Discovery Channel's Planet Green website has an awesome article about what the author calls a "grocery pause."  In the ecological holy trinity of "reduce, reuse, recycle," I think we tend to focus on the last two Rs more than the first one - Reduce.  The best way not to waste it, the best way not to take on the carbon footprint of it, is to not buy it in the first place!

I know that I myself am terrible about this.  When I lived in the city, I used to stop at the grocery store at least every other day.  Why?  Bad planning, mostly.  And the proximity of the grocery store gave my culinary whims full control over my shopping schedule.  I want pasta!  I want granola!  I want a cucumber for my salad!  And off to the store I would go.

When I moved to a rural area, the combination of some serious financial belt-tightening with a half hour drive to the nearest grocery store meant that I had to retool my grocery shopping methods.  I found that each time I went to the grocery store, I would buy something extra off-list.  Even if it was only a bottle of Coke Zero, that's an extra $1.50 each trip.  It adds up fast!

I was also more interested in reducing my transportation footprint.  If I could reduce my trips into town to once or twice a week, that meant cutting my gas usage in half - and my bill for the gas pump, as well!  (This coincided with the long slow rise in the price of gas, which definitely helped motivate me.)

Now I shop once a week, every Tuesday.  It takes a lot more planning, and a vast store of patience that I do not always have.  There have been plenty of times when I left the store with only four days of groceries, just because I was tired of grocery shopping and I wanted to go home.  Baby steps, right?

The article mentions "keeping a well stocked pantry," and I have definitely developed a list of items I try to keep always on hand.  A bag of baby red potatoes, for example, because you can use those in anything.  Whenever I see pasta on sale, I buy a few extra boxes to keep in reserve.  Not to mention basic ingredients like flour, cooking oil, garlic, and so forth.  You learn which collection of ingredients you can use to make almost anything that you personally are likely to want on a whim, and learn to keep those ingredients on hand.

My other personal revolution was to keep a white board in the kitchen.  Whenever I run out of something, I write it on the white board.  This ensures that I won't forget I've run out of vinegar, either when I sit down to make my grocery list, or when I'm actually at the grocery store.

If you're going to shop less often, then you definitely need to start using a grocery list.  I felt like a little old lady at first, but it really is necessary!  I make out my lists in a top-level fashion, writing down something like "enchiladas" instead of enumerating all of the different ingredients.  Just the reminder of "enchiladas" does the trick for me.