Dinnertime Dread
Are you struggling with meal plans and grocery shopping? Erma Bombeck, humorist and author, once said, “There is one thing I have never taught my body how to do, and that is to figure out at 6 A.M. what it wants to eat at 6 P.M.” In this post, I’ll discuss how a little planning can make meal planning and grocery shopping easier. Whether you’re looking for new dinner ideas or just looking to streamline your meal-planning process, these tips will help you save time and money while ensuring you have delicious meals ready to enjoy.
Grocery Shopping Made Easy
In the past, I purchased one week’s worth of meals with quick trips in between to the farmer’s market, butcher, or small grocery store. During the start of COVID, I minimized shopping trips and purchased a week + of groceries in a single trip. Minimizing grocery shopping trips and dealing with out-of-stock items was challenging.
Meal Planning & Online Grocery Shopping Tips
At the start of the Pandemic, I started the Supper Sanity Blog. I want to share my meal-planning system and grocery-shopping tips. Efficient grocery shopping results in fewer trips, healthier meals, and significant savings. Making a detailed grocery list ensures that the required items in the meal plan are purchased. Store delivery or pickup saves time and reduces impromptu purchases.
4 Steps to Efficient Grocery Shopping
1. Create a List of Favorite Meals - Cheat Sheets
A cheat sheet provides a quick reference of meal ideas to review for inspiration when you see sale items at the store. This post, Decision Fatigue—What’s For Dinner? shows you how to make a quick menu chart that includes a variety of proteins, cuisines, and cooking methods. Learn how to get it for FREE on the shop.
2. Meal Plan a Weekly Menu
Plan a week of meals and snacks before going to the store. I use a weekly planner that is available for purchase. Learn more by visiting the shop page. It guides you through the steps to think through for a weekly menu.
3. Make a Grocery Shopping List
The Supper Sanity Shopping list “thinks” for me because it is pre-printed with items I usually purchase. Go through the list meal by meal and mark down the items you need to purchase. Review the list for other non-recipe-related items, such as toilet paper and paper towels.
4. Review the Grocery Store Website
Look over the store website for resources like sales, digital coupons, free delivery, and online shopping. A few minutes can save so much money and time.
Online Shopping Tip
Most grocery stores have pickup and delivery services. Look at their websites to learn more about the process. If you participate in the store’s loyalty card program, your previous purchases load on the website. This makes grocery shopping very easy. I helped my 80+-year-old mother set up an account with Kroger. She loves it and can’t believe she didn’t try it sooner. She has done it numerous times and knows how to secure her spot in advance so she can pick it up once a week.
- Visit your favorite grocery store’s website.
- Shop by placing items in a virtual shopping cart.
- Meet the minimum order limit.
- Choose a curbside pickup time or deliver-to-home time.
- Continue adding items until the ordering deadline.
- Place your order.
Supper Sanity contains affiliate links, which means we receive commissions for purchases made through those links at no cost to you. For more information, please read our full affiliate disclosure here.
It's Time to Simplify Meal Planning
The Supper Sanity Worksheets below help you follow an easy meal planning system. Sign up for the newsletter to receive 25% off.
1. Meal Cheat Sheet
Decide meals fast with the no-brainer menu chart. All the recipes are on the website.
2. Weekly Meal Planner
Set up your week for success by reviewing inventory and planning a menu that meets your family schedule.
3. Grocery List
Shop efficiently and stay on budget with the Grocery List that does the thinking.
