Complete weekly plan or creative combination
Many Dutch people now prefer to do their shopping less often, or have their groceries delivered at home for the entire week. This has advantages, because it saves time and often also money, because you do not succumb to goodies that you do not actually need. But how do you make sure you don’t miss out halfway through the week? We give you two methods.
You have people who like to plan and you have people who like to decide what they are going to eat per day. There is a method for each group.
Method 1: complete weekly plan
In this method you create a menu for the whole week. You pick several favorite meals, and maybe try some new recipes. Plenty of choice on the internet, also on this website. You make a shopping list based on your weekly plan. For example, you know that on Monday you eat stew raw endive, on Tuesday pasta bolognese, on Wednesday oven chips with salmon and green beans, on Thursday chili sin carne… etcetera. Finished! The advantage of this method is that you will waste little to no food and you only have to think once about the question: ‘what are we eating today’. The downside of method 1 is that you might not feel like chili at all on Thursday. Make sure you eat the recipes with the least shelf-stable products, such as leafy vegetables, sliced vegetables, strawberries and fish, at the beginning of the week. And that you save recipes with longer-lasting products, such as legumes, cabbages, apples and eggs for the end of the week.
Method 2: creative combinations
There are people who prefer to decide from day to day what they want. They can also do their shopping once a week. The trick is for them to get a supply with which you can prepare different meals. This way you can eat what you feel like every day and you are creatively challenged to make varied meals with your stock. It is smart to think in three categories of products: vegetables, protein-rich products and starchy products. You can buy different types of vegetables, including frozen and canned. Think of tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, spinach, endive, green beans and cauliflower. The protein-rich products are fish, meat, eggs, cheese, legumes and vegetarian substitutes. Also buy a variety of them. Also immediately freeze part of meat and fish, because these products usually do not have a long shelf life. Starchy products include potatoes, rice, couscous, pasta and quinoa. With these three categories of products at home you can make numerous combinations. For example, did you buy bell pepper, zucchini, onion and a can of tomatoes? You can use this to make a pasta dish with minced meat and spaghetti, an oriental curry with rice and chicken and a shaksuka with eggs, feta and bread. The disadvantage of this method is that at the end of the week you increasingly have to use your creativity and that there is a risk that you have to throw away food. Although… you can often prepare very creative meals with leftovers. For example, think of lentil soup. The advantage of the method is that you eat surprisingly and always come up with new combinations.
Good to have at home
You can always prepare a meal with these products at home:
- Eggs
- Grated cheese
- Canned fish, for example anchovy, tuna or salmon
- puff pastry
- Onions and garlic
- Canned tomatoes
- Pot roasted peppers
- Spinach and peas from the freezer
- Legumes canned or frozen
- Pasta, rice, couscous or quinoa
- potatoes
- Herbs and spices, such as pepper, salt, paprika, oregano, thyme, cumin and ginger powder
- Jar of curry paste
The rest of the list
Of course, you don’t just do your shopping for dinner. You should also have the ingredients for breakfast and lunch, such as fruit, coffee, tea, snacks, herbs, food for the pets, cleaning products and toiletries. Make a standard list of the products you use in your household, on paper or in your phone, and tick when the stock is depleted so that you replenish the stock every week.
