How do you manage grocery shopping and meal preparation?

Grocery shopping is done with me riding an electric scooter as soon as i get there. Sometimes, i use the direct shopping service at target or grocery store. Order online, they shop for u for free and then bring it out and load into ur cart, no tipping allowed. I am paying rent to my sister and brother in law...i have an upstairs master suite with bathroom. Doing dishes in house is my fun job. I love doing dishes lol my meals are separate from the rest of the house. Everyone leaves their dishes and pans for me. Loading and unloading dishwasher is good PT...pivoting, bending, stretching all in small area. I never fall but that wobbling or jerking to one side thing happens. It scares others when they see it. But i catch myself. When i was 8 months pregnant i could hold tree pose forever, i would like to think that my prior skills at balancing r getting me thru this without falling. Twice a month i make a gourmet meal and dessert for the house. My 12 yr old niece lives here too. They all love my cooking. It all requires a delicate dance of pacing myself and keeping eye on heart rate. I love making meals where there are leftovers for days and maybe some gets put in freezer.

Also, my personal eating habits are made easy by stocking cut up veggies with dip, preprepared salads made by grocery store, at least 4 fruits stocked up, rinsed and ready to eat in frig. I love covering oatmeal or yogurt with fruits. I shoot for high protein and fiber...plant based meat burritos, cheese cubes with turkey pepperoni and healthy crackers or chips. I am obsessed with ice cream. Almost every night a bowl...fruit is great on it.

clanmacjammies, Hey There! Some grocery stores deliver to your home if you are close by....Harris Teeter is one of them.

I plan my meals weekly and buy accordingly and I am still able to drive so, I drive and pick them up after
ordering online. Once you have done an online shopping order, the items are there for you to just click and reorder under "Purchase History" the next time. I use Harris Teeter as they are so close to my house. My son saves $40 a week by ordering this week via going in the store and buying groceries.

I do stock up on boneless skinless chicken breasts when they are on sale.

Allrecipes.com has a lot of easy quick recipes you can print out with few ingredients.

I use the crockpot A LOT! It saves me time. I use the liner bags for them by Reynolds and you just toss
the bag and easy clean up. Using paper plates and plastic cups made cut back on your washing dishes. Line
your pans that you bake with aluminum foil (Meat loaf, lasagna, etc) and you will have less mess. Let the pan
soak in the sink with Dawn and warm water. Use an SOS soap pad for hard to clean places.

Here's a menu example:

This week I did chicken vegetable soup in the crockpot and the chicken that was
left over, I made chicken salad. This will last us 2 days at least. You can freeze the chicken noodle soup
that is left. I also bought hamburger patties, buns, lettuce, tomato & onion and we had those Monday night
and I baked McCain's quick fries.

You can use an e-vic card at Harris Teeter and they will ask for any coupons when you drive up to pick up groceries. They are superb with their customer service.

I'm not clear if you are not able to drive. If you are not, can someone bring groceries to you that you have
ordered on line? Is there a store near you that delivers? I find this is much cheaper than ordering the
prepared meals online and that may or may not be good.

Amazon Fresh is cheaper on a lot of things than Harris Teeter, so I compare the prices. I know they add
a tip on, but, you can change that if you think it's too much.

I hope this helps in some way. I have a lot of all over pain and this helps me greatly.

Praying for you. Stay in touch with your progress. Blessings....

@covidstinks2023
Thanks so much! Very helpful suggestions! I can drive. I will definitely look into online ordering at local grocery stores, and check on the Allrecipes that you suggested. Many thanks!

@pdoubrava
Thanks so much! I love your positive outlook! I really appreciate you taking the time to share your ideas and experience - plus you just sound like a super fun person! I wish you well in your recovery.

@clanmacjammies u just made my day. Thank u!! I am a fun high energy person and thats why i was everyones fav sub teacher. I can still hear them all day...hi miss d, have a good day miss d. Lots of hugs prior to covid. Being sick kinda feels like the world is going on without me. Its surreal. My brother in law is a pastor, my one sister is a psychologist, the other a sub teacher. I watch them sooo busy. In order to still feel a part, i am constantly thinking of little ways i can help them. Their gratitude gives me such a boost. If im not making the world a better place, i would lose my reason for living.

DoorDash.

After 5 years of Long COVID, I pace everything including meal prep. I precook rice for the week and stock up on sweet potatoes (as am now allergic to nightshade veggies per the COVID fairy) . I cut up veggies for steaming and onions/garlic for rice during the morning or early afternoon. Get up about dinner time to season/cook meat, quick sauté of the onion/garlic and add in rice, and steam veggies. I will also cook dinners in the crock pot...I do simple recipes like a roast with bouillon and some light seasoning...then thicken the leftover juices with cream for an easy gravy. I season a chicken and later in the day put it on the BBQ for 45 minutes on a beer can chicken holder...very easy and hardly ever overcooks. I precook a few days of oatmeal and warm it up with raisins. And our local Italian restaurant make a great Caesar salad so I dress some of that up with leftover meat for a quick lunch.

I do use all of the grocery delivery deals...did Whole Foods through Amazon for years until their quality fell. Now we use the local food co-op that will pick the groceries and deliver them.

I am totally dependent on my wife for meal shopping food prep and cleanup. I can go to the store with her after I've had a fix of creatine but I can't lift and carry things because of intense hand and arm weakness although I have Full mobility. I also cannot eat very well with utensils but manage the best I can. I eat cereal slowly and sometimes use my fingers for dinner and lunch is always a sandwich or what they now called handheld. Although the creatine have given me Power for an hour or two that's my time to get things done it feels like a shot out of a canon where I have happy feet. You do have a rough come down on it when it wears off depending on the day. But since you have to drink a lot of water once in a while I go to the bathroom in the morning which just wipes me up period go figure.
Most big grocery chains Will deliver food that you order off the Internet and may use Instacart. If you are able to prepare meals which I am not because of my hand and arm weakness this may be doable option for you. Everyone has their thing with this disease.

I've tried the electric scooter but for me it's too confining. I usually just do grocery pickup at my local grocery store. My King Soopers (Kroger's Colorado brand) even shows if there's a coupon or a deal when I'm shopping online. Then all I have to do is drive to the store, click the button on my phone to tell them I'm there, and sit in the car. They come out and load everything into the car for me. It's a huge energy saver when I'm so tired walking through the store feels impossible.

I haven't been terribly successful with cooking, though I think people have given some excellent ideas here. When I do cook, I try to make enough for leftovers, so we can eat off it for at least a couple of meals. The CrockPot is one of my best tools - I can start something in the morning when I'm feeling better, and in the evening it's done, with only the pot itself to wash.

I do use rotisserie chicken frequently. That works best if I cut it up as soon as I get it home - then I can cook with it later in the week without as much work. I also like to make casseroles or one-pot meals with it - I can just dump things together and stick it in the oven, and when it's done there's just the casserole dish.

As for dishes, I use paper OFTEN, especially when I'm super fatigued. I found several years ago that paper is no more expensive and no worse for the environment than running the dishwasher, and since then I don't feel guilty about using it. That way all I have for dishes is the cooking stuff.