Avoiding Extra Trips to the Store

One of the ways that I have simplified things is to avoid extra mid-week trips to the store, whether it’s the grocery store, drugstore, or department store.  I find that the planning involved to avoid these trips makes my pantry and storage cabinets more organized and prevents extra trips where you’re always tempted to pick up more items than you intend.  Here’s what I do:

–For staple, non-perishable items — buy two (or twice as much as you need) instead of one. This way if you are making a recipe that needs something, you don’t need an extra trip to the store.  I always buy doubles of things like canned tomatoes.  For items like oatmeal that we eat regularly, I make sure there is an extra carton in the back of the pantry. [I have very little storage space]

–Plan around the big drugstore sales — items like paper towels, tissues, shampoo, etc… tend to go on sale in roughly a six week cycle. I try to buy enough to last to the next sale.

–In the kitchen — learn to love substitutes — Before I really learned to cook, I would spend a lot of time and money precisely following elaborate, complex recipes. Now, I have a much freer hand.

–Plan meals (and activities) from seasonally available items — I saw a great quote that was plan up from the seasonal produce not down from a recipe. This way your not enslaved to a difficult recipe and will plan from what is available.  Same with activities like hiking, leaf watching, strawberry picking.

–Keep a well-stocked pantry for unexpected drop-in guests or late meetings — I maintain 3-4 emergency pantry meal ideas and one or two snack ideas in my repertoire.

I would love to hear other ideas for avoiding extra trips to the store.

Shared at Works for Me Wednesday