What's on your weekly shopping list?

A friend who never cooks came over the other day and, as usual, went right to the fridge to explore. He has only beverages and condiments in his fridge and finds it fascinating to see the fresh food filling ours – fairly prosaic stuff, mind you, at least as far as we’re concerned.

I got to thinking about how we shop and cook. We make most meals at home, with take-out and/or restaurant trips only occasionally when we’re not traveling. I also thought about a recent thread where people talked about happily eating the same things over and over again….or not. Most of the time during the week when we aren’t entertaining, our meals follow a pattern of simple protein, salad and a cooked vegetable, so our shopping follows a basic stock list as well.

How about you? Do you have a regular stock list, and if so of what does it consist? Or do you decide what to cook and go get the ingredients? Talking here about fresh ingredients, not pantry items like oils and vinegars and canned items – that’s another, also fun, topic.

Here’s our basic weekly (or so) haul:

• Salad fixings – greens (arugula/lettuces/bitter greens etc.), radishes, fennel, cucumbers
• 3-4 of the standard veggies per week – broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale, zucchini, summer squash, spinach, Chinese broccoli, tomatoes (in season only)
• Red onions, yellow onions, scallions, shallots, ginger, garlic
• Herbs – parsley, thyme, cilantro, tarragon, sage, dill
• Citrus - lemons, limes, oranges
• celery and carrots for soups and stocks
• eggs and milk (for coffee only)
• Most weeks – boneless skinless chicken thighs, whole chicken(s)
• Misc. fruit veggies – ‘baby’ carrots (my stepson eats them), apples and bananas (also for the kiddo), chilies, avocado

As for proteins, we keep standard meats frozen at all times and replenish when supplies run low – pork chops, steaks, duck breast, salmon fillets - but will shop separately for specialty items or main dish items for company. And of course we will get special ingredients when we feel like making something off usual menu, or when something special is in season.

That list looks about what we do except I can’t get two family members to eat chicken thighs unless I get
rid of all the “bits” I will spend the time now and then but they prefer BSCB

My list is similar. A bit less variety in the veggies - no one else likes Kale. Heavy on broccoli, brussel sprouts and salad stuff - lots of bell peppers. Can’t convince the rest of the house that chicken thighs are better. Not a lot of fruits because they are so high in sugar and I can’t eat most of them. You have no fish. I try to get salmon or tuna or both once a week and I usually have some kind of frozen shellfish. Oh! And you left out tofu. My daughter in law and my grandson are big tofu fans, so I often get a box of four pounds at Costco and make it for them with ginger and onions and a random protein and whatever I feel like throwing in for sauce.

But, by the way, that doesn’t mean there is a regular limited main dish rotation. My standard questions are “chicken, fish, beef, lamb or pork?” followed by “what ethnic style - Chinese, Indian, Italian, Mexican, Continental, American?” Then I just make it up.

Yeah, there’s no fish because it’s not a regular shopping trip purchase. Good fish is very difficult to get in Philadelphia, so when we want it, other than the excellent sockeye fillets we always have frozen, which I listed and which we eat often, it’s a special trip. The fruit I list is only for the kiddo, except the lemons/limes obviously. I avoid sugar as well and only have a few fresh berries or peaches when local and perfectly in season. I don’t eat tofu in this country unless it’s homemade, or one of a few high end imported brands which require a special trip. The rest is the equivalent of cardboard, to me. I eat my weight in tofu and yuba once a year in Japan.

I don’t get the animus towards chicken thighs unless you’re still a mindless victim of the low fat myth. They have much more flavor and are a perfect portion size - one is a snack, 2-3 is a meal. Boneless skinless chicken breasts are protein punishment, to me, only useful if I am getting ultra lean for an event.

Lots and lots of chicken thighs. Usually one 2-lb pack of skinless and 2 packs of bone-in. Use the bone-in for a one-pan or one-pot meal of some sort, the skinless are panko-ed and baked usually. The only chicken white meat in our house is attached to whole chickens for roasting.

