Before you stock your pantry for a week’s worth of meals, plan your expenditure of  time, money, and space.

• • Time
    • planning the shopping list: 15 minutes to edit one of the shopping lists (example: stocking a naked pantry) on this blog; 30-45 minutes if starting from scratch.
    • shopping: 1 hour if you know your store well and organize your shopping list by sections (all produce together, all canned goods together, all dairy together, etc.)
    • cooking: about 15-30 minutes for each meal, except Pad Thai which takes about 45 minutes, and the brownies take about 35 minutes to bake because they are so thick and rich and chocolatey…
  • Money
    • On April 24, 2010, the total cost was $160.00 for one week for four people – PANTRY only
    • Note: Over 10 years, the shared cost has risen to about $60-70 per person, but you can’t buy only one person’s ingredients due to container and package sizes.  If you shop for only one or two people, you can reduce some of the individual quantities like apples and pears, but the shared or individual cost will still be higher: approximately $85-90 per person.
    • Extra expenses: laundry supplies, cleaning supplies, toilet paper
    • Personal expenses: toiletries, snacks

• Space
  • transportation: one large cargo area or back seat, once a week
  • pantry: 4-6 shelves
  • refrigerator: need full-size ‘fridge