How I keep my pantry and fridge stocked (as a two-person household)
I have a general question I thought you or a reader could help me with. Since you eat most of your meals at home and always have, how did keep your pantry and frig stocked? I am forever short what I would need and going to the store several times each week won’t work for me. Do you have any guidance on that subject?
-Maryanne
I'm guessing this is one of those questions that will have a different answer depending on who you ask. So, it's a perfect one to do an Ask The Readers post on!
Even if I was the only source you asked, my answer to this question would have been different at earlier stages of my life than it is now. Life is in a perpetual state of flux, and things like my pantry/shopping routines have needed to adjust.
For instance, in 2020, when I was feeding five people three meals a day during the height of Covid, I managed differently than I do now, with a household of two college students.
I'll tell you about my current routines, and then I'll ask readers to share theirs. That way you'll get a nice sampling of the ways we all tackle this challenge!
For anyone just joining, I'm a single (divorced) full-time nursing school student with a part-time job at the hospital, and I'm feeding myself + my 18-year-old daughter (also a college student with a part-time job).
I fly by the seat of my pants a lot more than I did when I fed a bigger household, but even so, I do have some pantry routines that help me.
Produce
I get a Hungry Harvest box delivered every other week, largely because it encourages me to eat more produce. If my fridge is stocked with produce, I will usually eat most of it.
In addition to the Hungry Harvest box, I buy pretty much the same produce each week: grape tomatoes, cucumbers, bananas, berries, apples, and oranges.
Dairy/Eggs
This is another area where things don't vary much. I keep cottage cheese, eggs, a variety or two of cheese, and a gallon of milk on hand.
I usually have some jars of homemade yogurt in my fridge as well.
Oh, and half and half for my coffee.
I buy extra butter and keep it in my chest freezer so that we always have it on hand.
Breads
I keep 100% whole wheat sandwich bread and Dave's Killer Bread around all the time; I buy them in double packs at Sam's Club and keep the extras in the freezer.
I also usually have some bagels here for Zoe; I buy a package, freeze some of them, and keep the others out on the counter for her.
I buy tortillas, but I usually store those in the freezer since we don't eat them super regularly.
Canned/Dry Goods
I keep some basics around, like a big bag of rice, canned beans, canned tomatoes, canned tuna, pancake syrup, peanut butter, honey, tea, oatmeal, coffee, sugar, and flour, and I just add these things to my shopping list when I use them up.
The same goes for items like spices or condiments (BBQ sauce, mustard).
I also keep a box of Rx bars here and some other high-protein granola bars, plus seedy flatbread crisps from Trader Joe's, and a box of Aldi's version of Triscuits.
I keep some convenience foods on hand that Zoe likes too, such as some canned soup, ramen, and boxed mac and cheese.
Meat
I usually keep some meats in my chest freezer (a bag of shrimp, a few packages of chicken, some ground beef) so that I have some basics available for building a meal.
Miscellaneous
When I make a grocery list, I include the pantry items that I need to restock, plus the perishable foods I need. To help me keep track of what staples I need to replace, I keep a simple list on the side of my fridge and I write things down there when they occur to me.
You can obviously use any list you like (a piece of scrap paper works!), but if you want to print one like mine, here's a printable PDF version of the one I made.
All I need to add to my weekly grocery list are any extras that a particular meal that week might need, like a special sauce/spice/type of produce.
And even if I don't do any planning, since I have some pretty good basics in my fridge/freezer/pantry I can usually pull together a decent breakfast, lunch, or dinner meal.
Concluding Thoughts
At this stage of my life, some keys are:
- keeping plenty of versatile staples around
- mostly buying foods that have a long shelf-life/fridge-life (romaine lettuce vs. spinach, for example)
- using my chest freezer
(Scroll to the end of this post for some of my thoughts on the value of a chest freezer even for a small household.)
Also, being flexible really helps. I usually have a somewhat loose plan for a few days at a time, but I modify that all the time based on what needs to be used up in the fridge, what leftovers we have, or what changes with Zoe's schedule.
I am particularly flexible when I'm feeding just myself; I take a quick inventory of the food I have on hand and figure out what I can throw together that will use up the most things possible.
Which is how I ended up eating sweet potatoes like this last week!
Or how I ended up making this one-person pasta dish.
I think the official name for use-what-you've-got approach is Reverse Meal Planning, but whatever you call it, it's a good skill to have in your frugal toolbox.
Maryanne, I hope I understood your question and that this was helpful. Send feedback if further clarification is needed!
Alrighty, guys! Help Maryanne out by sharing how you keep your kitchen stocked.
P.S. This guest post from Kristin (of Going Country) might help anyone who is trying to grocery shop less often. Kristin is a veritable expert on this, since she lives literally in the middle of nowhere. Check out her 10 tips!
I think you pretty much covered it all Kristen and what a great question. I think Reverse Meal Planning has a lot of merit. It overlaps with the Pantry Principle espoused in The Tightwad Gazette.
@K D, Exactly. What I do.
I buy frozen vegetables because I noticed I was wasting a lot of produce. I also chop and freeze ginger, as I don't use it frequently, and chop vegetables such as aubergines (eggplant) and put them in tupperware in the fridge. I also freeze canned foods such as chickpeas, as I don't tend to use a whole can for one dish.
@Sophie in Denmark,
I agree about frozen veggies. They are often cheaper and create a flexibility I need being an empty nester who travels frequently.
I try to buy lettuce of kale and it is always a race to get it eaten in time.
I never seem to eat a whole bunch of bananas before they are gone but apples last forever.
A trick about keeping fresh berries longer is wash them in a big bowl of water with 2 T. white vinegar. Drain and put the bowl in the fridge. They last a lot longer.
DH and I have an agreement, if something is almost empty, put it on the shopping list which I keep on the fridge. I glued a magnet to a pen so its handy right next to the list. Every Saturday morning, before I go to the grocery store, I look at what's on sale, then I open the fridge and freezer, meal plan with what I have and what's on sale, and put anything I need on the list.