Some other meat - pork chops, steak, etc
Fish from our amazing fish store.
Cauliflower, broccoli, string beans, tomato, cucumber.
Bread
Lots of fruit
Lots of dairy products (milk, yogurt, half and half).

we buy mostly fresh vegetables, parsely and cilantro, serranos or jalapenos, Red pepper, persian cucumbers. either cherry tomatoes on the vine or campari tomatoes until the real stuff is available. Lemons and Limes. Broccoli, green beans, brussels or savoy cabbage.
sometimes butter lettuce or romaine.
We buy a lot of our proteins mostly via mail order. Joyce farms chicken, Flannery or Pat LaFrieda beef. Pork chops from a local butcher. Fish and Shellfish local too.

Limes
Lemons
Mineola Tangelos
Apples (whatever variety strikes my fancy)
Strawberries
Blueberries
All the veggies above
Buttermilk
Greek Yogurt

Maison Ilan Chambertin, but I never seem to find any

Are they any good? No jokes I found one for $100 and took a flier. Will see!

Weekly kiddo stuff
Milk kids
Milk me (no lactose)
Egg
Fruits - depends on season
Bread

That’s it for the required. The meat. Seafood. Etc really depends on what we feel like eating and what’s fresh for the week.

Every week staples:
Fresh fruit and citrus (berries, mango, variety of melon, cherries, lemons and limes)
Fresh veggies (different salad greens, avocado, tomatoes, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, peppers, red onions, broccolini, romanesco, mushrooms - whatever looks good at local vegetable market)
Herbs - dill, parsley, thyme
Chicken and shellfish
Nut milks

What? No H-Mart? It has become my go to place for fish. Any place that gives you two choices of sizes of live Abalone can’t be all bad. I have also had good luck at Costco with fresh tuna.

Neither one exists in the city and we don’t have a car. We can get decent crabs at the Asian groceries in town, but wouldn’t buy fish there. We did finally find a source for high quality seafood - Jonathan lived and worked as a chef in Japan, so he is VERY picky - but it requires a special trip, a rental car or ride, and a big order.

I work near H-Mart on 32nd street. It is not a place that I would purchase fresh fish. Almost every fish is wrapped on a styro tray with plastic. I heard the H-Mart on Westchester is much nicer.

Good topic.
Reminded me of the thread on items in your fridge that are probably not in others. Took me a while to find it - Apparently, WB has a ‘search’ function. Who knew?

Ours moves through so much, that I don’t have any issues. They also have live lobster, Dungeness crab, geoduck, abalone, flounder, catfish and sea squirt as well as various clams and mussels.

I’ll start with and edit Sarah’s list, since she put the work into organization.

• Salad fixings – greens (arugula/lettuces/bitter greens etc.), fennel, avocado, cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes.
• 3-4 of the standard veggies per week – broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale, zucchini, summer squash, spinach, Chinese broccoli, green beans, fresh peas, asparagus
• Red onions, yellow onions, sweet onions in season, shallots, ginger, garlic
• Herbs we grow year round, so we almost never buy any.
• Citrus - lemons, limes, oranges
• Misc. fruit- Apples, bananas, blueberries, cantaloupe, peaches, pears, plums, strawberries, raspberries, watermelon, and other, at least three on hand, and up to ten at peak season.
• celery and carrots for soups and stocks
• eggs, milk, yogurt, goat cheese, hard cheese, fresh mozzarella when we have fresh basil
• Fish, meat, chicken. One or two days supply only. We shop at least every other day. Little to nothing in freezer other than ice packs, and ice cream if my wife decides she deserves it.

I shop produce weekly.
Salad fixings, fruit, Dairy (milk), eggs.
I shop protein daily depending on the menu I want. I don’t like storing fresh meat and don’t have time to defrost most nights
We grow veggies, citrus, herbs etc so this time of year and through the summer we shop even less.

Suzanne, I would not necessarily dismiss fish because of the styro tray and plastic presentation. It’s very common, even at ultra high-end stores, in Japan to offer fish in this way. Daily shopping, smaller kitchens and smaller portions, plus a propensity for cute and diminutive packaging, so that’s how they want and are used to getting their fish. Larger portions and full animals are hard to find - getting a whole chicken in Japanese cities is almost impossible, in my experience anyway. I’m sure it’s easily done in rural areas. We’ve purchased a lot of very, very good fish that was sold in exactly that way. I assume many other places in Asia are similar. I don’t, of course, know anything about the fish at that H-Mart, just saying that it could be coming from a different reference point.

2010 might be excellent at that price. I’m not sure I would bother with the others.