Grocery Shopping

We’d love to keep our freezers stocked with make-ahead breakfast sandwiches at all times, but sometimes the convenience of store-bought is just a gift. These days the freezer section is filled with an ever-growing selection of breakfast sandwiches. From choices in bread that span English muffins to tortillas, to meat-filled and vegan options, there’s a sandwich out there for every taste and preference.

Bulking up the freezer with breakfast options is one of the secrets to successful meal planning. Costco and an afternoon of cooking is the secret to making freezer breakfasts to last my family a month. Here’s how a trip to Costco and one afternoon of work can save breakfast — one freezer sandwich at a time. While a dozen freezer breakfast burritos might last a week or two in your house, they last just three days with my family of four.

Years ago your only choice for watermelon was the big 20-pounder or perhaps wedges of that behemoth cut and wrapped nicely by your grocery store staff. Nowadays, however, the larger watermelons have minis to compete with. And frankly, I like mini watermelons — the ones that clock in at around five pounds — a whole lot more. Here are three reasons why I believe mini watermelons are the ones to buy.

Watching customers at a grocery store shop for corn is surprisingly fascinating. Every person, myself included, has a different method for checking whether the ears they are buying meet their standards. It’s hard to tell if you’ve got perfect corn kernels behind those thick husks, but what’s really OK when it comes to inspecting corn? Seriously, please don’t be that person.

When eggplant season is in full swing, I find myself buying more than I can carry. The meaty vegetable is just so versatile — throw it on the grill, roast it, stir-fry it, and more. Instead of haphazardly grabbing one and hoping for the best, be sure to check for these five things when picking out an eggplant to ensure you’re getting a fresh one. Eggplant should feel heavy in your hand, which is a sign that the flesh is fresh and in good condition.

It’s the eighth hour of your road trip and you’re famished. What do you do? Fast food feels like the easy answer, but wait! There’s another way. Before you pull up to that window and order a cheeseburger and fries, consider the surprising yet obvious alternative: the grocery store. Grocery stores are usually easy to spot, just off the highway, and nearly as quick, yet so much better than a greasy paper bag of fast food. So, what do you buy at the grocery store?

Tackling a month’s worth of meals during Ramadan might seem similar to tackling a usual month’s meals, except for one key difference: You’re fasting for most of the time you’d usually spend doing meal prep. Trying to doing that on a nearly empty stomach isn’t exactly easy. That’s why taking the time to get ahead before Ramadan begins is so important.

For the last seven years, Trader Joe’s has asked customers to vote on their favorite products. From baked goods to beverages to produce, these are the things customers loved to buy from Trader Joe’s in 2015. Did your favorite product make the list? According to loyal customers of Trader Joe’s, the cookie butter is the overall fan favorite. It was also the number-one pick last year, so it’s interesting to see that this trend is still holding strong. Have you tried it yet?

Whether you’re throwing a dinner party, having people over to watch The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, or hosting an impromptu happy hour after work, there’s no need to go all Martha with the appetizers. Instead, just check out Trader Joe’s frozen, ready-to-heat appetizers. There are some great options out there that need nothing more than a short spin through the oven, which means you can focus on more important things like, um, cleaning up your kitchen before guests arrive.

If you’re skipping the sangria (you don’t have to — you can do it on a budget) or don’t want to be bothered with cocktails but still want to do some sipping with Thanksgiving dinner, plan on having a few house bottles of white and red wine. Picking two wines and sticking to them throughout the night keeps things nice and easy from both a drinking and buying perspective: Choose the two wines you want to serve, and pick up a few bottles of each. Easy.

Can you throw a bountiful, generous feast for a big crowd on a budget? Absolutely! We shared our menu for Thanksgiving for 10 on a $100 budget, and our super budget sangria. To make this classic Thanksgiving feast a reality in your own kitchen, here’s a full shopping list. But first — a few words of wisdom from our readers on budget shopping for Thanksgiving and the rest of the holidays.

Costco is a grocery store like none other. A membership card is required, the shelves stretch to infinity, and the carts are extra-big. A few months ago, I followed my mom around Costco to see what the fuss was about. Last week, I took my first solo trip, confident that I was about to be the boss of this shopping experience. I was not. I stumbled out in a zombie-walk, clutching my mega-pack of toilet paper beneath one arm and moonshiner’s jug of Bulleit whiskey with the other.