About twice a year, I clear out anything expired and make a mental note not to buy THAT again, since I didn't use it.
After company comes, they usually leave ingredients I don't normally use, so I either figure out a meal to use it, or I bring it (unopened) to work with a sticky note "company bought this, I don't want it, help yourself".
What helps me the most is always knowing what I have. That took some organizing, and buying lazy susans help me to see all of my canned goods and spices.
When I was young, I did have a little pre made shopping list that listed the basics, that helped me to get my head around grocery shopping for staples.
We're also a two person household and do most of our cooking from scratch. My husband works outside the house whereas I work from home. During the week, I cook; on weekends, he cooks. I'm always shopping for our staples on sale and always keep a large amount of produce, both fresh and frozen. I love kale, so I'll often buy big bags on clearance and part them out for the freezer; I also freeze ginger and cheese.
We do a mix of meal planning and reverse meal planning. Example: I bought marked down Italian sausage and threw it in the deep freezer. I'll thaw it out this week and use half for spaghetti Tuesday and the other half for Zuppa Toscana Thursday. (We eat meatless every other day.) Today is pumpkin lentil soup to use up the last of the roast pumpkin from this weekend's Friendsgiving recipes, which I had planned and shopped for (and roasted the pumpkin!) ahead of time. Most dinners are planned to leave an extra serving for my husband's work lunch the following day, but I try to keep easy things like canned tuna on hand to throw together a quick tuna sandwich when there aren't leftovers.
@N, I also try to make enough at dinner to carry forward to lunch the next day. Cook once and eat twice or more.
Much covered. And isn't it a relief not to be fending for a family of ever hungry teenagers any longer?
My plan basically consists of having staples on hand and buying produce that is in season. Also I try to be flexible and replace ingrediens if needed (or too expensive or rarely used to make me want to buy). We shop at several places and I tend to get heavy stuff homedelivered and do a bycicle round to individual shops and the produce market where I fill up on favorites sold there. I never like to go to more than say four addresses on one round, so the visits to the baker and the greengrocer are more frequent than the one to the cheese and the nut stall, or the herb/spice stall.
Our eggs are delivered to our doorstep by a boy who gets them straight from the farmer, to the envy of A.Marie I believe. They are very good and it is so convenient not to cycle with them!
@JNL, yes, I'm very envious of your home egg delivery! I buy eggs direct from farmers at our Regional Market whenever I can, but your home delivery is even better.
I don't have many words of wisdom to contribute here; everyone else is doing fine. I'd say only that adapting to cooking for one, after over 40 years of cooking for two, has been one of many difficult aspects of learning to live alone. I'll divide up some bulk purchases with the Bestest Neighbors when I can, but I'm still struggling with a tendency to overbuy.
@A. Marie,
It is difficult to make adjustments to grocery shopping and cooking when a life change occurs. My SIL and I were talking about this a few days ago. There are still some things that I can’t seem to make in small quantities.
There are 4 woman on my street who live alone. They feed each other. On Monday, they each cook a meal for 4 and share it with one another. This way the aren’t stuck eating the same thing every day.
@Bee, I love that those women do that!
@A. Marie, at one time, large quantity dishes would be shared with a couple relatives and my folks. That has dropped to just my father is in his mid-80s and can cook/grocery shop for himself (as well as clean/do laundry). He even does bulk cooking and freezes for future meals. What we share with him are meals he likes but doesn't cook for himself.
Family of 7; minimal take out. I order groceries from my local Kroger branded store or do Costco Instacart delivery or Whole Foods delivery. For me, keeping track of what we need and what corresponds to my menu plan for the week is so much easier when I can be in my kitchen whole shopping.
I think this is a great question. Here's my answer: Always Have a Spare.
In practice it works like this:
1) Know what I grab for. I can provide a list if anyone wants.
2) Keep at least 2 on hand - the one in use and the spare. When I finish the one in use, I open the spare and put the thing on the shopping list.
If I eat a lot of it, I keep more on hand, such as my boxed cereal and yogurt breakfast. Sometimes it means the spare stays in the pantry for a long time, such as the quart jar of mined garlic.
I save money by:
1) Buying a big container (20 lbs of rice, a gallon of soy sauce) then decanting a smaller amount for everyday use (rice into a 2qt jar, soy sauce into a little bottle).
2) Stocking up on animal proteins for the chest freezer when it's on sale. My usuals are chicken parts, shrimp, and ground meat. (Remember to keep a running list of freezer contents.)
3) Stocking up on spares when they're on sale. If I'm running short of pantry space, I focus on either what I eat a lot of (frex, the cereal) or what's most expensive. I don't stock a lot of things that rarely/never go on sale, such as rice.
@WilliamB, I also use the “always have a spare” rule. It has saved me many headaches during meal prep through the years.
@WilliamB, I am also "have a spare" kind of shopper. When things we use regularly are BOGO, I buy at least two to keep the pantry stocked.
@WilliamB, Also always have a spare and it’s because you said it here some time ago. Serves us well.
But, I have a question: when you decant soy sauce into a little bottle, where do you store the enormous big bottle? Pantry or does it need refrigeration?
@WilliamB,
My problem is that I often have too many spares, especially in times of stress. I do not hoard but I do tend to overstock.
@WilliamB, "frex"??
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, Is it "for example?"
@ErikaJS, Soy sauce goes in the pantry, as do the oils and vinegars. Thank you for the call-out and complement!
Forgot to say that another advantage of decanting is that you get to pick the container. Many of mine are short, allowing me to have another shelf in the cabinet. Tall jars take up more vertical space = fewer shelves.
Chrissy and Jana are right, frex = for example.
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, I think he means "for example"..? But I was wondering, what cereal is that? FREX? Is that like CHEX?? LOL
@WilliamB, I became an "always have a spare" person during the pandemic when there was never any guarantee as to what would or wouldn't be on the shelves during a grocery trip (and I certainly wasn't going to expose myself to multiple stores looking for things.) It's great--I will definitely keep it up!
