Meal Planning Part 1
There are four steps to our most effective grocery shopping experience. I certainly didn't reinvent the wheel here. When I started buying my own groceries right out of college, I just thought back to how my mom did it when we were kids. The steps are as follows:
1. Take inventory
Take stock of what is in the pantry, freezer, and fridge. Be honest with yourself and consider what you are actually willing to eat that is still in the fridge from your last trip to the store. Does the bag of greens look a little slimy? If you know you're not going to eat it, chuck it or freeze it if you can use it later and then move on. There is no shame in learning that you over bought last week and didn't get through a few things. Now you know!
2. Make a meal plan
Plan for the number of days until you plan on shopping again. We shop once a week, which is a feat in itself and I hope we can extend that to two weeks in the future. I know plenty of families shop every other week or even once a month which boggles my mind. So, if we are planning for 7 days, plan a breakfast, lunch, and dinner for each day of the plan. Base the first few meals around ingredients you already have. For example, we have chicken breast stocked up in the freezer so guess what T is taking for lunch this week? Similarly, we have really ripe bananas in the fruit bowl so I'll be freezing those for smoothies for breakfasts or incorporating them into oatmeal waffles this week.
3. Make a grocery list
Go through each meal you have just planned for and list out the ingredients for it that you need to purchase. I like to go the additional obsessive mile and organize my grocery list into four main categories. T knows we can't leave the house until this is done. Otherwise we walk in blind, spend too much money, and end up kicking ourselves for forgetting basic ingredients.
4. Categories
I've done what makes the most sense for us but know that this is not the standard method. Our grocery list is divided into Meat, Dairy, Produce, and Aisle Items. Why not protein instead of meat? Well, T eats a ton of meat but I tend to get my protein from alternative sources simply because I have issues with texture. Why not vegetables and fruits instead of just produce? Well they are in the same damn place, aren't they? All of these categories are intentionally broad. It is all about the location: right and left hand sides of the store, back wall of the store, and the center aisles. Other shoppers hate this but I like to just park my cart in a central location and chuck food into it from the surrounding area.
1. Take inventory
Take stock of what is in the pantry, freezer, and fridge. Be honest with yourself and consider what you are actually willing to eat that is still in the fridge from your last trip to the store. Does the bag of greens look a little slimy? If you know you're not going to eat it, chuck it or freeze it if you can use it later and then move on. There is no shame in learning that you over bought last week and didn't get through a few things. Now you know!
2. Make a meal plan
Plan for the number of days until you plan on shopping again. We shop once a week, which is a feat in itself and I hope we can extend that to two weeks in the future. I know plenty of families shop every other week or even once a month which boggles my mind. So, if we are planning for 7 days, plan a breakfast, lunch, and dinner for each day of the plan. Base the first few meals around ingredients you already have. For example, we have chicken breast stocked up in the freezer so guess what T is taking for lunch this week? Similarly, we have really ripe bananas in the fruit bowl so I'll be freezing those for smoothies for breakfasts or incorporating them into oatmeal waffles this week.
3. Make a grocery list
Go through each meal you have just planned for and list out the ingredients for it that you need to purchase. I like to go the additional obsessive mile and organize my grocery list into four main categories. T knows we can't leave the house until this is done. Otherwise we walk in blind, spend too much money, and end up kicking ourselves for forgetting basic ingredients.
4. Categories
I've done what makes the most sense for us but know that this is not the standard method. Our grocery list is divided into Meat, Dairy, Produce, and Aisle Items. Why not protein instead of meat? Well, T eats a ton of meat but I tend to get my protein from alternative sources simply because I have issues with texture. Why not vegetables and fruits instead of just produce? Well they are in the same damn place, aren't they? All of these categories are intentionally broad. It is all about the location: right and left hand sides of the store, back wall of the store, and the center aisles. Other shoppers hate this but I like to just park my cart in a central location and chuck food into it from the surrounding area.
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