The D’s

As I grabbed my keys to drive to the supermarket yesterday, I had a Reagan-era flashback A voice in my head said; “Just say NO!” Only it wasn’t talking about drugs, it was warning about groceries!

The media is full of advice, these days, on how to cut food costs, as if the high prices were new. The truth is food prices, with milk leading the way, rose dramatically,  a few years ago too. What is different, now, is our perception of how to cope with them. Just as with a weight loss diet, there is no magic wand, and no advice, no tips, no tools are going to help, without changes in one’s approach to the problem.

In my book, Dinners With Joy Menu Cookbook, available on http://dinnerswithjoy.com in addition to the free collection of graphs and charts, offering cost cutting alternatives already mentioned, I offer my readers buying information, and weekly shopping lists, and am concerned that the advice I give be economically feasible, yet still allow room for readers to make alterations to fit personal budgets.

As mentioned. I also have a personal chef service, Suddenly Supper, where a client’s normal order is for five entrees, four servings each, individually wrapped for freezing. Frequent shopping for large orders is normal, and price shifts are quickly noted. Several months ago, when I realized my grocery costs had grown too big for their allotted britches, especially in my personal meal planning, where I tend to be impulsive, I knew something had to be done. This wasn’t the first time I’ve faced this problem, but it was the first time I decided to document my steps to finding a solution. I soon realized that in the big “D”of diet there are three descriptive little Ds. We’ll discuss them fully later, but briefly one must:

Be Decisive: Don’t hesitate, press “Go” As with any diet, the first step is to set a realistic, obtainable, initial goal. Once there, you may want to continue, but start by calculating how much your food budget can be slimmed down and still remain nutritious. Whether you do this by percentage, fraction or dollars and cents doesn’t matter, just get a firm concept. I prefer to figure by month because it provides an overview. A week may represent specialized buying, whereas a month probably represents purchases from every department in the supermarket, all of which usually fall into the “Grocery Shopping” category.

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Be Determined: Once you have a goal in mind, and an idea of how to carve the path to get there, it’s going to take resolve to turn that path into a paved highway. There will be pitfalls along the way and to help you stay on the road, some “tools” may come in handy. One is reminding yourself of the above mentioned sense of satisfaction from realizing you got everything you need and spent less than you contemplated. Another is cultivating a warning voice (my “Just say no!”) that stops you before you buy impulsively, and becomes as habitual as telling you to look both ways before crossing the street. Behaviorists say that a habit is formed in three weeks, and becomes ingrained in six months .So it isn’t that hard to do! Also, I find when I am tempted to buy something not on my list; it helps to continue my shopping. If that item is still on my mind when I’m ready to leave, I go back and look again. If I can fit it into my meal planning before its expiration date, or in the next two weeks, and its cost won’t make me feel guilty when I get home, I may buy it. If it’s a non-perishable, I make a note to find a use for it soon, and buy then. All this pondering alone is often enough to discourage the sale.

Which brings me to the best tool of all:  The List. I always compile meticulous, detailed lists when planning and shopping for others, but my own approach to meal planning was whimsical. I headed for the market with the most alluring ads that week and let my senses take over. I operated on impulse, drawn to attractive produce, a special piece of meat, a new product, an ingredient I’d wanted to try. I outlined the week’s menus as I went and filled in the details with visits to other markets the following days. I over bought, under used and by the week’s end was suffering severe register shock. So I began to apply my professional approach to shopping to my personal life and started to menu plan. More on the mechanics of doing this later, but once a weekly menu is set, it’s easy to list the ingredients, simplest done by categories—meat, dairy etc.–check them against your current supplies; eliminate the ones you have and Vola! Your list is done. The extra time it takes to compile a list is equal to the reduced time spent in the market, but don’t allow yourself to linger there. Get in –Get out!

Be Disciplined: In any diet this is the hardest step to follow because it requires ongoing effort, but the best paved road won’t get you into town if you keep taking scenic detours. You are decisive and determined; all that’s needed is willpower. Above all, stick to the list! It’s hard, and takes practice, to grow virtual blinders to temptation. A big incentive is to remind yourself of why you started the diet, and how satisfying it will be to reach your goal. In addition to using the tools mentioned above, I find putting things in perspective helps. Unless it’s a special event, ask yourself if you’re going to remember what you ate on a day, or even in that week, two weeks later. (The answer to that question may turn you off menu planning altogether! It’s a big “No”.) I realized my impulsive buys to perk up a night’s meal made a bigger impression on the budget than the memory .BUT if I selected just one of those WOW buys, or maybe even two, if I could combine them, and they fit the budget, and prepared them in such a way as to create a special seeming dinner, my family appreciated it and I felt great!  If living alone, it’s a way to treat yourself, or entertain a friend.

Diversification and innovation also help, especially if the budget isn’t splurge friendly. When you feel the urge to tweak a week’s menus, explore new cuisines, or different ways to cook, using seasonings, or making sauces from ingredients you already have, or ones that you can inexpensively add that will serve you well in the future. Concentrating on a recipe stops the gaze from wandering over the market shelves too.

Next:  Making the Ds function for YOU