Grocery Tips for the Busy Person

Grocery shopping is its own challenge. When you have a lot of people to care for, or just a lot going on, it can seem like a downright nightmare.

If you’re in the middle of a health and fitness journey, you are focusing on adjusting certain dietary habits (at least at some point). If you aren’t sure where to start, and if you aren’t sure about what to do, I am going to share something we do in our house. It seems to make things easier for anyone who cooks, as well as encourages us to stay on track while enjoying what we eat.

THE PREPARING —
When my husband and I are organizing meals for the week, we try to find meals that have most of the same ingredients to avoid buying too many groceries. Then, we decide which meals are cooked, take out, and leftovers. I like to find one different recipe per week to ‘spice it up’' because honestly, I can often eat the same thing over and over, lol.

Here is an example - one week, we may want tacos, paninis, spaghetti and meat sauce, chicken and salad, Friday pizza, and burgers. As you can see, a lot of these meals can use ground meat and chicken. The pizza is take out or from the frozen section of the grocery store. The ‘extras’ like seasonings or toppings can be doubled us, also (i.e. tomatoes for paninis and tacos; lettuce for paninis, taco garnish, and salad, etc).

After we decide the meals, I make the grocery list:
Ground Beef (buy in bulk or defrost the 1 lb bags I will weigh and freeze)
Rotisserie Chickens (Costco)
Mediterranean Salad bag (Costco)
Chipotle Ranch salad bag (Costco)
Grape tomatoes
Cheese (if we need it)
Burger buns (if we don’t have any)
Avocados
SMALL head of lettuce for sandwiches, taco garnish, and if I want a different salad from the pre-made bags I buy

Obviously, if I need more seasoning for tacos or other things, I will add those to the list. But, this is the main stuff I need. Then, we add the fruits we want for the week, if we need certain school snacks or foods, etc. That list is usually:
Fruit - bananas, berries, apples, and ‘a fave’ (this week, it was mangoes for me)
Asparagus
Bell peppers
One small onion
Potatoes (if I’m out)
Rice (if I’m out)
Animal crackers (school)
Applesauce (school thing)

THEN, WE SHOP —
All right… some weeks I am able to go to the stores. Other weeks, I will utilize Instacart via pick up or delivery between my training sessions. I will always have a snack before I go to the grocery store because I will buy something to eat while I am shopping if I don’t. I know it sounds crazy, but some days I don’t feel hungry until later if we eat late. Other days, I can eat my arm by 10 am even after having breakfast. It just depends.

Once we do the shopping, we take the items home and put them away. If I have ground meat, I will weigh it and package it in to put into the freezer until it is going to be used. The way I like to package the meat is:
1. Grab several quart-size Ziploc bags and open them.
2. Have a Sharpie ready on hand.
3. Grab a bowl or plate I will then put in the dishwasher.
4. Portion out 1 lb bags of ground meat on the plate to then transfer to the Ziploc bag.
5. FLATTEN THE GROUND BEEF IN THE ZIPLOC BAG.
6. Get the last of the air out of the Ziploc bag.
7. Place in the freezer.

PRO TIP - if you flatten the ground meat in the Ziploc bag, defrost time for later use is so minimal. I am so glad I learned that trick from the internet many eons ago.

NEXT, WE PLAN AND PREP —
Some weeks, I will prep a couple days worth of food on a Sunday, such as the meat or the chopped veggies/fruits. This way, I can have those specific meals a couple nights in a row and hardly worry about prep if I train later. Since Lucien started a new job the week of September 2, this is a bigger must than it has ever been. If I am not able to prep that way, I will prep those things at breakfast or my midday lunch break. IT DEPENDS ON MY SCHEDULE, so make sure you are mindful of YOUR schedule. We are all different with different obligations.

If I am having spaghetti one night but tacos another night, I will defrost 3 lb of meat - 1 lb for tacos, 2 lb for spaghetti sauce. I will make the spaghetti sauce in one pan and the taco meat in the other pan. Once those are cooked and cooled, I will put them in the fridge and label them (though in our house, we can tell the difference between taco meat and spaghetti meat sauce, lol). I am starting a new thing where I write the date on the lid in a dry erase marker, so we don’t have to worry about spoiled food or guess if something is spoiled. This was Lucien’s idea and I am glad he made me do this, lol.

If I have leftover chicken or meats, I will cook those for lunches, too. This is where the salad bags come into play. My husband and I are so boring with lunch, but we like our midday salads. They are easy to prep and very filling.

LAST, WE EAT.
I know… obviously, haha.

If you have ANY questions about what I shared, please let me know. I want to be as helpful as possible for any of you!

— Ashley
9/8/24