You remembered to bring your coupons, you found the food on your grocery list, and now all that stands between you and home is the check-out line. Sometimes it’s super short and you can run right through, and other times it’s a drawn-out process with lots of heartache. Such is the life of a home cook. Grocery shopping is a war zone and everyone is a soldier.

It’s been seven years since I first started doing a regular pantry challenge, and it’s never failed me in saving money and helping our family stay under budget. If you’ve never heard of a pantry challenge, know that it’s not complicated; it’s simply making the effort to use up what you already have. By not buying more (because you already have what you need), you lower your grocery budget for that period of time.

For one thing, there's a giant bag of greens for just $2.50.

Because Shabbat comes every week, it often feels like as soon as the dishes from this week’s dinner are over, I am starting to plan the next one. Over the years, I have come up with a few strategies to keep the planning and prep simple and organized, so I can enjoy it almost as much as the dinner itself. Before crafting a menu, I check in with guests about their dietary needs. We keep a kosher home, so we are already set for both kosher and non kosher guests.

A savvy shopper keeps an eye on the the perimeter of the store, with its seasonal changes in selection and price being the easiest to track. But even though every grocery is filled with products boasting nonstop claims, I’ve yet to see a sticker on a container of strawberries that says, “Now in season: I taste better!” Food marketers, please go forth and make this change upon our shopping experience. In the meantime, here’s a list of what tastes great this month.

My husband and I love to travel. After years of scrimping, saving, and paying off debt, we reached a point in our family life where we could swing the costs of family travel. While our family particularly loves Santa Barbara and Mammoth Lakes as closer-to-home locations, we were able to introduce our children to England and France when we spent a month there last fall.

It’s Pizza Week here at The Kitchn, and pizza means wine. The classic combination of cheese and tomato will never get old, but I’m also glad that pizza now means something more. Pizza crust is basically a blank canvas, like a tortilla or toast; once you see it as such, the ingredient combinations are endless, as are the wine-pairing possibilities. Who doesn’t love finding a killer bottle of wine under 10 bucks? I certainly do.

Food-packaging technology is part of what ensures the food we buy stays intact during the shipping, shelving, and shopping that needs to happen before we bring it home from the store. For the most part, packaging is fairly effective — even ingenious. However, there are some foods that are packaged in ways that make me shake my fist in frustration: “Why, oh why, do they make it so hard?” Come on, I know you feel me here.

Best-Ever Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Over the last four weeks, our family has celebrated Father’s Day and two birthdays, as well as hosted houseguests three times. We’ve absolutely loved the feasting and fun, but my grocery budget has definitely been challenged. While I am rarely tempted to splurge in a clothing store, the supermarket is another story.

One of my favorite strategies for saving money on food costs is stocking my pantry and freezer to serve me all year long. Packaged foodstuffs generally last for many months, which means I can stock up on a great sale and use those items far past their typical “season.” Also, learning a few tricks in food preservation allows me to extend the shelf life of seasonal produce and enjoy summer fruits in the dead of winter. Here are few of the seasonal deals I look for throughout the year.

Does it matter where you grocery shop? I mean, aren’t all stores basically the same? No, they aren’t. In fact, there can be a huge range of pricing for the very same item in a number of stores. Where you shop can save you money. But did you know that shopping at the same store can also reduce your grocery bill week after week? Familiarity can breed contempt — but I prefer when it saves me some coin.

If you’ve ever bought a tub of labneh – that ultra-strained, lightly salty, Middle Eastern yogurt “cheese” – or made it yourself through a process of straining yogurt via suspension or compression, you may have noticed one particular thing: it lasts a really, really long time without getting moldy or otherwise spoiling. It can last for weeks, and still taste as good as when freshly bought or made. This shouldn’t surprise us, right?

I understand why people view yogurt as a substitute. The problem comes when that becomes not just the headline, but the whole story. Because of its acidic properties, its creamy richness, and its body, yogurt does indeed make a fine substitute for other cultured dairy products like sour cream and buttermilk. Fact is, if a pancake or waffle recipe calls for buttermilk and you only have yogurt, you can go ahead and replace it. (Consider thinning it with a bit of milk first.

