that others may pay less attention to depending on what their preferences are, so again, it's important to learn what food you like to eat and what those dishes contain. There's no point to buy a jar of thyme if you are not like me who uses thyme in essentially everything.


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## shyextrovert (Jan 2, 2015)

Entropic said:


> I would start with learning how to cook. There's no point in what you can buy grocery wise, if you do not possess the skill of how to transform the groceries into meaningful meals. The perk of knowing how to cook is that what you cook will taste much better than anything you could buy pre-processed, and you have absolute control of what goes into your meals.
> 
> I would first of all make a list of what kinds of foods and dishes you enjoy, and look up how to cook those online, and I would make some generic budget of how much money you can spend on food each month including how much time you have each day for preparing food, which also includes the time it takes to eat it. For example, are you vegetarian or a meat eater or do you have other forms of specific dietary concerns regarding how to cook it? Depending on where you live, certain types of food also cost more than others e.g. red meat is very cheap in Latin America, pork is cheaper in most of Europe, poultry is cheaper in Africa etc. This will vastly affect what food you can buy. Don't like legumes that are a common vegetarian replacement for meat? Maybe tofu is a better option etc.
> 
> ...


This is so helpful thanks!!

Also rosemary and thyme, how simon and garfunkel of you


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## aef8234 (Feb 18, 2012)

Eat first, so you don't buy any junkfood.

Also, buy eggs, sugar, oil/butter, salt, and nutmeg, a lot of recipes use it, I thi-

Yeah, just eat first is all I can accurately give, sorry.


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## Children Of The Bad Revolution (Oct 8, 2013)

If tortilla wraps are a staple on your list, I've been making tortilla 'pizzas' using tomato puree, feta and greens but you could put anything on them and bake them in a medium oven for 15 - easy lunch. Lower calories than a Dominos, for sure. 


And easy way to use up veggies if you're concerned about them going off - stir fry.


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## AriesLilith (Jan 6, 2013)

Sometimes I'm also guilty of wasting food due to not cooking them in time.  Me and my husband get lazy sometimes and end up eating out.

But what we do is to buy food with easy recipes on mind. Lately we've been buying boxes of vegetables for soup (all cut, just need to wash and boil) and meat to fry on a pan (turkey, pork, cow), so that the meals are easy to prepare. We might also cook eggs, and perhaps these can be combined with rice or spagetti.

Every weekend we buy packs of meat and leave them to the freezer (separated in meal portions). We put them in the fridge but out of the freeze zone the night before we plan to cook them and they usually last for a few more days. Leaving them in the freezer can last for very long time so it's not a problem if we get more than we need in a week.

I used to buy salad that are sold in packs ready to be eaten, thought they might end up getting spoiled if it goes for more than some 3 days. Yet they are nice as they are ready to be eaten.
i also buy tomato cherries (easy to prep) and cucumber.

Getting some freezed food packs can also help on lazier days. These usually only need microwave or frying on a pan for 10 mins to be ready.

Fruits can last for a week or more so it is also good to have some at home.


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