@Cheryl, that's what I was wondering too. 😎
@WilliamB, as usual, I learn things from you. "Frex" is a good one that I might borrow to confound the readers of my blog. (My husband will say, "You have a typo in your post today.")
@ErikaJS, After I open the giant bottle of soy sauce and decant it into the little bottle, I stash the big bottle in the fridge, because what I buy says it needs refrigeration.
Ha. I kind of forgot about that post. Did I cover my method of stocking my kitchen thoroughly enough there? Maybe, but I have more words for here! (Always.)
My method basically comes down to cooking very basic foods all from scratch and buying a LOT of everything. I have two chest freezers and will store non-perishables anywhere, including my children's bathroom cabinets, my husband's (very rough and cluttered) office, and my bedroom closet if they're in cans or sealed plastic (rodent-proof, that is. I don't buy special ingredients much at all, and I make almost everything myself starting from all these basic ingredients. I make the bread, yogurt, all the sauces--barbecue, stir-fry, curry, pizza--meat stocks, salad dressings, all desserts . . .
That does mean not a ton of variety, so I guess it doesn't work if you like lots of different things to keep from getting bored, but it works very well if you just need to crank out a large quantity of tasty, nutrient-dense food three times a day for six people.
I buy flour in fifty-pound sacks, sugar ten pounds at a time, butter in thirty-pound boxes, ground beef (when I sadly have to buy it at a store) in the ten-pound rolls, the big cans of tuna in the 12-can flats, five dozen eggs at a time . . . it's so much food at once when I purchase things. But I always have the food I need to feed my family, and we eat very well, albeit quite plainly.
@kristin @ going country,
Our eldest always says I cook simple but artisan food. From someone trained as a cook, that is a huge compliment. If you say you eat well albeit plainly that sounds like we'd love to eat at your table!
@JNL, Agreed. I look for Kristin’s menu every week. How she pulls it all off is amazing given the variety and all-from-scratch nature of the dishes and I’d love to join them for dinner.
@kristin @ going country, how do you have time for a job?? Feeding 6 people 3x a day, shopping and hefting all that stuff around (I've never heard of a 30# box of butter!), and keeping track of where you stashed it sounds like full-time employment. In addition, you drive your kids all over AND are involved at your church AND garden AND you run AND. . . I might need to nap right now after reviewing your life. In today's vernacular, you are uh-MAY-zing!!
As others have mentioned, I think you’ve covered most of it. As someone feeding only myself in a very small apartment, with not much space to store pantry food and a very small fridge and freezer, I still sometimes manage to throw away pantry food that I had bought ‘just in case’ - especially during Covid lockdown - but ended up expiring... because I bought stuff I don’t really enjoy eating or cooking with.
Maybe a starting point could be to list all the ‘regular’ food your eat - meals often on rotation, dishes you really enjoy cooking and eating, dishes that are easy and quick to make - and stock up on these ingredients in your pantry and freezer. You’ll be sure to use them up at some point, it’s not wasted space and you’ll probably look for these ingredients at some point in the future.
Same for your snacks, cereals etc.: what are you purchasing the most often/every time you’ve been shopping these past few months?
I’m a ‘list’ person (with a bad memory!) so maybe you could also add to a list each time you’re missing an ingredient from your pantry/fridge/freezer. Over time, you’ll get a better idea of your actual needs, and how to adjust your grocery list, if it’s always flour, yogurt, cereal, bread etc.
For ‘new’ meals or meals you’re not making often, I’d say try and buy only the quantities for 1 meal (or 2 and freeze one portion), then see if it can be added to your rotation. Of course buying in bulk costs less, but if you purchase 4 times the quantities you need for a rare meal, then don’t use the rest, it’s wasting shelf space and probably money as well.
In the end it depends if you enjoy cooking for the sake of it, and are good at using up what’s left, and also if you need a lot of variety. I think most of us eat the same meals on repeat, so you can stock up on food you’re sure to eat and only buy ‘unusual’ items when needed.
Obviously this works best with a freezer as, as other mentioned, a freezer enables you to stock up on perishables: bread, butter, meat, anything that goes in the fridge.
@F from France, I am a list person too and keep my grocery list on my phone where I can get to it anytime. I like your idea of a making a list of keeping a list of "regular" meals so I'm going to start one today. As a memory aid, I keep a spreadsheet of recipes complete with notes on changes I make and whether it's worth a repeat -- but it's over 400 rows long at this point. A shorter list would be way more convenient.
@Book Club Elaine, that seems like a very long excel sheet indeed!
@F from France, the spreadsheet does include non-food items like laundry detergent (I'm one of the oddballs that does that). Also, when something doesn't work, I leave it on the spreadsheet with a score of zero - so I don't forget and make it again.
I think my biggest advice is to know who you are feeding. We pretty much eat the same 20 meals with some diversity. My pantry list is dependant on those meals. I also try to make sure we always have milk, eggs, butter, cream cheese, bread products, yogurt, and bacon.
I do a lot of the things Kristen does, plus having a list of common meals as others have suggested.
If you search for pantry staples, you can find lots of free printable lists that might help you determine what pantry staples would be best for you to keep on hand. A well-stocked pantry is key to being able to pull together meals easily, even if it is in your laundry room. 🙂
Like Kristen I keep a grocery list and add items as we open the last one. Since I shop at a lot of different places, I keep a slip of scrap paper for each of the stores we shop (Sam's, Walmart, Aldi, Costco, and occasionally Publix) taped inside a cabinet door so whenever I need to shop or place a pickup order the list is ready for that store.
I cook like you do- plan meals around what I have and what needs to be used first. Instead of "reverse meal planning" I like to think of it as like being on an episode of "Chopped" where you have to make meals based on what they give you!
Very good suggestions here!
