Putting together a fruit platter looks impressive to friends and family, but is truly one of the easiest ways to enjoy fruit! A couple of other options are my Fruit Pizza and Blueberry Galette!
One of my biggest struggles of late has been grocery shopping. It may sound harmless and mundane to most; the simplistic task of making a list, finding a store that sells those items, and then going to purchase them.
List, store, buy, go home. Easy peasy.
Only… not so much.
Fresh Fruit Platter and How I Shop (kinda)
This is usually how grocery store shopping goes in my house:
Monday-Decide that I must go grocery shopping, start thinking about what I need to get. Day gets busy and by the time hubby gets home and we finish dinner I am exhausted. No grocery store today.
Tuesday-Running low on supplies… need to ransack the freezer for dinner. Plan on going to the store in the afternoon, smallest child ends up taking nap at a weird time and can’t make it. Too exhausted by the time dinner is over. Must go tomorrow.
Wednesday– Kids have activities at night, must go to store this afternoon! Schooling takes longer than expected, one child seems to have a runny nose and sniffles. Yuck, germs. Skip store. Have hubby pick up dinner on his way home.
Thursday-Completely out of milk and bread. Consider watering down some heavy cream for cereal. Make bread from scratch and pretend it was my plan all along. Dinner is left overs, and I declare it “clean out the fridge day”, only don’t actually clean the fridge. Hubby is out of town, so at 8:00om at night I put all kids into the car in their jammies and run to the convenience store for tiny sized totally overpriced milk so we can have breakfast in the morning.
Friday-I will make it to the store today! Absolutely must do anything in my power to avoid grocery shopping on a Saturday. Kids are starting to get tired and run-down (not to mention cranky!) … must get them some fresh and healthy food! Desperate for good food we venture out to the nearest Super Store. The selection is sub-par. Fruits and veggies are wilted and picked over. The meat selection is near expiration. My feet start hurting and I get distracted in the cookie aisle. We go home with 1-gallon milk, four packages of Oreo’s, and some diapers.
Saturday– Family is planning a revolt. They want good food! I finally make up a list and head to the store. The parking lot is full and I walk 100 yards in the rain. The store is a mad house. Everything is picked over and I trip on the stock boy trying to replenish the bananas. They are out of coupon books so I have to pay full price for everything. Checkout lines are three deep and the baby is kicking me in the bladder.
Sunday– We are out of milk as I forgot to buy more yesterday.
If you want more amazing Appetizers, I have a fantastic list!
Fresh Fruit Platter
Ingredients
- watermelon
- green grapes
- blueberries
- kiwi
- cantaloupe
- apple
- orange
- raspberries
- strawberries
Instructions
- Cut up orange, apple, and watermelon.
- Peel cantaloupe and kiwi and slice.
- Arrange rest of fruit on platter.
- Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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First, OH MY WORD, that plate looks amazing and so yummy! Second, my tips are that I grow what I can in the spring and summer. Nothing tastes better than a fresh tomato, cucumber, onion, or ear of corn that is straight out of the garden!!!
One word of advise – Simplify!
I have given up on the grand plan to make one big shopping trip! Stocking up for us, I find, we waste more food and money because we end up having so much excesses for what a 3-person household really needs in a week or even bi-weekly or monthly, the food either gets stocked for so long or goes rotten all together. So bulk buying is not for us.
However, I do buy non-perishables which are on significant marked-down prices which I come across with during the course of my shopping trips like toilet rolls, shampoos, dishwashing soaps, detergent soaps, etc.
I plan my menu and to simplify my life, and work around the key ingredients. For instance, I make a big pot of stew which I can serve 2x sometimes even 3x dinners. If we have roast chicken and salads, I serve the roast and salads as separate dishes the first day, then the left overs I top up the salads, and mix in the left over roast chicken. Then any left over salad ingredients I use for Asian stir fry, like carrots, lettuce, roma tomatoes, beetroots, bell peppers etc.
I stock on butter, get 2L fresh milk.
The only things that I need to get every 2 or three days if ever are – bread loaves, milk, fruits which I can get in a smaller grocery store closeby where the queue is not that hectic and I more or less know their times when the shop is busy and therefore I try to avoid those hours.
I avoid month-ends or the day before any major holidays, too where the shops are crazy!
Another thing that I tend to follow especially during the middle of a school term is – Have several set menus A B C D which I mix and match (and obviously revised every now and then). I print copies of the ingredients in small wallet size printouts, and I always have them in my bag, that way I don’t waste my time in the grocery aisle trying to figure out menus and the ingredients for us.
When I got married and we had a child, I had this gallant plan to serve lavish dishes including desserts, and always trying new tastes, only to realize of recent that nutrition and proper dietary requirements aside, that I have to give-in to a much simplified meal planning routine both from a budget point of view and more importantly to maintain one’s sanity and reclaim even just an extra hour of time for one’s self.
This is hilarious and too true. Don’t really have many tricks since your week sounds about like mine. I did recently start using an app called out of milk. I try and add items to it when I run out of them so I don’t forget things and I never lose the list because it’s on my phone. Plus you can scan a barcode of something you’ve just run out of and it adds it…you don’t even have to type. It’s super cool and has helped me a lot! 🙂
Totally need to look into that!
