Organizing the chaos of grocery shopping

Who in the world would want to read about grocery shopping? I mean seriously, isn’t this like the one thing we can all come together and despise? It’s the never-ending chore that your hunger relies on. So why would I take this on as a topic to write about? What could I have to say that would make these procrastinated trips a little bit easier?

Well maybe nothing. Honestly, these tips and tricks may be something that adds stress and anxiety to

your life. Maybe you actually enjoy wandering through the grocery store adding what you think you need to your cart. Maybe this is your time away from the kids to just be with your own thoughts.

If that’s not the case and you are looking for the quickest, fastest, and possibly easiest way to be in and out of the grocery store; this might be it.

As much as my fiancé can’t stand walking through the grocery store, I have found that this list makes both of our lives a little more bearable. We start by sitting down and brainstorming dinners we want for the next two weeks. You could make this weekly, monthly, whatever fits your family. We try to grocery shop on pay day, so every 2 weeks works best for us.

Our brainstorming sheet looks like this:

If you want to download this template: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1L4kg0aLWKcf5QT-0PQZ7_L_ZEJ8DwjuS/view?usp=sharing

If one of us wants it, we usually throw it on the schedule. This helps us both branch out and make sure we have some variety within the weeks. We also keep a few of these filled out sheets on our bulletin board. This helps if we are struggling to come up with a meal to add to the list, we go back to some favorites we’ve had in the past. We also use Pinterest a lot! Trying to expand the healthy options we are willing to try.

Next I fill out the editable template to take to the store. This could be typed on the computer and pulled up on your phone when you get to the store. We have also printed it out or just wrote it on a piece of paper, using the same format.

For the meals above, this is what our grocery list tends to look like:

If you want to download this template: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FNhh8TV0GMJb8xDDUn8qO2O5M1XPe3mU/view?usp=sharing

We make sure we have a good idea of what we already have in the house and what we need to pick up. Now it’s pretty important to have a good idea of what you will need in order to make all 14 dinners you put on your brainstorming sheet. Also keep in mind, if you have a lot of fresh ingredients like fruit or vegetables, you may have to plan a trip weekly to pick up these items. We try to stick to the list of dinners when we make our grocery list. Then we add a few lunch items and a few snack items. We don’t plan these daily because life happens and that seems like a waste of time. But you could use a very similar template to plan breakfast, lunch, and snacks as well.

Now the reason behind the way this list is organized, it makes for the fastest in and out trip to the store. There is no wondering if you need to wander down an aisle. You have it all laid out almost aisle for aisle with what you need. You have strategized this list to limit the number of items you throw in the cart. If you don’t need cookies and popcorn, you stay away from that aisle and carry on to the pasta and vegetables.

It’s important to note, sticking to the list does require a fair amount of will power. But if you are anything like us, you have such a desire to not spend hours walking around the store, it’s worth it. Also, it’s important to stick to the list in order to make all 14 meals you have planned. Getting all of these ingredients ahead of time has helped us limit the nights eating out and extra trips to the store throughout the week.

Anyways, if you find these lists to be helpful, share with your friends! Just trying to make everyone’s weekly chores a little more efficient.

If you’re looking for my connection to behavior analysis within this topic, I may have stretched on this one. But honestly, I see this as a positive reinforcement strategy. By adding in a tool for organization within grocery shopping, we are increasing the probability of people grocery shopping. But also increasing the probability of individuals sticking to their established meal plans for the week and decreasing the number of times an individual may eat out in a week. I haven’t thought in-depth about the connection here. But I think there are a variety of ways to connect the principles of behavior analysis to our everyday routines such as meal planning and grocery shopping.