I keep a notebook in the kitchen and jot down what I will need as I notice it. I also menu plan 90% of the time, but if I stumble on a good sale or something needs to get used up, I'll adjust. To keep things in stock, I always inventory my food before I shop the next day and write it down in my notebook. That isn't as daunting as it sounds and takes less than 10 minutes total. I label everything in my pantry so I can just glance inside it to check on supplies, but whenever I use things up from there, I've already noted down on my shopping list that I need to get more, so this takes very little time. I pull open the refrigerator - anything I might need to replenish gets noted. I pull open the bottom freezer and list the frozen vegetables I still have in there plus add any regulars I have used up onto my shopping list. I keep a content list on a chalkboard on my big freezer, so I just go look at it and jot down what proteins I have from that list. My notebook page has a column of what I have at the house next to a column of what I need to buy. The facing page is where I plan my menu, which I only plan after I make my shopping list and write down what I have. That way I first use what I know that I already have when planning the meals. When a meal on my menu plan will use items I have in home, I check them off the list of "what I have" so I won't accidentally think I still will have them to use later. I haven't run out of necessary ingredients and had to make a special trip to the store in a long time, which I used to have to do on a far too regular basis. This method may not work for everyone, but it works for me.
@JD, you are super organized! Very impressive.
I like and use YouTube's The Frugal Queen in France's idea that a person should have at least two of an item in the pantry because "one is none," meaning you will use it and then be completely out. She also cooks for two who eat all meals at home and lives some distance from stores.
Although I cook for two and buy a few extras for our adult son, some items with a long life I will stock up on when I find a very good sale, like canned peaches, applesauce, and canned tomatoes. I regularly check dates in the pantry and inventory the little upright freezer with a written list posted on its door. Meals will be created out ofcwhat needs to be used next. The fridge freezer is for items used daily.
@Ruby, I e never watched the Frugal Queen in France. I will have to find this!
First of all, thank you for sharing photos of a real pantry. Why do pantries need to be Instagram -worthy?
I am really interested in this post. I think the key to pantry principle is having a handle on what you will really eat and what is a good deal. When I first stated doing this, I kept a TWG-type price book, a pantry inventory, and planned my meals more than I do now. Using my pantry and freezer became a habit. It is not really something I do consciously anymore.
I buy in bulk often even with only 2 of us in the house. Since we do not have a discount grocery nearby, I shop at Costco once a month where I regularly buy Jasmine rice, rice ramen, GF oatmeal, tuna fish, olive oil, whole bean coffee, butter, eggs, cottage cheese, feta cheese, organic milk, half n half, nuts, onions, potatoes, carrots, dates, GF bread, lemons, and regular bread. These items are not necessarily purchased every month. For example, a 25 lbs bag of rice will last 6 - 9 months in an air tight container. GF oatmeal in a 8 lbs bag lasts about 4 months. I occasionally buy other items like GF frozen pizzas and some meats like Chicken and pork loin. I use my freezer much like Kristen does.
I buy some meats, condiments, yogurt, and a few other pantry items when they are BOGO or on special at nearby stores - Publix, Whole Foods, and Fresh Market. (This is why I take the long drive once a month). If they are shelf stable or freeze well, I will stock up if it is a really good deal.
Other items that are in regular rotation like bacon, bananas, avocados, peanut butter, treats, and specialty items like capers or sesame oil are purchased Trader Joe’s. Most fruits, veggies, and seafood are purchased at the Co-op.
Because I bulk buy, I do a combination of meal planning and reverse meal planning. My refrigerator is rather bare right now. I haven’t had time or the inclination to shop. Yesterday morning, I dug around in the freezer and pulled out some boneless, skinless chicken breast. In the refrigerator, there were capers and lemons, so I made chicken piccata, which I served over rice with a side salad. Lunch was tuna salad and breakfast was peanut butter toast w/ the last of the berries. Sadly, I don’t think that I can put off a trip to the grocery any longer. I’m out of fruit, veggies, and essentials.
I'm a working mom in a household of three (me, husband, toddler.) I meal-plan and buy groceries accordingly. We're lucky that we live near a grocery store, and often we go for evening walks there, but it's an expensive store so we only buy produce there. We also keep kosher, so some products we can only buy at certain stores--it's a lot to keep track of ARGH. One thing that's a bit unusual about our meals is that we typically don't have a starch. My daughter eats lots of starchy snacks at preschool, so we just serve a protein and a vegetable. It tends to simplify things, too! The downside is that it is a more expensive way to eat, but it works for us for now.
I have a whiteboard stuck to the side of my fridge. That's how I meal-plan and keep a grocery list. I try to be realistic, and aim for simple meals. We always have a frozen pizza around, plus frozen veggies (peas, edamame, corn, broccoli,) frozen breaded chicken or fish, and frozen French fries. Tortellini is also a good frozen option. Our side dishes are often very, very simple: carrot sticks, frozen peas with butter, shredded cabbage with dressing. I found that simplifying the side dishes and relying more on my freezer has made it more manageable. I cook in a less elaborate fashion compared to how I used to.
I think about meals in "sets," if that makes sense, so I don't have to come up with something from scratch. It saves me mental labour. Frozen breaded chicken and raw veggies--those always go together, so if I have the frozen chicken, I automatically know that I can just cut up whatever raw veggies I have around to make a meal.
Cooking for a family is really, really hard! Balancing nutrition, personal taste, and cost is a real challenge. I often repeat to myself, "It's a meal!" Frozen pizza and sliced cucumbers won't win me a magazine write-up, but it's a meal.
@Meira@meirathebear,
This is so helpful. I will need to remember your motto!
I am feeding a household of four normally but now five while my Mom, bless her, is here with us to help through radiation treatments.
I cook most meals from scratch and buy very few convenience foods as a rule.
I keep my pantry stocked with AP flour and self rising flour. I buy these in bulk when they are on sale and store them in air tight buckets that I purchase from the Sam's club bakery - $2/bucket and $2/lid. I will store the larger amount in the bucket and then I have an airtight container in the pantry that is far smaller so I am not hauling around buckets when I am cooking/baking. I apply this same principle with oats, dried beans of all varieties, sugar, brown sugar and rice. The amounts i purchased during COVid obviously are far less than what I purchase now but the basic plan is still the same.
