2.
The Big Shop
Have you ever left the grocery store knowing that you have everything you need to feed yourself for an entire week, and just, I don’t know, set your grocery bags on the sidewalk and busted out into a Gershwin song? Me too. That feeling is all thanks to the grocery list (and the meal plan that’s behind it).
I love a grocery store. I love a farmers’ market even more. And I’m a complete sucker for those specialty stores that sell only handmade cheeses, $20 jars of olives, and tiny boxes of local-goat’s-milk caramels. But there’s a time and place to do wide-eyed wandering around food shops, and COOK90 is not one of those times. During COOK90, we want to do one big grocery shop a week, which frees up every other night in our week to do what we’re really supposed to do on COOK90: cook.
A big shop is the first step in making the meal plan a meal reality. First, find the day that works for you. Personally, I hate going to the grocery store on weekdays after work. I feel rushed, harried, and extremely impatient with the guy in front of me who insists on strolling leisurely down the cereal aisle. So I go on Saturday or Sunday morning, which also gives me an opportunity to do a little prep work when I get home.
Next, make a list from your meal plan. It’s easiest to do this at the same time you write your meal plan, when the recipes are right in front of you. (There are also sites and apps, like the Epicurious app, which will generate a grocery list from selected recipes for you.) I organize my shopping list into sections: Produce, Dairy, Meat Counter, Pantry, etc. This lets me see where my recipes overlap (if two recipes call for sour cream, I’ll know to buy the bigger container), and it mimics the layout of the grocery store, which makes the list easier to shop from.
My colleague Rhoda Boone adds a final, genius section to her list: Do Not Buy. This is not a place to list the bag of chocolate-covered pretzels you want to avoid having in the house (though it could be); it’s a place to list the staples you’re already stocked up on. A lot of us reflexively buy olive oil, yogurt, garlic, onions, etc., even if our kitchen is overflowing with this stuff already. The Do Not Buy section prevents us from drowning under these items.
This all makes for a grocery list that is more prescriptive than most. That’s good! COOK90 craves structure! But there are ways to make the list less bossy and the shopping experience less clinical. If you’re comfortable veering off-recipe (something I don’t recommend for new cooks), you can write “2 lbs. squash” on your grocery list instead of “2 lbs. butternut squash,” leaving open the possibility that if delicata squash is available, or the acorn squash looks particularly great, you can throw that in your cart instead. Really confident cooks can just write “salad stuff” on the list and pick up whatever inspires them at the store.
But these are pro moves, and even for pros these measures leave lots of room for error (mainly: forgetting stuff). So my recommendation is this: Write a list that is as complete and specific as possible, a list that sort of barks at you like a personal trainer—Romaine! Brioche! Give me twenty! Then do exactly what it says.