Grocery Planning Made Easy

I stumbled upon this trick when my daughter was in Brownies so I had to be in town every Tuesday evening.

I live to far out to bother driving home and back so I would go and do the grocery shopping while she was there.

Soon I was seeing all kinds of benefits.

A DAY I CAN COUNT ON MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE 

Meal planning was much easier because I had a day that I could count on fresh groceries and gear my menu plan towards.

It was natural to have a 'clean up' day for the fridge on Monday since I knew that I'd be refilling it on Tuesday.

And it really stood out if I didn't use veggies that I bought over the week, giving me added incentive to include them through the week.

It also nipped my tendency to go too long between grocery shopping, so we more often had good food like fruit and veggies to eat instead of crackers and granola bars etc.

So all around, it's one of the best things that you can do to ensure a regular supply of healthy food in your cupboards.

I am going to be making my regular shopping days Sunday because the store is less busy and it's a weekend – time that I put aside to focus on my family and home anyway – and so I don't have to load more on through the week. 

THE DAY BEFORE GROCERY DAY CAN BE OF HUGE BENEFIT IN REDUCING WASTE AND BOOSTING NUTRITION 

One benefit I am finding right away is that it gives me Saturday (since I also focus on family and home today too) to use up leftovers, do some baking, put things in the freezer etc before they go bad. 

It's much better than a Monday as a day before shopping day, as it was when I shopped Tuesday evenings, because I like to work all day Mon and Tues when the kids are at school. But during the week may work better for you depending on your schedule.

Another plus for me is that it allows me to shop for fruit and veggies for my daughter's lunch for the week so she has a great selection on Monday morning. I have already found over the past week that having fruit that she likes, like strawberries, grapes and raspberries and little containers to put them in have really made a difference in how many of the prepackaged junky snacks that she takes. 

Depending on how far away the grocery store is, how often you're in town etc, you may want to do a small supplemental shop sometime through the week as well. Do what ever works for you. 

What day works for you?

Try one out and see how it goes. Experiment a little bit.

Just be sure to pick one and follow through. 

Need more help?

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No tears. No take out.