Grocery Shopping Cheat

There's no doubt that making some sort of plan
before you go to the grocery store produces better results at dinnertime during
the rest of the week. Sadly, I seldom
manage to get this small task done before I arrive at my weekly food-o-rama. Fortunately, I start pushing my cart through
the aisles nearest the entry, so it's a long time before I reach produce,
seafood, meat. I used to think this was
an absurd arrangement because how could you know what you might need from the
pantry aisles before you knew what the substance of your meal would be, but
I've discovered a trick. I steal from
the labels of products I would never actually buy. In the frozen section, for example, I see a
box of ready made chicken pot pie, complete with tempting picture. "How long has it been since I ate
that?" I think. Then I'm off to the
meat and produce section for the ingredients to make a real chicken pot
pie. A ready-made box of paella serves
the same inspiration. Who eats clams and
shrimp that come in some sort of "preserved" can that fits in a box
of rice? No way am I calling that a
meal. I'm not even brave enough to read
the ingredient list. But I know where to
find fresh clams, shrimp and spicy sausage to make a real paella. So in my own lazy girl way, I've found a
trick for making a shopping plan right in the middle of the store. Just show me a picture.