Today more than ever we want to reduce our trips to the grocery store. Ensuring that you get everything you need in 1 trip is doable with a simple technique. 

I have been teaching cooking classes for almost 20 years; for the last 7-8 years, these classes have been held in my own kitchen!

  There is a ton of shopping and gathering involved in holding cooking classes.  In an effort to save time and money, I developed a simple technique that I think can help you too!

Just follow these simple steps!

PREPARE

-Assemble all the recipes you will make for the week.

-Make a list of food items your family will eat that do not require a recipe, such as cereal, bacon and eggs, sandwiches…

-Set up your grocery shopping list on a lined sheet of paper, with subheadings like the one you see pictured below.

LEFT

Dairy

Pantry

CENTER

Personal

Frozen

 RIGHT

Produce

Meat

Bread

-Go to the kitchen.

-Go through each recipe line by line, adding all needed ingredients to the list.  Check your refrigerator, freezer and pantry as you go, to be sure you are not adding things you already have. If a recipe calls for 1 stick of butter, put 1 tally mark by butter.  If the recipe calls for 4 eggs, write the number 4 in the margin by eggs and keep adding ingredients.

-Now, go through the list of regular food items you will eat.  Check your stock before you add the items to the list. Remember to check staples like flour, milk and sugar.

-Add personal items to the list like cleaning supplies and foil, toothpaste and trash bags.

SHOPPING

-Arrive at the store and head straight to the back to DAIRY, next PANTRY, then BREADS, on to FROZEN FOODS, MEATS, and last PRODUCE.  Be sure to mark everything off as you go. Of course each store has its own floor plan, so as you arrive at each section, you can quickly access that section of your list and add only what is needed to your cart.

I know this is a stressful time for most people, I hope this will help you get in and out of the grocery store with ease AND everything you need!

Love y’all!