Meal Planning
and Shopping for Food

As with every other aspect of running a household and raising great kids, meal planning and shopping for food requires organization and efficiency. To maximize your time with your family, it is smart to reduce unnecessary actions that are time consuming. The more efficient you can be with the mundane tasks, the more time you will have left to spend doing the things you like.

One of the most time consuming jobs is the planning, shopping for and preparation of meals. Because of this, many parents today opt for packaged, processed foods, trips to the local fast food restaurant, or simply skip mealtime altogether. Please don’t do this.

With a little organization you can cut your grocery shopping time to an hour a week. That’s right, with careful planning you only need to shop for food once a week. Pick a day to shop that works for you and stick to it. Weekends are usually best because you have more time to prepare the food for the upcoming week. Here’s how:

Step One: Planning

Sit down with your favorite cookbooks, food magazines, and loose recipes you have clipped from newspapers or received from friends (keep a file with interesting recipes you want to try.) Choose and write down those that you want to make for the next week.

Breakfast foods are probably composed of staples you buy each week such as milk, cereal, orange juice, and bread. Lunch foods are likely whatever you pack for your kid’s lunchbox, such as sandwiches, fruit, etc. Don’t forget after-school snacks. Then plan 5 or 6 dinners, such as salmon and broccoli and rice for Monday, roast chicken with red potatoes and green beans for Tuesday, and so on. Literally write down everything you think you and your family will eat for the upcoming week.

It’s okay to leave a day or two open for pizza night, or going out to dinner, or for unexpected things that might crop up. Just because you have a plan doesn’t mean you can’t be flexible!

Step Two: Make a List

Once you have an idea what you are going to make, check in your kitchen pantry, refrigerator and freezer to see which ingredients you already have and which you will need to purchase. For example, using the list you have written, you may find that there is no salmon, so you write that down on your shopping list. You may find that you have enough rice in the pantry to cover both Monday’s and Thursday’s meals, so you’re okay there. You also find red potatoes but no green beans, so you write green beans on the list.

Don’t forget the spices, sauces and condiments for each dish. For instance, a vegetable curry would probably require cumin, turmeric, etc. Do you have all the spices needed? Same with onions and garlic for the roast chicken. Need them both? Write them down. Keep going until you have a thorough list of everything you will need to prepare the meals you have chosen for the week. Then take spin around the rest of the house and note any items that are running low, like soap, bathroom tissue, etc. Add these items too. Now you are ready for step three.

Step Three: Prepare and Shop

As much as possible, try to shop at one store. One store, one hour, once a week. That’s the goal. Occasionally, it is necessary to shop at different stores to get the selection and prices you want. I, for instance, have been known to shop at the large warehouse stores for bulk items like paper goods and seasonal goods. Once in awhile I shop at larger chain supermarkets for specials and low cost items. But mostly, I shop at my local organic market, especially for all my produce and meats. (For information on why you will want to eat organic food, click here.)

With careful planning, you can minimize your trips to the bulk stores to once a month and use the time you used to spend running all over town to do something different, like taking the kids to the neighborhood Farmer’s Market or ethnic market for a special treat.

Now that you know which store you will go to, it’s time to organize your list. It may sound like a silly step, but it is a real time saver in the end. Here’s how it works. Picture the store you shop at. If you go there often, you will have memorized where things are. For example, Produce is in aisle #1, Dairy is in aisle #2, Canned goods are in aisle #3, etc. Now, write your grocery list in vertical columns that correspond to the way your store is laid out. The first column on the list (which corresponds to aisle #1) will have all your produce needs written there, like onions, garlic, and green beans. The next column (aisle #2) will have dairy products like milk, cheese, and yogurt for the kid’s lunch.

Start on one side of the store and work your way up and down each aisle. As you do, you will find that every item you need is clearly listed for that particular aisle and you won’t have to backtrack or forget anything. I handy tip I use is to leave the produce aisle for last, because that way delicate items like lettuce will not be at the bottom of the cart, crushed under canned goods.

Step Four: Use the Experience to Connect with Your Kids

Use your weekly grocery shopping time as an opportunity to spend some quality, educational time with your kids. Show them how to tell if a melon is ripe, how to judge whether an apple is crisp or mealy inside. Instruct them to read labels and to know which ingredients contribute to poor health and should be avoided. Play food games like “Find and name all the red vegetables”, and make the shopping experience interesting and fun. Take the time to talk, teach, and connect with your kids. Then go home and cook together!

You will find, after careful meal planning and efficiently shopping for food once a week, you will have so much more time to spend doing other things you like to do. And your family will enjoy the nutritious, delicious meals that you never had the time or energy to prepare before!

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