A Grocery Shopping Routine

When I'm not out on the ski slopes, or traveling for work, Sundays are my lazy days at home.  This usually consists of sleeping in, having a cup (ok, a pot) of coffee and grocery shopping!  Since today was one of those Sundays, I figured it was the perfect topic for a blog post.

The grocery shopping process has started to take on a little bit of a ritual for me.  In the morning, I start planning out the menu for the week.  I grab my four cookbooks and a cup of coffee and sit down on the couch.  My current collection consists of 2 Bobby Flay, 1 Rick Bayless, and 1 Michael Chiarello cookbooks.  It's a little limited at this point, but it's a nice variety that is helping me learn a little bit more about flavors and techniques.

Before I can start planning, I have to figure out what the weekly schedule looks like for us.  Some nights we have sports or meetings or happy hours that can alter dinner decisions.  Once I get that figured out, I start flipping through the cookbooks.  I usually like to pick one or two things that are completely new that I haven't tried before, and see what ingredients are needed.  Then I jot down a few of the other things I need to make sure I remember, and head to Whole Foods.

Once I get to Whole Foods, I start in the produce section.  I get fruit, typically oranges and pineapples, vegetables, and herbs.  I then look for some of the new ingredients based on the recipes.  This is how I've discovered tomatillos, a variety of peppers outside the bell family, and fresh herbs.  After a couple more laps, just to see what else is around (found passion fruit tonight!!), I head over to the meat section.  This is where I spend the most time.  I start by looking at the fresh fish, then to the pre-seasoned meats, just to get some ideas, and then work my way down the counter from beef to pork to poultry.  In my mind, I'm trying to balance out the proteins, as I don't like to serve the same thing two nights in a row.  Finally, I'll step up to the counter and make my decision.  Tonight I opted for halibut, lamb chops, bone-in/skin-on chicken and a beef rib roast for slow-cooking.  And of course some bacon.

From there, I head up and down each aisle.  There are definitely some things that I always get like milk, yogurt and bread.  Beyond that, I'm taking in the different things, trying to figure out what would be good to have on hand, what would be good to try, and what I need for lunch for the week assuming I'm not going to have leftovers to take with me.

All told, I usually spend anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half in the store.  When I walk out, I only have three or four bags of food, but it is enough to last the two of us a week, and maintain as much fresh food as possible (I end up freezing a few meats for later in the week, but that's all).  Before going home, I will stop by Safeway just to pick up a couple things I can't get at Whole Foods, namely Coke Zero.

All that is left at this point is to put everything away and get to work on a delicious dinner from all of the great ingredients.  Tonight that was a pan-seared pork chop, green chile rice and a simple spinach salad.  It turned out very good, thanks in part to the wonderful ingredients I picked up today.