Going to the grocery store is something we all have to do. The ultimate adulting status is standing in grocery aisle twenty one trying to decide between refried beans with salt, jalapenos, or what was that last one again? Oh yeah…half fat. Seems pretty cut and dry, right? Well, sort of.
How many hours a week do you spend in the grocery store? Maybe it’s once a week or every single day after work because you forgot the one secret ingredient to make your specialty dinner tonight. This has probably happened to each and every one of us. We don’t intentionally set out to go to the grocery store too much. It’s something that just naturally happens. What if there was a way for us to spend less time at the grocery store and more time doing the things we actually enjoy after work? If there is one thing COVID has taught me, it is how to get in and out of grocery stores quickly.
Seven Steps I use Weekly to be a More Efficient Shopper:
- How long are you trying to go without going to the grocery store? If you go every day, make a small, attainable goal for yourself. Set a goal only to go once every 3 days to start.
- Write out how many meals you are planning on buying while there. I like to include snack time, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert.
- Once you have an idea of how many meals you will be needing, do this extremely important step. Open up your fridge and pantry and SHOP there first! This is a great way to pinch pennies. See what is about to be going bad soon. Maybe your heavy cream is going to go bad this week. Instead of just waiting for it to go down the drain try to think of an idea of how to use it, such as soup (try a yummy Butternut Squash soup here). Also check to see what produce is fresh, what dairy is moldy, and what is in your freezer. Don’t forget about those spices! Spices can make even the simplest of meals a fancy dish. Did you know you can add some essential oils to your food? Check out this article here and you may want to add some to your grocery list.
- When you have an idea of what items you need to use up, you can make an at-home shopping list with all of these things.
- Go to a meal website of your choice and search “meals using…” what you already have (such as half a bell pepper, some chicken, and soy sauce). These ingredients have dozens of yummy recipes that pop up, such as Chicken Teriyaki.
- Once you have used up all of your at-home groceries go ahead and make an actual shopping list of things that you like to buy.
- Whatever store you end up going to, download their app ahead of time. Most grocery stores will actually tell you which aisle the item(s) you are looking for is found. Write your list based on aisle per aisle shopping and use your time effectively without running back and forth to the same aisles at different times. You can get 2 weeks of grocery shopping done in usually 45 minutes. Thus, you can enjoy the time you would’ve spent shopping on other activities that you really want to do!
I would love to know what shopping tricks and hacks you do also! Let’s all become the best shoppers we can!
