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johnny0313x's avatar

Strange, but what should I buy at the grocery store this friday?

Asked by johnny0313x (1860points) November 4th, 2008

I am a single 22 year old male. I am going food shopping this friday and I am tired of buying the same stuff. I am not all about junk food but I am not someone who needs to eat organic or no meat. I don’t mind some junk food but try to be somewhat healthy. What would you suggest I buy to spice things up a bit, or what do you usually get? I would like to shop for 2 weeks and stay a reasonable price. Any suggestions?

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23 Answers

PupnTaco's avatar

• Boneless center-cut pork loins chops
• A cast iron pan
• Crimini mushrooms
• Fresh thyme
• A bottle of Marsala
• A pinch of curry powder

Learn how to pan-sear, then oven-roast this cut of meat and to make a roux, then a pan sauce. It’s a technique you can apply to any cut of meat and improvise your own sauces with what you have on hand.

adri027's avatar

I’m craving this right now so you should buy it…nestle la lechera so good with fruit ahhh!!!

melly6708's avatar

some pasta.. mmmmm. cookies.. chips soda!! haha atleast thats what i would buy.. maybe you should think about what you want to eat.. if you are on the go and dont really have time to prepare something fancy.. maybe some frozen meals.. or something that can be cooked pretty easily and fast.. probably some meat.. veggies.. fruits.. just things that you know you will eat cause you dont wanna buy all these things and have them spoil..

oh and nestle lechera does sound good right now.. with some cookies.. or a nice cold horchata made with it. hahaha

adri027's avatar

melly knows what I’m talking about!!! I’d give you props but I’ll give you lurve instead ha

saranwrapper's avatar

Sugar Snap Peas! They’ll change your life. They can be a great snack or dessert.

melly6708's avatar

haha hey thanks.. yeah my mom uses lechera for everything.. from making tres leches cakes to making horchata.. its very yummy

i love licking the can when its almost done.. ahah

adri027's avatar

Melly: I eat it with fruit but that stuff will make anything taste better tres leches is Bombay ahh I’ve never had horchata with it I must asap

melly6708's avatar

yeah its good

just a whole can of lechera.. with water.. (like making lemonade) add some milk.. vanilla. cinnamon what ever you want and there its made.. very good. and cheap fast way of making horchata

marinelife's avatar

Make chili (look up a simple recipe online). You’ll need and onion, a red bell pepper, beans (red kidney or any kind you like really), ground meat (I use ground turkey, but beef is fine), canned tomatoes, a decent chili powder.

You don’t say what you get regularly that you are sick of.

How about simple casseroles? This is not really authentic, but would be tasty.

Do you like seafood? Clam chowder is easy. Cioppino.

How about Russian Scientist chicken? Take a whole chicken. Rub it with spices. Thyme is nice. Rosemary. Garlic, Grill Seasoning. Whatever. Upend it over and opened can of beer and roast at 325–350 degrees for an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half. Delicious.

johnny0313x's avatar

Whooaaa haha…ima 22 single male here….i suck at cooking and im usually on the go. Not that all this doesnt sound amazing but you wont find me cooking roast or things like that…i wouldnt no where to begin, i cooked a cheese burger the other day only to find out i bought turkey burger instead of hamburger lol..boy was i suprised haha….

i dont like chili

I LOVE seafood

What is lechera?

what is horchata?

I LOVE mushrooms

ive been buying pasta in all assortments cause thats really the easiest thing to cook.
I love cheese steaks

i dont like onions

uhm, i’m thinking of some more simple things…keep it comin tho, you guys have some great responses and they are appreciated! :)

adri027's avatar

lechera is this sweet white syrup kinda stuff that you can put on fruit cake drinks cookies or just eat it by itself and horchata is this Mexican drink that they usually have at any Mexican restaurant you go to it’s actually made out of rice water sugar and cinnamon they sell it at grocery stores now a days kerns makes it..look in the freezer section for the Chinese bagged stuff that you just throw in a pan it’s pretty dank…cup o noodles perfect for the single 22year old anybody haha lunchables…um just make sure you don’t buy tv dinners because heating up plastic is bad for you…do you have any trader joes around you?

melly6708's avatar

maybe fast food ? or hey you should probably buy a cook book or something along the lines so that you can learn how to cook.. its real fun and you should stock up on soups.. bread .. sandwich meat.. corn dogs.. hot pockets.. anything fast and simple.. or you can buy a crock pot.. or one of those “set it and forget it” machines :D

marinelife's avatar

OK, simpler.

Buy 1/3 lb of shrimp. Peel. Chop up a couple cloves of garlic. Heat in skillet with butter (medium). Toss in the shrimp for a couple of minutes until it turns pin. Shrimp Scampi. Can be served over pasta.