I also keep vegetable oil, Crisco, olive oil, vinegars, spices of all sorts, molasses, syrup and honey on hand. Chocolate of all varieties - think chips, bars used to make brownies, and cocoa also fall into that category for me. I keep raisins and nuts on hand - nuts go into the freezer and pasta of all varieties as well.
We don't eat a lot of canned foods as I like to can my own tomatoes and cook dried beans and then freeze then in batches to use in the future. This year has been very challenging for our family so we were not able to plant a garden. I have kept canned tomatoes on hand, tomato sauce & paste, canned beans if I am in a rush and things like coconut milk, evaporated milk and condensed milk for recipes.
I have a chest freezer and two fridge freezer combos so I shop sales to get the best deals and stock my pantry and freezer for the lowest prices possible. At the holidays I always see flour marked down to $0.99/bag or $1.49/bag - this is the time I will buy 50lbs and store it. Sometimes Costco or Sam's are cheaper but I do my research and buy where I can get the most bang for my buck. I meal plan and rotate what I have on stock frequently to minimize waste as much as possible.
I find this type of pantry/freezer stocking to be a huge blessing for a working Mom. I always have something on hand that I can throw a meal together with without having to go to the store. This also allows me to batch cook on the weekends so that my week is easier when we start adding basketball practice & doctor's appointments in to the mix.
My crockpots and my instapots are absolutely God sends and I find them helpful in avoiding food waste and getting healthy meals on the table for my family without too much fuss.
Another tip:
We keep our grocery list and weekly dinner meal plan on a Google doc. Myself, my husband, and my father who lives nearby all have access and can add things or remove them once we’ve picked them up. For each night of the week we list any activities (sports, music lessons, etc) and times as that guides when dinner needs to be ready. We also list the meal and a third line that says “need:” for anything related to that meal that we don’t have at the beginning of the week or anything that requires a bit of prep (ie make an instant pot of black beans in the afternoon, pull out frozen meat from the freezer to defrost, etc). That way it’s quick to glance at the next day and know what we plan to make, about what time, and if there is anything my dad could pick up on his way over for dinner. We also are pretty loose with our meal plan and if we find ourselves crunched for time or without a key ingredient, we’ll swap days or make one of our back up meals (burritos + apples, frozen pizza + produce, rice + stir fried veggies + peanuts).
It might help to write down what you eat for a couple weeks, so you know what to stock for you. Pantry staples vary a lot by person/household.
Our household will always eat pasta with marinara or chicken & rice if I don't have a dinner plan, so I always keep ingredients to serve each of those meals, in addition to whatever meal plan I make before grocery shopping, in case the plan doesn't work out.
I find it funny how the two of us used to both make all of our bread. I rarely make bread now. I keep wanting to but I need the space, time and headspace to do it. If I wasn't back in the office I would do it a lot more.
For my three person household we are much less organized about it than we used to be. We still shop sales and do stock ups on things like butter and cheese and canned goods. Living and working near an Aldi means that I make somewhat frequent trips to the grocery store for little things here and there.
@Battra92, are you the main cook? Or do you split kitchen duties?
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, generally speaking I cook more often than my wife does. It just works out that way.
@Battra92, I was guessing so because it sounds as if you do the bulk of the grocery shopping and it seems to me that the main cook usually needs to do the most shopping.
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, that makes sense. At this stage I am sort of the default parent. I am closer to home and my wife works later some days.
In reading this and also Kristin@GoingCountry's post, I learned that I already do most of those things.
Every 6-7 weeks I made a big run to Winco, using a list that has been built through the previous weeks. My husband buys milk for his coffee and for me to make yogurt and produce weekly at the local overpriced grocery store.
If a friend is going down the hill and asks if I need anything, I often ask for eggs. Running our of eggs just cripples my ability to cook. I am the breakfast cook and my husband BBQs meat and makes a salad every night (and toasts bread for himself on the BBQ).
I make bread about every 3 weeks, yogurt weekly, and cookies whenever he says he is getting low.
We also go to the local food give-away sometimes. . . I call it Free Food For Frugal Folks. The whole town is asked to participate, because if not enough food gets taken, the trucks won't bring it up to us anymore. It is a hit-and-miss thing—lots of canned veggies (yuck), sometimes nuts, frozen meet, lots of beans, often canned tuna or salmon.
@Central Calif. Artist Jana,
When my son lived in San Francisco, there was a similar program. Once a week, they gave away excess fresh fruits and vegetables from the nearby farms. DS would get his bag of food and plan his other purchases around its contents. It was very helpful, because rent in the city was exorbitant.
@Bee, rents in SF are obscenely high, or so I've heard. I was always a little bit too shy to ask my niece when she rented there. Shy? Nope, polite, but curious as heck. I was guessing her rent alone was more than my husband and I earn together!
I do things very similarly to you, Kristen, except that I typically buy frozen or canned produce instead of fresh. I'm only feeding myself, and I have a hard time using up fresh foods before they go bad. Plus, I'm more likely to actually eat vegetables if they don't require as much prep work.
@Elizabeth M, I’m exactly the same as you!
like Sophie said above, I tend to buy a lot of frozen veggies these days with just the two of us. I buy fresh produce for salads every week, and maybe brussels sprouts or asparagus if on sale, but other than those...it's mostly frozen. Even when I buy a big bag of onions, I will chop them and freeze for use later (grab a handful when needed). When my bag gets low, I buy another 3 lbs.
I keep a supply of canned goods, but also keep 2 bags of dry black beans, chickpeas, and navy beans. Can always be used for hummus, soups, refried beans, chili, etc.
I keep 1-2 of each condiment and when I use up the one in the fridge, I buy another for the pantry.
I have a stand up freezer so there is always meats/chicken/seafood/and a couple convenience meals. I also keep a couple frozen pizza dough balls and naan breads in there that I can throw leftovers on top of any time and cook for a quick meal. That has saved us ordering out so many times.
Recently, I have started canning my own sauce (enchilada, birria, butter chicken, etc). Usually I get 4-5 jars per recipe and buy the stuff for another batch when I have one left. Those make a quick meal for two people if I have them already on the shelf. And since I'm canning it, I control the size of the amount I'm canning.
