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> 2) Go buy fresh produce once every 3 or 4 days I would add: 4) Buy stuff that's in season This can save a lot of pre-planning on meals, since by just buying one or two measures of several things (focusing on getting a variety of colors) you'll naturally have what you need to make a bunch of traditional recipes, which are almost always based around seasonal fruits/berries and veggies (i.e. you won't find a lot of recipes calling for both something that's ripe in Spring and something that's ripe in late Fall). You can buy first, plan later. I find it to be nearly as easy as sticking to small set of dishes week after week, except that it gives you much more variety. Since what you bought determines the set of things you can make, it removes most of the time and stress associated creating new meal plans for every week and shopping to match them. A good middle ground between the two, IMO. As a bonus, your food will taste better. AND it opens up the possibility of shopping almost exclusively at farmers' markets, which will make it taste better still. There's no, "oh, they didn't have any fresh X at the farmers' market, and the dish I'm making tomorrow requires it, so now I have to go to the grocery store too, even though I don't need anything else from there right now". Staples at the grocery store, fresh stuff at the farmer's market, make what you can with what you got. This may be less practical in the Winter, depending on where you are, when canned and frozen stuff becomes important if you don't want to eat rice & beans and various stews for every single meal, but works well for the most part. |
Excellent point.
You can buy first, plan later.
Excellent! I'm going to adopt that as a pillar of "hyper-lazy cuisine."