I’m a little crazy with my shopping. I have all of my meals planned out for an entire year. So with those meal plans I have grocery lists to go along with them. I have those lists saved into apps on my iphone and i add the extras like milk and cereal to that weeks list for when i go shopping. Then I go to a couple different stores on friday and saturday for my shopping to get my fresh produce and cheap food. Like I said I’m a little crazy with my shopping. I have a huge cookbook that I made myself with 366 different meals through the year. We rarely eat anything more than once a year.
WOW!!! Thats all I can say… WOW!!!
Firstly, I commend you for being honest. Grocery Shopping is the chore that sometimes even though is the most important (nutrition is important) is the most neglected.
This is what I do before I shop.
1. Eat, and never take the husband or mother with me. (Honestly if my husband or mom goes with me, I buy more junk food than I normally do.)
2. I try to ask everyone “What is a meal you would like this week..” reason.. so that way I know everyone gets a voice in what we are eating. I make that list…
3. I find the best time of day is around nine pm to go (I have to shop walmart because our local grocery stores charge way to much for wilted fresh produce) because everything is being restocked which means.. most the produce and milk will be super fresh. Also as a rule I check the twist ties on my bread.. If I go on Monday I check for blue twist ties.. because that means the bread is fresh. I also pick fruit from the back of the bins to make sure things are less “touched” (germs are gross)
4. If the meat is growing closer to the “use by dates” if you talk to the head butcher area personelle they often will discount the meat.. I know it means spending 5-10 more minutes longer in the store, but sometimes they take up to 5 dollars off of your purchase and five dollars in my house hold sometimes means a extra day of fresh fruit or vegetables.
5. I also make it a habit to only allow 3 unplanned items in my cart.. be it.. “OH HEY A WATERMELON!” Or… OMG… is that a new flavor of this or that… Or you know the… sudden craving for something horribly bad for you.. like… “OMG LOOK AT THAT BAG OF COOKIES.. or Chips.. or OOOOO RED VELVET ICE CREAM?!?!?!?!?!!”
You are amazing!!
*never go on an empty stomach – it will make you want to buy everything! or if you’re too full, because then nothing sounds appetizing.
*have a list
*i split up my shopping; fruits & veggies etc from a farmer’s market and the rest from a big-chain store.
*i also like to double check the ingredients for dinner while i’m at the store, ie make sure i have enough meat until the next time i go shopping (a week)
Hi Amanda, I’m not entering the contest since I’m not in the US… but your post got me thinking about what tips I could give you in order to help with the shopping!
The obvious things, like making a list and not buying on empty stomach have been given.
What helped me tremendously was getting a freezer. It’s a total lifesaver! Whenever you cook, do a double batch, and the leftovers go into the freezer. So there’s always tomato sauce ready! Bread goes in too, also meat that was on sale at the store. Butter, cheese, you can freeze so many things. And always keep a few bags of frozen vegetables in there, they’re really fresh and healthy nowadays. Every time you shopping, buy something to restock the freezer with.
Shop once a week only, but then really load the car with heavy things like milk cartons, juice, etc.
Always get enough onions and garlic – they’re the best way to start any meal. Fry anything with onion and olive oil in a pan and it will be delicious.
Stock up the pantry with durable foodstuffs like pasta, rice, legumes (dried lentils and chickpeas are great and don’t take much space), canned tuna, coconut milk etc. so there is always a base to make a meal with.
If you like it and can afford it, keep a nice selection of cheeses in the fridge…. most of them hold for 2 weeks and they make a great snack with bread or potatoes and a salad.
Menu planning in advance might help, though not everyone does that. You can go to the store with a few menu ideas in mind and start from there!
Hope that helps, and boy I’m jealous of that Freshdirect! Please enjoy.
As a fellow cake decorator, I’m a big fan of your blog and your wonderful cakes. Keep up the great work. And the best of health to you and your family! 🙂
Love this. Excellent tips!!!
–always check the sale ads
–always make a list
–never go on Saturday afternoon (because you will want to cut corners just to get out of there)
–Make friends with the produce guys. Seriously. I’ve done that and they keep an eye out for me. When I get there, they tell me what section of strawberries, bananas, mushrooms, etc are the freshest. They’ve even gone to the back to get me extra fresh produce without my even asking, simply because I’m nice to them. 🙂
I buy what’s in season and on sale.
I am trying to serve more whole foods for my family, so I usually do one shopping trip a week for milk, bread, eggs, meat, fruits & veggies, etc. Than a second trip a week to replenish the fresh fruit & veggies, this ensures freshness and less waste. I also try to take advantage of Bountiful Baskets Co-op for fresh fruits & Veggies and Farmers Markets when possible. I try to never shop with my kids, always shop during the week early morning, and never go when your hungry. I do make a list but my meal planning is based on what meat and fresh veggies I come home with depending on what is on sale or fresh and in season. I was laughing so hard reading your post because believe me we have ALL been there. The above is what I try to do every week but sometimes I am watering down the half n’ half for the kids!! :O