How to Hit the Grocery Store Like You Are Robbing A Bank. . .

How to Hit the Grocery Store Like You Are Robbing A Bank. . .

Thanks Design Sponge!

Confession time guys. I hate grocery shopping. It's a strange subconscious hatred that has only been recently brought to face the light of day. I was telling my coworker "I'm grumpy today" and she said "Are you going grocery shopping after work? You are always grumpy on those days"

It was like a slap in the face.

You know, I am always grumpy when I grocery shop!
Perhaps it's the hordes of shopping carts bumbling & fumbling along the aisles.
Or the people who think that they, by some predestination, deserve to be in line in front of you & will fight you for their god-given right.
Screaming children.
Four words: Old people, self checkout. 

Perhaps worst of all is my own bad habit; not pre-planning a strategic attack. Roaming aimlessly looking for a vegetable side-dish  I could possibly make this week.


So what's a girl to do when grocery shopping has her down?
Hit the grocery store like you are robbing a bank. Also known as the in-n-out method. Or, "groceries, get in my bag or you're swimmin with the fishies tonight"
Any of those titles will do.
How do you manage the old in-n-out? I am here to share a few that have been working for me lately. . .

1. Browse recipes & get inspired!
So I've been getting this advice for awhile now but it was so hard to follow: plan out a weeks meals before going to the store. Ugh! The idea of such monotony made me crazy! But you know what. It's not so bad if you browse a great recipe site & just wait for inspiration to hit you. Instead of feeling like a chore weekly meal planning feels fun.

2. Choose an ingredient of the week
In keeping with the planning of weekly meals, I have been choosing an "ingredient of the week" which I use in multiple dishes those 7 days. I started doing this to limit the food we waste. I'm sure many of you are familiar with the terrible twos. This is the conundrum that couples face when trying to cook. With only two of us the bf & I often waste alot of food that goes bad before I can use it. By choosing an ingredient I will use multiple times I decrease the waste! Example. Ingredient last week was cabbage which I made an apple slaw with to be a salmon burger topping and also used in mahi mahi tacos & used the last bit up in a salad.

3.  Make a List
I am not a natural list maker or user. I prefer the excitement of self-induced chaos. But grocery stores have enough chaos already so I use this list I found here. How cool is it?! Somehow its coolness makes it a little easier for me to put time into listing things . . .lol

4. Divide and Conquer
So I live with he who knows not how to shop. I think one of the bf's worst nightmares would be to be abandoned in a grocery store with a list a mile long. While he might be an engineering genius, getting things from shelves into a cart baffles him. He thinks this pretend confusion will get him out of helping. Alas, I have come up with a solution! Using the printable list I shared above. I make a copy for him & a copy for me.
I then give him the left two columns & I take the right. We each get the ingredients on our sides. lol I know its so crazy right? But it makes it just fly by.

So there's my really long boring tips on how to hit the grocery store like you are robbing a bank.  I thought I would share because they have helped me a lot, in reducing my waste, saving some cash & actually becoming healthier by having to think things through! :)