I grew up eating low-fat yogurt. Not because I was afraid of fat, but because low-fat yogurt dominated the yogurt case. I grabbed it because it was the default option, and I rarely gave the fat content another thought. When Greek yogurt arrived, something changed. Maybe it was marketing, or maybe it was all the press coverage, but suddenly, nonfat Greek yogurt seemed to be the “it” thing.

Since I’m not a dietitian or a dentist or an expert on childhood obesity, I look at yogurt as a food to consume first and foremost for pleasure, and only second, for health. Food as medicine is a popular topic, and a worthy one, but it’s really not my professional or personal focus. So what I’m about to say may surprise you: Despite the above caveat, I still think people who consume large quantities of yogurt should consider stocking up on (or making) big tubs of plain yogurt.

For years, the cereal aisle represented, to me at least, the bounty of the typical American grocery store. I mean, anyone who has lived outside the US for an extended period and then returns to our shores is often shocked at the sheer breadth and scope of offerings – the bright colors, the wide-ranging flavors, the smiling cartoon characters! Cereal was always the food we had in abundance more than any other. Until now. Now it’s yogurt.

Do you shop in Mexican or Latin American grocery stores? If not, you may be missing out on some good ingredients — not to mention good deals on groceries you usually buy elsewhere. We sat down and talked to Top Chef Season 12 finalist Melissa King about some of her experiences with Mexican cuisine, and she shared with us some of the ingredients she always stocks up on when she’s shopping in those stores!

For those of us who did not grow watching Grandma make pasta from scratch, the kitchen can be a scary place. From the store to the sauté pan, there’s a lot to learn and often a lot at stake for the beginner cook — like, an edible dinner. These fears often keep people from trying something new or cooking at all. Which is why, one by one, in this new column we will tackle these roadblocks.

There are many theories, myths, and misconceptions about how and why grocers operate.

I started grocery shopping when I was a teenager. I worked as a “bag girl” at the local Lucky Store so my mind was literally on food at least four hours a day. I convinced my dad to let me do the family grocery shopping. I made a list of meals I wanted to eat during the week and bought the items on the list. Rarely did I take inventory or adhere to a food budget. I just bought what I wanted. This habit followed me into my college and newlywed years.

So, you’ve got some goals for your money — that big trip, the new car, the debt-defiance — and you’ve got a food budget to help you tell your money where to go. You might think that the plump grocery fund is your carte blanche to go shopping, but there’s something you need to do first before heading out. Nope, I’m not talking about meal planning or grocery list making, though those are super important.

We all know the axiom for sane, rational grocery shopping: Don’t go to the store when you’re hungry. Research supports this sage and ancient advice: this study found that people bought more high-calorie food when grocery-shopping hungry. However! That’s the ideal. Life often works out otherwise. How often have you hit the grocery store for a dinner run, ravenous after a long day, and come out dazed and clutching two extra bags of cookies and fixings for nachos? Uh-huh. Us too.

You don’t need a pile of coupons to get added value from your grocer. Grocers have a lot to communicate to their customers, and unless you pick up that newsletter or get chatty with that cashier who’s been there since Crystal Pepsi was in stock, some of their offerings get buried under more urgent messages like 5 for $5 promos, cooking classes, or a new offering in the deli.

They seem like distant memories, but I remember when I used to have all the leisurely time in the world to grocery shop. I could browse the aisles, comparison shop, and even plan meals while in the middle of the grocery store. And now? Working full-time, as well as having a spirited two-year-old daughter, means that grocery shopping is a sprint to get through the grocery store as efficiently and quickly as possible, always with a list.

Years ago my husband and I thought we were frugal people. We looked for sales, drove used cars, and otherwise opted out of an extravagant life. However, it somehow missed our attention that we were still living beyond our means. Since ours was a one-income, self-employed household, we’d never learned how to budget. In fact, we’d kinda dismissed it as being impossible to budget on an irregular income. Credit cards and home-equity loans fooled us into thinking we were doing just fine.

I am fluent in the language of grocery. I speak POS and SOP, FIFO and EDLP*. I believe Doose’s Market is the true star of Gilmore Girls and deserves its own mention in the opening credits. My favorite Christmas song is Dan Fogelberg’s “Same Old Auld Lang Syne,” because unrequited love in a grocery store parking lot is the best kind of love.