I buy spices in bulk and premix a jar of taco seasoning, chili seasoning, bbq rub, and ranch seasoning. Then I have a jar of it on hand when needed. I only have to mix those about once or twice a year and never have to remember to buy a seasoning packet.
We mostly eat fresh fruit, but I keep a few canned items in the pantry for a pie, turnovers, over a cheesecake, etc.
Somethings I automatically buy every week....milk, eggs, cheese (usually 2 8-ounce blocks I can do whatever with), bread, deli meat.
This is a great question with great responses.
Here's what works for my two-person vegetarian household: Our grocery list is on a spreadsheet organized by store layout: Produce, Bulk, General, Refrigerated, and Frozen. This master list was developed over time and is posted inside a cabinet. We refer to it when putting together our grocery list, which is a small sheet of paper that we take with us to the store. For general items, we tend to buy two so that we are carefully stocked.
We are a two adult household, with young adult drop ins (almost daily) and we host huge family dinners of 18-20 people weekly. We live on a farm, I raise grass fed beef, lamb, chickens and barter for pork. We hunt and fish wild game for the freezers. I gather wild mushrooms and nuts. I buy dried beans, oatmeal, flour, sugar and rice in bulk. I have raised beds, 2 are hooped and covered for fall/winter growing. I grow kale, romaine, cabbages, spinach, broccoli and carrots. In the greenhouse I grow baby lettuces/mixed. I buy cucumbers, celery and red cabbage at the restaurant supply. In the pantry I keep gf pasta (brown rice/quinoa is our fav). In the summer I can tomato sauce, salsa, tuna, pickles (sweet, dill & beets) I grow and freeze broccoli, green beans, corn, cauliflower, black berries, blue berries, raspberries, strawberries, apples, pears, plums and cherries. I store in the larder (above ground root cellar built into one bay of the shop) potatoes, onions, carrots and winter cabbages. Once per month, I buy milk @ Costco - 4 gallons at a time, I make our bread every other day (to make it easier, I weigh the ingredients for a 2 loaf batch and freeze in gallon bags stacked in the fridge freezer - all I have to do is add yeast, liquid and honey).
I do buy my coffee ahead when it's on sale. I buy bulk tea, but have started growing my own.
@Blue Gate Farmgirl, I am so curious about growing your own tea. Please let us know how it goes!
@Blue Gate Farmgirl, if you ever want any middle-aged adult drop-ins, just say the word - sounds like delicious feasting at your house!
@Blue Gate Farmgirl, you are a BEAST!! (that's a compliment) I forget, are you still working? Because with all the work you do to keep your tribe fed, it doesn't seem as if you would even have time to eat yourself!
The app Notes offers sharing so my husband and I both take responsibility for maintaining a grocery list on it that we add to regularly. The main rule is to order any staple that you noticed is about to run out. We also pick up prescriptions at our grocery store so sometimes you'll see Rx listed.
I have one inventory management tip to share that might not be relevant for all households, but it really works well for us. My husband is the cook in our two-person household, so there are some important items that I never, ever touch, and I therefore have no idea when we are running low. My husband tends to mention these items to me when he's in the middle of preparing a meal and is all out of an essential ingredient! So now there are a bunch of things that I always have a second unit on hand in the cellar. When DH says he is out of breadcrumbs, I run down to my cellar stash, get him a can of breadcrumbs and add it to the grocery list for the coming week. Since implementing this method, it's become very rare for us to run out of something critical.
When I was working, I simply did not want to be in the middle of cooking/baking something and need to make a run to the store. My pantry at that time was a “back up pantry.” I always had an extra. As soon as I retrieved the extra, that item went on my grocery list. If there were sales, I would definitely stock up a frequently used item. And, like most, I always kept a few staples on hand … just in case (jarred sauce, canned tuna, pasta, rice).
For a while I tried stocking a pantry, but found we simply didn’t go through items fast enough now that we’re retired. I also tried keeping an itemized list of what was in my pantry, but that was too much! Now, I’ve gone back to my “back up” model of a pantry. I keep a list and a pencil near the pantry. When I use take the last of something from the pantry or use the last of something in the kitchen, I write it on that list.
I still meal plan. Meal plans may reflect what I have on hand or remind me I need to get certain things at the store. I still stock up at times. I’ve figured out about how much brown sugar I use a year. At this time of the year, I’ll get what I need for the year. I’ve invested in several clear, locking bins for my pantry along with baskets. Mice and ants (the cons of living on the edge of town or in the country) are not going to undo my efforts! Experience was an unfortunate teacher!
Good luck! It’s not an overnight project. You’ll need to experiment a bit and see what works for you.
I just moved to a very rural area (40 minutes to a grocery store), so my pantry looks very different than it did when I lived in the suburbs. Freezer is stocked with meat, butter, a frozen pizza, broccoli and spinach/Kale.
Pantry: flour, yeast, canned refried beans, canned black beans, dried 15 bean soup, rice, potatoes, salsa, quinoa, couscous, Mac and cheese, curry sauce. Canned corn. Canned mushrooms. Some spaghetti sauce. Winter squash, because they last. A lifetime supply of coffee. Vinegar. Homemade canned chili. Canned chicken.
Fridge: almond milk, eggs, cottage cheese, cheese, Greek yogurt (subs easy for sour cream) . Usually green cabbage, because it shreds nice and I can sub it on place of lettuce quite a bit. 1/2 and 1/2. Carrots (last long). Bell pepper, hot pepper, beets. Celery.
These days, my food is simple (2 adults) and usually consists of: stir-fry or curry over rice, potato/sweet potato bowls, tacos (Mexican, American, canned chicken, shrimp) with hard or homemade soft shell, soup or a meat and sheet pan veggies. If I make bread, I'll do burgers or sandwiches (canned chicken sandwiches) Sometimes I get fancy and stuff the tortillas with the taco mix and top with homemade curtido. I'll add broccoli and chicken to Mac n cheese.
