How to Simplified Grocery Shopping & Avoid the Grocery Store

Hey Mama! How are you doing? How are you staying sane during the stay home advisory? (I think it will be interesting when this is read after the pandemic is over.) I am staying sane by staying productive and off of the couch, which can be a little tough. 🙂

One thing I don’t miss during this pandemic is in-store grocery shopping! Do you like grocery shopping? Because of my natural aversion to aisles I created a new and efficient approach to grocery shopping years ago. It may be a little extra, but it been very helpful not only to my soul, but to my wallet! Here are a few tricks I came up with:

1. Clean out the fridge and pantry before shopping.

   • I know this is a tedious task, but it makes putting things away much faster!

2. Create a meal plan!

   -fail to plan, plan to fail

   • Did you know shopping one meal at a time is time consuming, it causes you to spend more, and you typically end up buying duplicates.
   • when planning your shopping trip and meal planning include snacks, breakfast, lunch, and dinner!
   • To save brain power, I created an excel sheet with all of our favorite recipes and ingredients for each–I said it was a bit extra. 😉

3. Create a printable shopping list.
   -If you stay ready, you never have to get ready

   • The first time add every thing to it! Every time you try a new recipe, add to it to your list.
   • This has been a real saver when my husband has to do the grocery shopping unexpectedly. I print/email it to him and he is set. I will add he is much better at sticking to the list, than I am.

4. Put your shopping list in order by aisle and section.

   • If you frequent the same grocery stores you should know them pretty well, and you will be able to sort items by aisle by your memory.
   • When I am moving through the aisles without missing a beat dropping stuff into my basket, quickly and effectively WHILE sticking to my list–“yass, mama!” It feels so refreshing.

Shopping online:

Using a printable list is a game changer! One: copy and paste. So easy! Two: You don’t even have to get out of your car. Okay, confession time: The main reason I didn’t grocery shop online is because I didn’t want to buy bad produce and meats. I will say I have been pleasantly surprised–and!–Walmart has a super easy way to return items that doesn’t meet your standards. (not affiliated)

I hope this helps! I have actually put together two weeks of weeknight dinners, a grocery shopping list, and some conversation starters to spice up quarantine dinner conversation. “What did you do today?” NOT INCLUDED. You’re welcome! 😉