I found myself in the produce section at Whole Foods recently staring at the baby spinach. There were prepacked bags and bulk baby spinach to choose from. I usually assume bulk goods are cheaper, but the prepacked bags were oh-so-tempting and easy. Which should I get? I decided that price would be the deciding factor, so I set about trying to figure out which was a better deal, when I realized the answer was right there in front of me! I didn’t even have to do any math!

Whether you have an itty-bitty fridge freezer or a large deep freezer in the basement, it doesn’t help you a whole lot if you don’t know what you have in there. Often we forget about something for so long that we end up chucking it. They say Americans waste 25 to 30 percent of the food they buy. Think of the resources — and money! — we could save if we never wasted food. Over the years, I’ve learned how to keep a freezer inventory that works for me.

For the sixth year in a row, Trader Joe’s has released its Customer Choice Awards. From the best slice of bread, to customer’s favorite cheese, all these products are true stars at the grocery store. Can you guess which product received favorite overall for 2014? The winner for the favorite product overall at Trader Joe’s last year was cookie butter! Are you surprised? No? Neither was I.

Whether you’re preparing for a major pantry clean-out or you’re about to load up on essentials for holiday baking and entertaining, there are quite a few items where an expiration date doesn’t apply. When stored properly — in an airtight container, kept in a cool, dry place — there are a number of pantry staples that can last just about forever. We’re not talking until the end of time forever, although some of these staples just may hold up that long.

There isn’t a Trader Joe’s in my town, but I run with hipsters, so I was pretty sure I knew all about it. The grocery store of cheeses, açaí berries, fair-trade oatmeal, and probably a stunning array of hummus? Home of Two-Buck Chuck, the world’s number-one cheap wine? A smaller version of Whole Foods?

I remember fingertips stained strawberry red, hay bits stuck on kneecaps from kneeling on strawberry beds, small brown shoulders hot with summer while I balanced a half-empty crate, cramming my mouth with perfectly ripe berries. I remember the orchard every autumn: watching my dad pick the tree-top apples for my mom; inhaling the sharp cider-scent of rotting apples scattered beneath trees; casting sideways glances at the hornets hovering.

Grocery budgeting is a science, and an art. So much must be balanced: time, preference, income, store availability, seasons, life situations, and more. These are my top 10 tips for creating a grocery budget—and sticking to it. Before you can make a realistic grocery budget, you have to have a realistic idea of what you usually spend. You might spend more on food (including drinks and eating out) than you realize. Start tracking what you spend for a month. Keep your receipts.

If you’ve ever felt totally confused when reading the label on a package of chicken, I can guarantee that you’re not alone. Not by a long shot. There are so many terms to know, and it seems like new labeling buzzwords keep popping up. It can be tricky to know what’s important versus marketing buzzwords that don’t actually carry much weight.

I’m a graduate student, so obviously I’m on a budget. But over the years, as I realize how connected my health and productivity are to the foods I eat, I’ve created a list of foods I’ve learned are always worth spending money on. I call it my core splurge list. We all splurge on something. Shopping, eating out, trips — our paycheck destination always reveals our priorities.

Who shops and eats here: Batya Stepelman of Sparrows & Spatulas, along with her husband, Matt Berman, and their young sons, Otis and Theodore See her kitchen: Batya Stepelman’s Open, Garden-Powered Kitchen Where: Denver, CO Rent or Own? Own We recently toured the open, garden-powered kitchen of Batya Stepelman and were inspired by her city garden and how she finds ways to bring healthier meals and more vegetables to her family’s table.

There’s no real science behind knowing when to buy generic or store-brand foods, and when to stick to your favorite (and probably more expensive) name brand. But we all know you do your grocery bill a serious favor when you shun labels. Think of it this way: Name-brand foods are subsidizing their own marketing, so you’re often paying for more than what will end up on your plate.

As someone who makes up recipes and writes about cooking for a living, it’s been interesting to watch the rise of meal kit delivery services. Not quite takeout, not quite cooking from scratch, meal kits deliver pre-measured ingredients and recipes to your door to help you cook with ease.

In a former, less experienced life, I would head to the grocery store at any time, day or night. An hour later, I’d drive home exhausted and hungry with five items that weren’t even on my list (I’m looking at you, potato chips in the jumbo bag). I’ve since learned more than a few tips for smart grocery shopping, and one of my top methods has everything to do with the time of day that I set out for the store. Here are my best tips, which you should totally steal.