Freezer also has leftover soup, chili, fried rice: I cook double and freeze half, for when I'm lazy (or when it's close to shopping and the fresh produce has long been gone).
Keeping my pantry stocked (beans, rice, pasta sauce, pasta, oils, vinegar) is essential to me. Can we do a thread about frugal Thanksgivings and what you splurge on?
I picked up some great ideas and suggestions that I can use. We all go through various stages of life and I think I was having trouble shifting into a new lifestyle. Thanks!!
I'm on the other end of the spectrum, feeding 7-8 people, 5-6 of whom are boys between 11&19. So, I'm at the store at least twice a week if only because they consume 15+ gallons of milk, 6 dozen eggs, a dozen bananas, etc. every week.
On the other hand, because they mow through just about everything, I do not have a chest freezer. I do follow William's one plus a spare for many pantry items. In my case its usually four of anything we use regularly because that's what fits best on my shelf and, in many cases, I need two for a single meal anyway.
Produce: I always have bananas, campari tomatoes, red peppers, carrots, onions, and spinach. Obviously some of this lasts longer than one week, but I can safely buy the bulk size of any of these items.
Dairy: The aforementioned milk, 4-5 types/sizes of yogurt, 6+ types of cheese, 4 types of butter, sour cream, whipped cream, and chocolate & vanilla ice cream.
Other fridge/freezer stuff: Chocolate syrup, pickles, jam, yeast, frozen meatballs, hot Italian sausage links, breakfast sausage, bacon, chicken nuggets and frozen corn.
Bread: Two types of loaf bread and flour tortillas.
Pantry: Diced/paste/sauce tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, black/refried beans, oatmeal, chicken broth, beef broth, pasta, rice, peanut butter, and canned tuna.
Baking/Cooking stuff: Flour, sugar, 00 flour, honey, tea, ketchup/mustard, and lots of spices/oils/vinegars.
Snacks: Protein bars, pop tarts, beef jerky, nuts, chocolate chips, chips, boxed mac n cheese, and crackers.
Most anything beyond that is purchased for a meal plan, though I buy most things in bulk so they may need to be worked into a meal plan in a later week.
I keep a running pantry of about a month and a deep pantry of 6 months. Rice, sugar, gluten free flour, yeast, honey, olive oil. I have them in large buckets and never lets them run low. I have meat and fish frozen but also salted and dried. I make bread, cookies and cakes, yogurts and farmer cheese, when there an over the ate sale of cream, I make butter and ghee. We keep chickens and quail . Try to grow as much produce and fruits as we can. We eat local, banana, mangoes, dragon fruit, passion fruits are homegrown. Sweet potatoes, spinach, pumpkin are from the yard. I buy Irish potatoes, onions and garlic. We live on a small island and eat kosher. I make soaps and swap that for honey. We eat out of pantry 3 meals a day. We are going to New York in December and we wil eat at restaurants for the first time in at least a year.
what has really worked well for me is starting an online shopping cart at the H-E-B, which is the chain I use. whatever I run out of or suddenly remember that we need, I go into that shopping cart and add it. At some point in the week I pull the trigger and decide to set up a curbside pick up, most often on my way home from work. This works incredibly well for me. not going into the store means that I do lose out on some choice, for example between different red peppers or crowns of broccoli, but I also miss out on being tempted by things I didn’t think of beforehand and buy as an impulse buy.
Wow! It worked! I have never in 5+(?) years of reading been able to post a comment! I try every few months and today, voila! I’m a meal planner, list maker, and stick to that list shopper. I understand not everyone is as rigid, but it’s the only way I can stick to my budget.
Whoooooa, what? I wonder why!! What would happen when you tried before?
@Kristen, I always got a system error that something went wrong and try again later. I don't remember exactly I'm just so happy I can post now!!! Love your blog and so happy for you. You are one strong woman.
I call it pantry or shelf cooking. I try to keep the pantry staples we use. I do what Kristen does and see what needs used up or if possible sometimes I freeze. I'm working on my poor freezers right now (fridge and chest). They are both full. I see what I have and will take a protein and make a couple meal ideas. It's me and a 16 yr old. I also pay attention to sales and try to buy as items get low. Some items I keep an extra and buy as I open the last one. I purchase clearance boxes of produce at Meijer using Flashfood app. (I also purchased meat I can freeze.)
My grandparents live next door so I do share w them. But, sometimes that's also why it takes me awhile to use my food. Because grandma will share what she makes too.
I do pack lunches for work, so meal prep. Sometimes specific meal prep dishes, sometimes I take a portion of three from dinner and make meals.
I also prep ahead items like chopped onions and peppers. Cook a larger batch of rice or beans or whatever and split .
Kristen, your pantry looks great!
Cooking for one person, and buying a small freezer for myself as a Christmas present, because my frost-free freezer makes freezer burn happen in a split second. I have three guiding principles; the first is that buying containers for food that is already in a container is a waste of money. I have sugar and flour canisters, and larger storage containers for dry dog and cat food and that's it. Second, I try not to buy too much of anything unless it's a super duper sale price -- things like canned soup or spaghetti sauce. I find that I just don't use some items that quickly, and since my pantry is small, I don't have room to truly stockpile. Finally, when colored peppers are on sale, I buy three, eat one and chop and freeze the rest. Same with onions, corn from corn on the cob, some squashes, even cherry tomatoes. You won't want to throw them into a salad, but their fine for soup or for mixing into a meatloaf.
Lettuce and spinach are my killers, though. I buy romaine only, packages of three, and trim and wash each one, wrapping in a dishtowel and placing in a plastic bag. They usually keep nicely for over a week. Also works for cabbage and Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and broccoli. Spinach, though -- if I don't eat it the first two days, it gets mushy and yuck, so any ideas would be good.
For one person, it works to break stuff down before you put it away. Make hamburger patties and freeze them, or repackage chicken breasts or thighs. I have even portioned salmon and shrimp.
