| I consume less with online shopping. With groceries, I plan out my week's meals with the Paprika app, shoot the list of ingredients over to notes, and then order only what is on that list, which is delivered to my door. No more "hmm, this looks interesting" as I'm wasting my time walking up and down aisles specifically designed to make me spend more. My fridge and cupboard now look almost empty, despite having the week's shopping in it because I don't have jars and boxes of HFCS-laden garbage that I bought on a whim. As far as non-consumable goods go, I spend the time I used to waste driving to and from stores and trying to find objects hidden in a sea of shelves finding written and video reviews of big-ticket items and I do not purchase anything unless I know it has passed the muster of several trusted reviewers, has all of the features I want, have seen it from every angle, know its precise dimensions, and know it has documentation and patches/upgrades available on the manufacturer's website. Can't really do that looking at a box on a shelf in a store. Regarding a steady stream of deliveries, it is too easy to set up a once-a-week delivery, at least with Amazon Prime. I set mine to Saturday. People who impulsively buy things online are the same people who would have gone to the dollar store for "shopping therapy" pre-online shopping and come home with a basket full of cheap Chinese crap. |
When it comes to fresh produce, though, this is exactly how I shop. We've gotten accustomed to buying things in any season and then wonder why strawberries look beautiful but taste like a cucumber. It's not until I'm at the store that I remember what fruits and vegetables are in season.
So then I buy what's in season, seems tasty and what I think I can use for the week. If it turns out I over-bought, I find out during mid-week assessment of the fridge, and repackage certain things for the freezer, prioritizing what's best fresh.
And this becomes a fun time to experiment with cooking. I have A, B, C, which were all bought with the intent to be seperate dishes. Can they be combined in a novel way? Then you're no longer following recipes, you're having fun, making new things and get to enjoy the result.
For example, that's how I found out that dumping a handful of garlic cloves in chicken thighs slow-cooked in olive oil produces a nice sweatness. Another day I tried the same but pressure-cooked due to time constraints and while the chicken was ok, the garlic didn't produce that amazing sweetness.