Through the market - Whether you come home with a handbasket of baguette and fresh vegetables or you shop in bulk for a month, this step is a crucial one. Our amazing journey into the kitchen begins with procuring the ingredients. Planning ahead and having everything you need is the prelude to success. This section will help you in making choices in an efficient way. Let's bring home the bacon!

 

Arming yourself with a well-prepared list

Most of the techniques I suggest revolve around planning ahead. Since transportation is a consideration, I only go to the market twice a month. This means I really need to think about what I will be doing and what my needs are in advance. I sketch out menus mentally and think about what is coming up in general terms. I then prepare my list accordingly. I also consider things like which fresh produce items will not last as long as others. For example, I might plan a stir-fry that contains snow peas and broccoli for earlier in the two week period. I would save a potato soup or bean dish for later. In this way, the produce is always used at its freshest. Keep dairy products such as cheese and milk in mind, too.

I think about the household and personal items separately in order not to confuse the two areas.

I then check my list to see if there is anything missing before I call it quits. I sometimes mentally travel the aisles of the market to remind myself of items. If I neglect to get something at the market, I just live with it and go from there.

The form of the list is a personal choice. I happen to keep my lists on computer in my word processing files. I have a master list of all the things I might want to purchase. I cruise that list and delete the items I do not want or change the amounts. For example, I always buy 10 apples for my weekday lunches. But if I am making an apple pie that week, I will change that amount. Or if I do not need lettuce at all that week, I will delete that item. If I have an unusual need one week, such as hoisin sauce, I add it to the master list. It becomes a part of my saved list.

Another possibility is to keep a list on note cards, either in Braille or large print. They can be bundled or catalogued by type, such as fresh produce and canned goods. Then as you make your choice at the market, such as a can of chopped tomatoes, secure the card on the can with a rubber band. This makes you more independent of need for a reader later.

If this seems like a lot of work, be assured that it saves much time and many trips in the long run. Now that I use the shopping service provided by my supermarket, I just fax it to the market and pick up my groceries the next day. Many markets also offer delivery services for a nominal fee.

 

Cruising the aisles

I used to love to cruise the aisles. Trucking up and down...seeing what other people were buying...finding out what was new. As I lost vision, I started to leave my cart at the end of the aisle and pick up things to bring back to it. It saved the mayonnaise display from my bad aim. As my vision faded, I started not to enjoy it at all. I found that at certain hours of the day, the clientele used basic guerrilla tactics to get shopping done. I decided that the market would be less of an event for me and more of a source of goods. I still occasionally cruise the aisles with one of the store's shoppers, but with a different experience in mind. I share this self-indulgent history in order to urge you to find your own level of comfort. It would be a shame to change your approach to the kitchen because you couldn't get through the market. We are so lucky to have other choices these days.

Recently, supermarkets have added an extremely valuable customer service intended for any citizen with difficulty in shopping. Professional shoppers will walk the aisles with a customer and help negotiate pyramids of canned goods, determine prices and make selections. It is useful to have them pull the cart from the front and you can use the bar handle at the back fro guidance. If you travel with a cane, pull the cart from forward end use a wider arc on the turns to cover both yourself and your cart. The end-of-aisle displays are a little tricky. And don't forget the middle-of-aisle displays of rods with hanging bubble wrap packets that beg "Buy me, buy me."

Almost all markets display their goods in a structured way: produce, meat, dairy and baked goods on the outer aisles with canned, bottled, cleaning and personal products on the inner aisles. Again, customer service personnel can orient you.

 

Selecting fish

Fresh, fresh, fresh. Find a fishmonger you trust. You are looking for plump meat, bright eyes and a healthy gill. Your nose is your absolute best guide. Ultimately, you should trust the relationship you have built with the seller.

 

Selecting meats

Getting the freshest meats can be a very visual experience since they are wrapped tightly away from other senses. Making friends with your butcher is the best bet. Your butcher can also give you great advice on how to prepare cheaper cuts of meat in such a way as to substitute it for higher priced cuts. My butcher is often willing to cut, slice or cube my meat for me at no extra charge. For example, if I am making a green chili, I can ask for my pork to be cubed a little larger than the cubing they normally do for soups. Usually the cut meats in the case are more expensive and have been exposed to the air longer. I find the staff of supermarkets very cooperative and helpful. However, I occasionally run into a person who really does not know what to do, such as a fellow who works in the meat department as a cutter, but does not know much about kitchen preparation. That is why I like to cultivate a relationship with a particular person. In these days of fast, faceless service, they enjoy this type or personal contact, too.

 

Selecting produce

Tricks for selecting good produce are rarely visual. Thumping a watermelon for hollow sound, smelling the end of a cantaloupe for ripeness, Feeling the skin of limes for thinness, sneaking a grape to see if they are sweet...these are all tricks learned with experience. Making friends with the produce manager doesn't hurt either. I made an appointment with the produce manager early on in my kitchen experience. He was happy to show me lots of tricks and to give me great information on how produce is grown, shipped and stored. It only took a half hour of his time and saved a lot in the long run. I sometimes call in advance for information on what looks good this week. My busy schedule does not allow for that in a typical week, but it might help if I want to make guacamole and have no idea how the avocados look. I might opt for something else if I find they are not ripe and expensive.

 

Selecting turkeys

Most families serve turkey during holiday seasons and kind of neglect them the rest of the year. If you fit in that category, you might not remember from one time to the next how to select the bird. Hens and toms are about equal in tenderness, When possible, select fresh, not frozen birds. Look for plump white birds with well-rounded breastbones, For turkeys less than 12 pounds, allow 3/4 to 1 pound per serving. Allow 1/2 to 3/4 pound per serving for those weighing over 12 pounds. If you like leftovers, calculate as if there were more people involved. Most butchers are happy to reserve your bird in advance. Given your needs, they can select a good one for you.

 

Shopping services

Many larger supermarket chains now have shopping services for their customers for a small fee. They will accept orders over the phone or by fax. I have my master grocery list on computer. I select what I want that week and fax it to my grocer. When I arrive at the store, the order is ready and waiting. They would deliver the order if did not live high in the mountains. They even find bargains for me that I might normally miss. Most errors are my own. (Like the time I accidentally typed 43 instead of 4. Believe me, it takes a long time to use 43 cans of tomatoes!) I usually include a request to read my mind if they cannot find an item. For example, there were no dried peaches available one day. The shopper substituted dried apricots. It worked great in the recipe.

I have learned a few tricks from doing this for years. I ask that the onions, garlic and bananas not be stored in the refrigerator while they are waiting for me to pick up the order. If a particular brand of a product is important to me, I ask that there be no substitutions made if it is not available that day. If I preferred, I could also make an appointment and have assistance in shopping in the store. I do this occasionally to see what is new on the scene. It's a miracle, and it works.

 

Using coupons

Since I do not read the newspaper, I miss out on money-saving coupons. I also know that I might miss temporary bargains at the store. So I solicit the help of friends. The shopper at the supermarket always lets me know when items she has seen me use before are going on sale. She also attaches coupons to my receipt that she thinks I might be interested in the next time I shop. One could spend a lot of time chasing these things down. I choose not to do that, but am always happy when one comes my way. There is also another trend appearing these days. It costs supermarket chains a lot of time and money to honor coupons that they initiate. Some chains are going to the idea of issuing cards that automatically provide a discount on items on sale. These "no-clip coupon" cards are very convenient and save you a lot.