Groceries

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.

New book Ingredients takes popular processed foods and photographs their individual chemical components. So what does it take to make Cool Ranch Doritos? The 34 ingredients you see pictured. Turns out even the cheese in Cool Ranch Doritos is composed of 10 flavors and chemicals. This book delves into other popular foods, like Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup and Quaker Instant Oatmeal, and visually explores just how processed modern food production has become.

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.

Q: I just started cooking with wine, and I love the flavor it adds to my food. Unfortunately, I don’t like to drink it, so I don’t know what a good wine for cooking would be. What are some recommendations for good red and white wines to use in my cooking? Sent by Madi Editor: Choose a wine that’s reasonably priced and versatile. With whites your best bet is something that’s dry and crisp, like sauvignon blanc, an unoaked chardonnay, or even sparkling wine.

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.

Who says you can’t drink wine with your ice cream? Ask most wine professionals, and they’ll tell you, “Pairing wine with ice cream is one of those ‘impossible pairings.’ Go with beer or have a sip of whiskey, instead.” But what if you are presented with a situation where wine is your only option, or what if you simply love wine and ice cream together? Adaptability is a positive quality, so let’s break some rules.

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.

As exciting as it may be to see table after table heaped with colorful fresh, local food during the growing season, it can also be overwhelming. And it’s nearly impossible to eat all the seasonal produce you encounter, unless you’ve got a clan whose hunger and numbers are sizable (and tons of time on your hands). You gotta have a strategy and pick out the things that really count.

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.

Hands up if you’ve ever forgotten something delicious or new you brought home from the grocery store: a nice piece of cheese, a basket of berries. I’m certainly guilty of this; I can feel so inspired when shopping only to have my motivation evaporate after putting the groceries away. But I have a little trick for remembering and following through with my groceries — it takes all of 5 seconds.

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.

Even though consumers are still clamoring for locally produced food, NPR has declared that we’ve hit the peak of farmers markets. Why? Turns out there are better ways for farmers to get their food to your tables. Quartz looked at two of the more popular ways for farmers to connect with consumers: farm-to-school programs and digital marketplaces like Farmigo.

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!

It seems like every other day we hear about a new meal kit delivery service. We’ve written in the past about the pros, cons, and ultimately the opportunities of convenient meal kits. With so many good options out there, how do you choose the one that’s right for you? We took a look at the nuts and bolts of six meal-delivery services to see how they stack up. (There’s even one for smoothies!

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.

The holidays often usher in a surplus of grocery items that we don’t normally get a chance to purchase at low prices. As much as I want to start karate-chopping my way through the crowds packed into the holiday baking aisle, I’ll brave the hordes to take advantage of good deals on these staples. 1. Butter: It freezes like a champ and right now it’s officially the cheapest it will be all year long. 2. Parchment paper and muffin cups: Who cares if they’re red and green?

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.

Angostura is the most widely known aromatic bitters, but not your only choice when it comes to stocking this important ingredient of your 9-Bottle Bar. This week we look at a few strong contenders. Time to stop and smell the bitters. To recap a bit from last week’s introduction to aromatic bitters, we learned that bottles belonging to this category of cocktail “seasoning” tend to present a flavor profile that’s anchored in notes of bitter roots and baking spice.

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.

Now that orange bitters (along with a host of other varieties) have made their big, recent comeback onto the cocktail scene, there are suddenly a welcome wealth of options to choose from when stocking your personal bar. Discerning spirits shops and specialty-food stores have begun carving out shelf space for these diminutive bottles, making them more available to the budding cocktail enthusiast.

Whether you’re attending a costume party, curling up with a horror flick, or simply handing out treats at your door, enjoying a decadent red wine with your Halloween festivities assures us that the fun doesn’t just belong to the kids. And nothing completes a convincing zombie or vampire costume like a glassful of deep, blood-red wine!

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.

Orbiting just beyond the spirits, vermouths, liqueurs, and bitters that make up the 9-Bottle Bar solar system are a handful of important bar extras — items such as eggs, simple syrup, and grenadine — that bolster your home bar’s drink-making potential but which aren’t quite so essential to have around that they to warrant a place on the main roster.

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.

Q: Is there anywhere in the United States where I can get milk which is just milk? I am originally from the UK and our milk is just milk, whereas here, it’s Vitamin A, palmitate, and Vitamin D3. I can’t taste the difference, but there is a recipe I use from Home Made with milk, and it doesn’t seem to work when using the US milk — that’s what I am blaming! I am curious to know what these added ingredients do, and why they are not added in the UK?

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.

In last week’s column, introducing our friend maraschino liqueur, I noted that the stuff strikes some drinkers as an acquired taste. So maybe it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the universe of brands of maraschino liqueur — available in the U.S., at least — just ain’t that big. It’s barely a solar system, in fact. Yet within this small world exists some notable variety. In other words, it still pays to be picky.

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.

Among cocktail ingredients, dry vermouth is an unsung hero. As we noted last week, in our overture about this bottle, the bad rep it acquired in years past — as something begrudgingly added to a dry martini, lest it be incomplete or inauthentic — still lingers around dry vermouth. Which is a shame, because a good, fresh dry vermouth does wonders for a cocktail, and many good vermouths are also good and cheap.

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?

So, you’ve tracked down a pint of husk cherries. Congratulations, this can be a feat in itself. Husk cherries can be tricky to find; they aren’t exactly grocery store material. You’re most likely to find them at farmers markets, or perhaps if you’re lucky they’ll show up in your CSA box. And if you’re really lucky, you have some growing around your property. But once you find husk cherries, what an earth do you do with them?

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.

Today’s orange liqueurs seem to fall into three categories when it comes to price: oddly dirt-cheap; moderately, but acceptably, elevated in price; and, finally, oddly expensive. It may be tempting to simply grab a $5 bottle of triple sec and call off your search for a go-to orange liqueur, but, depending on your budget, you may be in the market for a product of much better quality and value. Here are three suggestions.

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.

Every July the Summer Fancy Food Show descends upon the convention center in New York City, bringing in its wake floods of cookie-makers, cheese-crafters, soda-brewers, and more gourmet jerky than you can shake a stick at. This is the show for anyone who makes fun packaged food, from roasted chickpeas to handmade ice cream. Ariel and I walked the show and after a few dizzying hours, we had some favorites, and here they are.

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.

One of my favorite pastimes is browsing spirits shops. I like to hunt for the new and unusual, as well as for that rare and precious bottle that the shop owner is unknowingly selling for cheap. Those finds may be few and far between, but, thankfully, shopping for sweet vermouth can offer a taste of that kind of excitement — like you’re getting away with something.

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.

London dry gin is at its best when anchoring a well-made cocktail. (We talked about London dry gin and the alternatives last week.) The flip side of the coin is, admittedly, there are other spirits I’d sooner choose to sip neat. But we’re talking cocktails here! And it’s hard to top London dry gin for its range and versatility as a cocktail ingredient.

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.

So, you’re in the grocery store aisle or at a market booth, and in front of you are rows of maple syrup bottles. Prices start at $10, but many of the larger bottles cost more than that. You’re prepared to spend the money, but how do you know which bottle to buy? Not only are there different labels and descriptions for each bottle, but they’re all made in different states, and in Canada. Don’t be discouraged!

I’m not sure if this is true in other cities but here in San Francisco, it’s not unusual to encounter a corner bodega that’s devoted to natural foods. These places stock the familiar organic labels, local organic milk and vegetables, and often have a nice selection of wine. Sometimes there’s an odd mix of the organic and conventional bodega fare (bags of Cheetos tucked in with the taro chips, for instance.