@Jean,
Google ground beef with spinach / picadillo con espinacas recipes. The one I use doesn't seem to be up on the internet anymore, but it's basically seasoned ground beef with a heavy dose of spinach so works great to use up mushy/wilted spinach. The only other vegetable in mine is onion, but I'm seeing olives, peppers, beans, and all sorts of other options so it seems like you can add in whatever you like/have. Serve over potatoes/sweet potatoes/rice/noodles/tortillas; again, very flexible.
Great tips, everyone! So to make sure I use things up, I am constantly reorganizing the frig so that my husband and teen son can see the foods front and center. I label leftovers, too, so they can tell right away what it is.
I love a stocked pantry but I also buy "weird" things on sale sometimes. So once in the summertime and usually in January I do a Use-It-Up challenge to use up the bits and bobs.
For about six weeks now I've been trying to eat down the freezers (3) fridges (2, but one holds only bottled water currently), and the pantry. I've been creative with breakfast, eat lunch at work (avoiding the vending machine there), and snack for dinner (i work nights). It's forced me to work with what i already have, and 6 weeks without fast food saves money and is healthier.
Mostly, I cook for myself only, except for the holidays and also random baked goodies for everyone in my household. And I mostly cook from scratch and have regular meals and recipes on rotation. I nearly always cook in bulk, enough for several meals. I make lentil and sweet potato stew and freeze most of it. I roast a lot of veggies in the cooler weather and marinate a lot of veggies in the warmer weather. Really, I marinate all year round. So I shop seasonally, mostly traveling on public transportation, and keep everything on my digital list (Our Groceries, which can be accessed by phone app or computer or text or printed), and keep lists by store and by recipe there. I like that when I cross off a grocery item, it goes to the bottom of the list, so I don't have to write it next time but I can just uncross it. When there's a sale, I use my deep freezer to stock up a bit. I use baskets inside to keep from losing things and have a bit of an inventory system that I'm not on top of, but generally I have a sense of what's in there and where it is. I also have a sense of what's in my cabinets, but there I keep a dry erase post-it inside the door to note things I've got multiples of so I don't overbuy. I shop from the freezer, especially when funds are low, time is short, and it's not farmer's market day. And if I buy anything that's extra perishable, like mushrooms, or berries, or cucumbers, I deal with it right away (berries), or within two days; I either wash/clean, and slice up and refrigerate or bag and freeze, or marinate, or cook to add to a dish I know I'll be making within the week. That has saved many a mushroom!
My system is similar to Kristen's.
I keep a list of menus (I keep mine in my head but I've cooked for a very long time) & keep those things on hand. Keep extras on hand as well...however much you can use up before it goes bad. For milk, (for example) I don't keep extra fresh milk but I do keep a can of powdered milk that I can mix up & use for cooking.
The easiest way to do that is every time you empty something...go write it on your shopping list. This way I don't run out of condiments, meats, sides, ect.
There are things I buy every single week...fresh produce, a little dairy & eggs. So they just stay on the list. I keep the list in my pantry & as I cook a meal, I notice as I empty things or something is getting low & just add it to the list. I shop once a week. Before I go shopping I do a walk through, looking in the fridge, the pantry the big freezer for things I may have missed.
Another thing that helps me is to keep a simple menu routine. I have 5 to 7 meals we eat all the time so I always have those things on hand...baked tilapia on Sundays, a few different salads for summers & soups for winters. And I keep at least 3 throw-together choices on hand all the time too.
Reading through the messages, I think I may be unique in my method. Looking back at all the changes in life and family size, I realize that at each one, I did the same thing.
Let me start with I LOATH shopping, stores, crowds of people, small talk. Did I mention that I LOATH shopping?
In the past 5 years I have gone from a six person (all adults 19-78 yo) to 1 adult - me. With each change of family size, I used the same method. When an item was opened, I wrote the date on it. If it was an item that we used regularly, when the item was empty
I calculated how many days it lasted. I do this with EVERYTHING. Food, laundry, cleaning supplies. It is now a habit. I know how many of everything I use in a given time period. I keep a list on my cell phone of my items I use and how long it lasts + how often to buy.
I am a creature of habit. I eat and buy the same things over and over. I eat mainly high protein (chicken, beef, pig, eggs, nuts) and high fat (cottage cheese, cheeses, avocados, oils, butter) products and supplement with veggies. Very few fruits. I keep a stock of most things and I know the store sale patterns. I will catch the best sales at the best price and buy 3-12 months supply. For instance: Sam's this month has Kerry Gold Irish butter, always November - I bought 60 lbs. This will last until next November. Aldi's has green beans on sale rock bottom prices. I bought enough to bring my stock pile back to 1 years worth. Both of these combined saved me approximately $100.
Did I mention I LOATH shopping? I keep a pantry stock of between 3 months - 2 years. I shop different patterns. Sam's club - I shop quarterly at the most. I live 70 miles from the closest Sam's Club. When it is time for the quarterly shop, I look back at my previous orders online (to trigger my memory) and reorder the same thing over and over. Depending on what it is, I will have it shipped. I will schedule for pick-up so that the non-perishables can be loaded in the car for me. Those items that I want to pick out myself I will run in and scan and go. THE LIST OF EVERYTHING I BUY IS AVAILABLE ONLINE OR ON THE APP AT ALL TIMES. Rinse and repeat.
I shop Aldi according to sales pattern. I buy the same thing all the time. I keep a checklist of those items on my cell phone Notes. When my favorite items go on sale at Aldi (following their sales pattern) I pick up enough for 6 weeks - 1 year depending on what it is and when it goes on sale. Anything that is checked on the checklist is bought at that time as well to bring me back up to my "stock level".
Occasionally I shop Kroger if they have the cheapest price/best quality. The same for Walmart. I use pick up service for both of these.
So I use many methods to ensure that I do not run out, but if I do it goes on the list and waits on my shopping pattern. If I run out, I update my "how many I use in X time period" and restock per my shopping pattern. It goes the other way as well. If I have too much of something the I adjust down accordingly.
This works very well for me because I LOATH shopping. I hope my method helps someone!