Ask Lemmy

i should but usually don't :D I often end up with not having all the things I needed or too many things I don't need

There’s a store like half a block from my apartment, so I just treat it like an external pantry.

I make a list, forget the list, and end up winging it.

A little of both. As a mom you get used to doing a mental inventory of what you have and what you need to create meals for everyone while trying to reduce waste

Yes

I keep a list that is shared/synced with my s/o via a self-hosted KitchenOwl instance. I've been slowly porting my recipes over to it as well. Overall very satisfied and it works well.

Plan meals for a week. Make list of what’s needed. Shop once a week. Rarely eat out. Never delivery.

Grocery list and I take a pen along and mark everything off when it goes into the cart.

Yeah, I'm old.

I'd love to have a database with all my recipes with ingredients and add them at a click of the button. The problem is I have a fairly well stocked kitchen and I still need to go through the list anyway to make sure I'm not buying anything I already have. So having a computerized system really doesn't save me any time.

My family always made a very careful list which was followed when grocery shopping.

Now that I do my own shopping I also make a list, on my phone though. I note down only the very essentials and leave most things open to what I can find whenever I get to shop. For example, I really need eggs and deodorant so I write that, but if I need veg I don't list the type of veg, I just note "veg on special" and make my choice on the spot.

like 80% of what I need is repetitive. if I make a list, it's because I'm making a recipe.

Wing it

I did worse than wing it actually... half of the groceries I got over the past few weeks were from Too Good To Go, so near-expired food that the grocery store winged-it for me💀

I usually do our food shop online, however I plan the meals and write down everything we need for the week. If I'm going to the shop then I'll write the list down in the order I'll move through the shop so that i can just work my way down through the list.

I have a spouse and child. Winging it simply would not fly.

Anything less than strict adherence to a list would be another fight... and there are already too many of those.

I'm shocked nobody has mentioned Aisleron (https://aisleron.com/), I use it for my semi-monthly shopping. It lets you organize items, and then you swipe it if you're out of it/need to buy more. You can have different stores set up, and each item will go to the corresponding location in that store.

It basically functions like a database for grocery items with an intuitive interface.

Oh, did I mention it's FOSS?

List

I make a menu that includes two breakfasts (6 and 9 am) a lunch (11) and six dinners. I account for what i have and list the rest of the needs. Then i go shopping and add two treats(for snacking or dessert) and two beverages (oj, pop, prebrewed coffee, rtc) and a freezer pizza.

If i have to go back that week for anything, i fucked up.

I start with the "buy again" list on the grocery website.

I stopped winging it after all too often ending up with both a fridge full of rotting produce and yet also nothing to eat. Turns out grocery shopping needs some strategy that I can’t do without help.

AnyList has been an awesome tool for me. It’s got all my recipes, a meal plan building to sketch out the next week, and builds a shopping list so I can only buy the things I will for sure cook with.

It’s also made me realize I’m not about to buy fresh herbs or green onions when they’re only going to be used as a bit of garnish for one dish.

I don't make lists for anything. My life is pretty much winging it... Which does explain a lot when I type it out like that :P

It’s a bit of both. We do have a list with the staple items and foods we buy and we check it to see if our pantry needs refilling but other than than we just take what we think would be good and/or useful

I've been eating the same things every day for over a decade. I can manage without list.

I make a list and every so often I remember to bring it with me.

No list and I do constantly forget stuff. But I also go shopping every other day, so it's not like anything essential will be forgotten for too long.

Both!

Always go a list nowadays as I have ADHD and if I go for three things I will forget one of them. The list is what I must get, but once there, I get what is on the list and then maybe get a few more things that I forgot to put on the list.

So I never really make a full and complete list, just a list of necessities and wing the rest.

I take a list, and I grab everything on the list, but I also follow my whims

Mostly wing it based on my memory. But in some occasions, there's a list of important stuffs. It's mostly just 2,3 items like "we're out of potatoes/onions/salt", then wing the rest.

I think except for important and constant stuffs like spices, it's better to just buy what's available cheap and make your food from that. But that could be just me