Grocery shopping

[foliedemars]

My brother said he's getting a Sam's Club membership this week and sending me the extra card. I'll have $50 to spend there.

What to buy? I'm thinking Asian dumplings, ez-peel shrimp, enough rice for an army, and a bigass bag of pizza rolls. :-P

What would you buy?

Sam's is a pretty good distance from me, but it'll be worth it to stock my freezer during winter and spring (I do not stock it summer and autumn due to hurricane season). I just need to come up with a spending plan that I can handle, and stick to it.

Comments

Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

We usually hit the place for stockup and spend a lot more than $50. So first, think about categories -- do you want groceries, clothes, books, housewares, or what? Things you use all the time and will save money in bulk, or treats you normally can't afford but can at discount?

Often we're buying lots of meat to freeze for later -- ground beef, beef roasts, leg of lamb or lamb chops, whole chickens, etc. Last time we got a giant assortment of hot chocolate packets and a holiday cookbook. We'll buy cans by the flat, like mushrooms, because those get thrown into leftover makeovers or quesadillas or omelettes.

You can always get rice in mass quantity, so if you eat a lot of it, that's a great idea. Sometimes, not always, they have shrimp either peeled or whole. We've bought shrimp in large bags because we like them in quiche.

Re: Well ...

[foliedemars]

I do definitely need to go back when I have more money to spend. This month is super tight. I'm thinking canned mushrooms and green beans aren't a bad idea if the price comes out lower than my normal grocery store. I can keep those stored in the pantry a long time. Rice for sure. I will mostly buy groceries there, but consider household items in bulk also. I had shrimp from there when I was at my brother's house and it was fantastic. It's $20 a bag but on my list for sure.

Re: Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

On a tight budget, consider beans and rice, noodles, potatoes, or other cheap filling food. Sam's always has staples, and you can dress them up in different ways.

Re: Well ...

[foliedemars]

I'm fortunate that I am only cooking for one, so that helps. I have a vacuum sealer, so anything that I can seal in small batches and store away is an advantage. I saw online that they have huge bottles of marinara. I like to freeze that for pasta once a week, so maybe I'll put that and spaghetti on the list.

Re: Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Also an excellent idea.

Me, I make huge batches of homemade spaghetti sauce in summer and freeze to use later. Also sloppy joe filling.

[justastrangegal]

...I'd go for what you're thinking of buying, really. XD Dumplings, shrimp, rice, and pizza rolls? Hells yeah! And juice. And maybe some greek yogurt. *thinks* And those kettle corn-flavored Popcorners chips. Augh, popcorn as chips, so freaking delicious, and addictive!

Is Sam's Club like Costco? :o We have a membership there, warehouse stores are always good deals. :)

[foliedemars]

It's identical to Costco - their #1 competitor. Chips are going to be hard to pass up for sure. I need to stay away from that aisle altogether, haha.

[notasupervillain]

Diced tomatoes. Canned beans (I can't eat dried). Couscous. Canned sardines. Canned anchovies. Endless pasta. Olives.

That's what we keep in our pantry anyway.

Protip: putinesca can be modified to be cooked with only things that you can store in a pantry, is fully balanced, not terribly expensive and tastes like fancy food. So we always keep the ingredients for that around.

[foliedemars]

I thought about buying a case of Rotel. Couscous is a fantastic idea and it goes a LONG way.

[notasupervillain]

Plus you can cook couscous using only a kettle, and a bowl, and in under 5 minutes. That plus a can of beans (drained) plus any sauce (like salad dressing) makes a relatively nutritionally balanced depression meal. (When I don't want to eat, don't have the energy to cook, but know that not eating will make me worse.)

Oh! And pre-chopped frozen vegetables! I used those for everything. Rice + Campbell's mushroom soup + frozen veg. Ramen + an egg + frozen veg. Couscous + + frozen veg + curry powder. They saved me when I was having trouble cooking. The texture isn't as good and I'd get tired of them faster than fresh veg. But they're faster, can be cheaper, and really easy to portion for one person. And they keep.

You will notice a trend in my cooking recommendations. I can also cook fancy meals with lots of components and lots of effort. But I assume most people already know about those, and want advice on cooking things that are easy to cook but still taste good.

[ssterchaos]

That is a very good question... Probably some household goods like toilet paper, laundry soap, and dish detergent. If I had any money left over I'd buy some sweets. :)

[foliedemars]

I'm good on laundry soap for the next year, but I will for sure look at the TP and dish soap, etc. to see if I can save a few bucks!

[imarcy]

That's what we usually do too... stock the freezer. So... meats, frozen veggies, shrimp is always great... cereal, rice is yummeh, bulk canned stuff too is always great.

[law]

i never know what to get while grocery shopping which is one of the reasons i don't do it often. i hope you can get everything you need!