This is cooking, but if you love mushrooms, slice a bunch of them (4–6 depending on size. Brown a pound of ground beef and drain. Add 1/2 diced onion until tender (a few minutes on medium). Drop in the mushrooms and cook until they just begin to give off juice. Toss in two cloves diced garlic and cook just a few seconds. Stir in about a Tbsp of flour.Let that cook a minute or so while you are sitting. Pour in about a cup of milk (half of it can be 1/2 and 1/2 or even cream) and about 2 Tbsp paprika. Stir until the milk or cream is thickened. Add 1/2 cup sour cream and just heat through. Do not boil once the sour cream is in. Serve over egg noodles. Beef Stroganoff (poor man’s version).

adri027's avatar

@marina: what’s up with some cooking lessons? Haha

poofandmook's avatar

You know, I can’t say it enough. Spend $30 or less and get a crockpot. Seriously.

Get yourself a nice cut of beef, throw in a packet or two of Lipton onion soup mix (it tastes NOTHING like onion, so don’t worry), a few small potatoes, and a bag of baby carrots. DONE. And you’ll have food for a whole week, depending on the size of the meat.

Get some boneless, skinless chicken thighs and/or breasts, salt and pepper them generously, throw them in a crockpot with one large can of cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup. Serve over rice.

If you don’t want to go the crockpot route, you can always spice up your pasta dishes a bit. Boil a tubular pasta of some sort until it’s just a hair underdone, mix with sauce, ricotta cheese, and mozzarella cheese… spread that out into one of those throwaway roaster pans, top generously with shredded mozzarella, and bake until the top starts to get crispy and the cheese is all melted.

And if you happen to have an Asian food store around and you feel like being adventurous, go pick up a package of spring roll wrappers from the freezer section, and a bottle of garlic infused vinegar. There’s usually all kinds of stuff floating around in the bottle… peppers (it’s not spicy though because the peppers are whole), garlic, whatever else… it’s a white vinegar. Then go home, thaw the wrappers (they dry out quickly so always keep them covered with a damp paper towel)... take one wrapper, fill with plain old mixed vegetables (that you’ve already cooked, heck, even in the microwave… roll from the bottom, then the sides, then all the way (you can seal with a bit of water or egg white), and fry them in corn or canola oil until they’re just a bit browned. When you eat them, slice a slit down the roll and drizzle a bit of the vinegar in. It sounds weird, but trust me, it’s amazing… and it’s a fun way to eat your veggies!

AlfredaPrufrock's avatar

@johnny, are you looking for snack ideas or to cook for dinner with leftovers to take for lunch? I’ll be happy to send you some ideas of what to cook. Easy stuff. I made killer red beans last week, just like my favorite Philippino restaurant. And this is soup season. Great vegetable soup made with spicy V8 and smoked sausage. Quesadillas are always a favorite. I like to use Morton’s Nature’s Seasoning when I cook. It tastes different on everything. Tuna-peas-pasta salad. Yum! Chicken nuggets baked with marinara mozarella cheese on the top. Salad on the side.

marinelife's avatar

@adri027 It was in response to johnny0313x saying this: “i suck at cooking and im usually on the go. Not that all this doesnt sound amazing but you wont find me cooking roast or things like that…i wouldnt no where to begin,”

I think Poof’s crockpot idea is a great one. (Lurve to you, Poofandmook.) Follow the recipes and throw stuff in. When you get home, you have dinner.

poofandmook's avatar

Thanks Marina :) Incidentally, I always do my stroganoff in the crockpot… I think I’m going to try your version this weekend.

johnny0313x's avatar

wow thanks for all the suggestions and I think the crock pot sounds great as well. I am looking for both dinner and snack ideas. So far u guys hve been great thanks for all ur help. And feel free to keep the suggestions coming! :)

poofandmook's avatar

oh I forgot my other staple that I mentioned to someone else recently. Buy a cooked rotisserie chicken, take off the skin, and pick the bones clean. Store the meat, and you can use it for salad toppings, pastas, quesadillas, tacos, simple casseroles, you name it. A chicken will last you a week unless you eat massive amounts of food :)

kruger_d's avatar

Salmon, man. Remove any skin. Put a nice heavy layer of black pepper and coriander on one or both sides, pan fry on medium-high with a little grapeseed (other heat-tolerant) oil until it makes a nice crust. Flip and fry til barely pink in the center. It’s important to preheat the pan and oil or the center will overcook before you get the crust. Also try using 5-spice powder instead of pepper and coriander.

AlfredaPrufrock's avatar

I used to fix dishwasher salmon all the time.

adri027's avatar

@marina: I know I meant it jokingly as in when are you going to teach me..

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