It might seem perverse to talk about canned vegetables and other preserved goods in the summertime; after all, aren’t we surrounded by vegetables bursting from gardens and farmers market? But I find myself relying on a well-stocked pantry in the summer; I don’t want to take the time (or heat up the kitchen) to cook beans or lentils, and so I turned to canned varieties. What about you? What canned goods do you buy in the summer, and do you have any favorite brands?

We’re smack dab in the middle of summer, which means it’s prime zucchini season and they’re everywhere! Did you know this popular variety of summer squash can grown up to 2 inches in length every 24 hours? Bigger doesn’t mean better, though, so here are some pointers on how to pick the tastiest zucchini. Inexpensive zucchini is such a versatile summer vegetable: you can eat it raw, bake it into bread or muffins, fry it, or grill it, amongst countless other usages.

If picking a ripe melon feels like a completely daunting task, I can assure you that you’re not alone. Sometimes this choice feels more like a leap of faith, where you cross your fingers and hope for the best. But there are ways to discover the sweetest, ripest, juiciest melons, and to pluck them from the heap. Picking a good melon comes with challenges. It’s not like selecting berries where you can see green hints of unripeness.

I get to see a rather unique side of the farmers market, as I’m actually a weekly vendor and get to talk to hundreds of potential customers each week. It’s pretty cool. And pretty enlightening. With that, I’d like to help shed a little light on what it’s like on my side of the table, and what you can do (or not do) as a shopper to make your favorite farmers market vendors really happy. My company Marge Granola currently does two markets a week in Seattle.

I don’t know about you, but during the summer I find myself mixing fresh herbs into just about everything. They’re more or less available year around, but there’s something about using them in the summertime that just feels, well, right. They make meals feel fresher, lighter and all around tastier. This summer, go beyond basil and mint and branch out into some herbs that perhaps aren’t used as often. Here are my five favorites.

Here’s the last installment of the DIY wedding reception series I’ve been sharing with you this week (you can see all the posts here). Shopping for a big event like a wedding reception is not like a normal grocery run, and there are a few tips I’ve picked up to make it a little easier. These tips can be helpful for a range of parties, too — whether you’re cooking for 50 at a graduation barbecue, or 200 at a wedding reception.

The first time I heard of Wegmans, someone — a friend, a college roommate — mentioned it in a group conversation, and the reaction went something like this: “Oh my gosh, I love that store! It’s the greatest grocery store ever. Seriously. Best. Store. Ever.” Suddenly I felt like we’d just spotted Brad Pitt: voices got shrill, heart rates sped up. Words like love and amazing and can’t live without it flew around the group.

For many of us, the ceremony involved with wine service is deeply rooted, yet personal and meaningful. Cutting the foil, removing the cork, cradling the bottle for the first small pour: these simple rituals are among my favorites. Well, put down that corkscrew this week. I am not going to tell you to give up on these things, but I do want to highlight some interesting possibilities that the bag-in-box format provides.

As anyone who has gone to Trader Joe’s knows, it isn’t your average grocery store. Sure, Trader Joe’s stocks standard grocery supplies of dairy, meat, vegetables, and grains — but the relatively cheap prices and exclusive specialty products justify the long lines for this grocery store. Recently Trader Joe’s released its customers’ choices for their top 25 favorite products of 2013. How many of these delicious things have you tried?

Tell me if you’ve ever had this experience. You’re standing in front of the seafood case at the grocery store with a hankering for a quick and delicious dinner, but you are troubled by concerns about sustainability. Is any of this OK to eat? What about seasonality? Maybe chicken would just be a better choice? Don’t give up so easily! There are many smart choices in seafood, including one of my own favorite foods: scallops. Scallops are one of my favorite foods.

Have you noticed that limes are suddenly wildly more expensive than they used to be? When I read that the average price for a lime in U.S. grocery stores is now 53 cents, up from 21 cents, I had to laugh. I’d love to find 50-cent limes. I’ve been paying up to $1.50 for a single measly lime in my grocery store. Have you noticed this too? Here’s why limes suddenly went sky-high. We’re in the middle of what should be peak lime harvest in Mexico.