5 Ways to Hack Your Grocery Store Trip When Meal Planning
Meal Planning 101: Grocery Shopping Hacks
Simple, effective ways to keep shopping trips short and on budget.
We’ve all been on an aimless grocery store trips before. Wandering the aisles, looking for deals, not quite sure what to get and inevitably buying more or less than you actually needed.
The year 2020 was weird when it came to groceries. If you’re at all like me, you probably starting buying just a little bit extra of just about everything after the lockdown chaos. My pantry and freezer have never been quite this well stocked. And while it’s not a bad idea to have staples on hand, it is important to use what you have before it goes bad. And have you noticed that the more you have, the harder it is to keep track of what needs to be used up next?
When it comes to meal planning, to goal is to simplify. Simplify decision making. Simplify time spent in the kitchen. And absolutely to simplify the trip to the grocery store.
Ever sit down to write a grocery list and after writing a few items down, drawn a complete blank? Usually that happens because you haven’t narrowed down what the meals are for the upcoming week. That is what meal planning is here to help you avoid. By simplifying the decision making process you will have fewer aimless trips to the grocery store. We can all relate to those trips, the ones where you buy too much or too little. And, inevitably, you forget a key ingredient.
Once you have your list of go-to weeknight dinners, you’re in a great position to start simplifying those grocery store runs. Your curated go-to meal list helps you meal plan more efficiently and guarantees that you are regularly eating meals you enjoy. But it also sets you up to write a master grocery list.
What’s a master grocery list? It’s the starting point for your groceries each week. Instead of starting with a blank sheet of paper, you start with the things you always buy and build from there. Instead of writing milk, eggs, and bread on that list each and every time, you start with them already on the list. If you use a digital grocery list this can be done easily in Notes, Google Docs, or an app like Paprika. If you like a printed list, you can build out your master list in a document, adding to you for each week, and printing it to take to the store.
I’m embarrassed to admit how many times all but one staple ingredient stood between me and dinner. It’s the absolute worst. (And the many times I blew the grocery budget because I didn’t make a simple plan; ugh!) Sure, learning how to substitute other ingredients can be fun and open the door to creativity… but some nights you want to get from point A to point B in the most direct path. Am I right? That is why it is so important to streamline, simplify, and hack that grocery store trip.
Step 2: Make your list of go-to meals that you, and your people, enjoy to eat.
Step 3: Hack your grocery store trip by shopping your house first.
5 Grocery Store Hacks to Help You Stick to Your Meal Plan
“Shop” at home first. Before you even think about you grocery list, do the work to meal plan for the week first. If you haven’t yet, choose the day to plan. And, as you decided on your meals for the upcoming week, shop your house. What perishable items (in your fridge and freezer) need to be used up? Allow that to guide your meal decisions, referring to your list of go-to dinners to determine simple and easy meals for the week. Then, fill in the rest of the grocery list. Don’t forget to check your pantry. Look for items you have (and don’t need to purchase) as well as staples from your master grocery list that need to be re-stocked.
Make a master list. Using your list of go-to dinners, identify the staples you should have on hand and keep them stocked. Some super-organized types like to keep a master inventory of the freezer and pantry. It could be a handwritten list you hang on the fridge or a digital spreadsheet you track on a computer. If the thought of an inventory is overwhelming, don’t worry about it. Maybe consider a system for storing food in your pantry and freezer so you can check easily without needing to maintain an inventory. For example, keep all pasta together in the pantry; all the frozen veggies together in the freezer, etc. Whatever works for you, use what you have first so you don’t waste food.
Organize your list based on the layout of the store. Choose the grocery store you are going to first, if that’s a variable. Growing up there were only two grocery stores to choose between. But now I live in a very suburban area with more grocery stores than I can handle all within a few miles of my house. How to choose which one to go to? Ideally, the one the has everything on the list! Sometimes this also dictates the meal plan for the week. For example, if you’re going to a specialty store (i.e. an Asian Market) you may want to choose your meals to use the ingredients they specialize in. Once you know where you are going, write your grocery store list based on the layout of the store. If possible, try to stick to the perimeter. Most fresh, whole foods like produce, bread, meat, and dairy are around the edges of the store. The aisles tend to be full of processed foods and snack items. This also helps you to move through the store more efficiently.
Shop on a day that works for you. Decide what that means first. For me, it is the least amount of people because what works for me is efficiency. I want to be a grocery store ninja! In and out as quickly as possible. I’m not there to browse sales or chat with friends. What that means practically is that I avoid weekends and weekdays as much as possible; typically shopping on a Thursday or Friday night. It works for me, but that doesn’t mean it will for you. Figure out what will. If when you go to the store now isn’t working, reflect on why and change it up!
Don’t shop hungry. You’ve probably heard this one before. When you shop hungry it is so easy to go off-list and end up with perishable items that will throw your meal plan completely off-course. There’s nothing wrong with that, truly. But it may make for a more frustrating week than you had intended because the time you spent writing the plan -and grocery list- didn’t end up saving you as much decision making time and energy as it could have.
Using these five tips, banish the aimless grocery store runs from your life. Keep it intentional, keep it simple, and use that meal plan to kick the stress out of your kitchen. Save your time and energy for things you love!
Want more?
We’re talking Kitchen Essentials at The Wandering Hearth this year. In this series we are focusing on Meal Planning 101. And if you want to learn more right now, I’ve got a free meal planning template to get you started. It includes:
A quick start guide on how to meal plan
A planner template
A sample week of meal planning from my kitchen
Directions on how to write a detailed (block) plan
The lazy version of meal planning (no judgement here, we’ve all got more important things to do than worry about meals three times a day!)
Grab your copy below by joining The Hearthside mailing list.
Meal Planner Template
Free!
Need help deciding?
I’ve got a meal plan for that! Recipes and grocery lists already to go. View them in the Meal Plan Store.
