Shopping is a challenge for me. It's easy for me to want to "stock up" because I'm used to cooking for about 6 people. Now I need to buy only for me & don't have a good sense of how much I'll eat & how long things will handle waiting for me to get to it. Even with trying to portion some foods up, seeing them again & again leaves me wanting something fresher...

(The freezer is full of food for the elderly I care & cook for daily. I live in their basement & share the refrig.)

Can anyone please help me with how they shop for themselves without wasting the food & money? It will be greatly appreciated!

Welcome, Diana.

Hmmm. Well, I shop and cook for myself but don't have to cook for anyone else. I tend to do some extra cooking on weekends so I can have leftovers for lunches. I try to have a loose plan of what I'm going to eat for the week, so I know how many & what kinds of veggies I should buy. Sometimes I wind up with more. Like today, for instance. I had bought a large quantity of brussel sprouts. So I steamed them all up, just short of being done. I put aside a double portion to have with dinner (and for lunch tomorrow) and froze the rest. Next time I want brussel sprouts, I'll get some out of the bag and steam, sautee or roast them, as I choose.

In your situation, it seems that you ought to be able to eat a lot of what you prepare for your clients. I mean, when you make them chicken, make some for yourself, as well. Same thing with most veggies. ... and a salad is a salad is a salad.

A lot of folks who cook for families just cook up a meal that is perfectly acceptable for both low or high carb eating. The non-low-carbers may get a potato, or some rice and the low carber has an extra veggie. For those times when you're cooking them something like a lasagna or other casserole type thing that can't be separated out, you can always have a few frozen hamburger patties on hand to have with a salad.

I'm sure you'll get lots of suggestions.

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Ditto the great advice Maggie has already given you.

I think a lot of people make this harder than it is... it's easy to get overwhelmed when you first start eating this way and think, "Oh, wow, what am I going to eat???"
But if you'll just step back and look at your menu you'll see that you're not really eating anything NEW, you've just omitted some *unfavorable* food choices.

When I go shopping, I buy enough salad and veggies to make a big bowl of salad which will last me approx. 5-6 days. I make this as SOON as I get home. And I try to make it as colorful & visually appealing as possible. This ensures that I will want to eat it. I put it in an airtight "Tupperware-like" container in the fridge so that I can grab a handful, put it a bowl, and pour dressing on it whenever I get the urge.

As for main courses, I cook in bulk. If I am making a chicken casserole for my family, I will boil extra chicken for myself and set it aside to make chicken salad. OR I will make a low-carb version of what they're eating. On some dishes, I just make their meal low-carb. It won't hurt them and in fact, might help them.

I try not to buy too many other fresh fruits or veggies all at once as they will go bad or start to go downhill before I can get to them, so those items I shop for 2-3 times per week.

I tend to buy the meat in large quantities and cook enough to get me through the week... I can buy a flank steak and from it, make: LC fajitas, followed by LC quesadillas, followed by flank steak salad. YUM!

Be creative with your leftovers. Even if you have to eat the same thing every night, you don't have to eat it in the same way.
HTH,

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Summer

I cook for just myself as well. Well, I do have the baby but he is a very picky eater so I usually just make whatever for me knowing he will eat something completely different.

Not having the freezer to use is a big thing. I buy in bulk and seperate and freeze all my meats. If you can't do that I would only buy the individual packages (like 1 lb of hamburger and 1 or 2 pork chops or steaks) rather than the bulk. Otherwise you'll have spoiled meat and that gets to be a big waste. If you like something like chicken then I would buy a package with four or five breasts and make them all at once. Chicken seems to turn so quickly when raw.

As for veggies I go every week now after throwing away far too many fresh turned rotten veggies. I buy 3 heads of romaine lettuce, two onions (good for various dishes) three bags of baby carrots (or 2 if bigger bags) for snacking, then depending on what my week is going to look like I usually get four zucchini squash (2 yellow, 2 green) but some people don't like them then finally I buy grape tomatoes, they're great for salads. Other veggies for me always come frozen. Brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. That way they are just easier for me. Eggs I go through quickly so I buy a dozen a week. (But the baby does eat those too.)

Oh yeah, for breakfast type meats I usually stock up when they are on sale but for just one person I go through about a pack of bacon or a pack of sausage a week. Depending on my mood for the week. I only thaw out one or the other so that meat doesn't go bad as well.

Of course every once in a while things like avocados come on sale and I have found never to buy more than two of them at a time or they go bad. My berries I buy frozen for the same reason. They go bad too fast when fresh.

I had a lot of trouble when I first started this WOE when it came to shopping. It was a lot easier keeping junk around. It never seemed to go bad.

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Noël


Worry doesn't empty tomorrow of its sorrows, it empties today of its strengths.