For many of us, grocery shopping can be stressful. Aimlessly wandering up and down the aisles will often cause you to purchase items on impulse, rather than the ingredients you set out to purchase in the first place. At the end of your trip, you often leave with an overload of food you don’t really need. This can create frustration in meal preparation, leading to several unnecessary trips to the supermarket.
The professional residential cleaning experts at MOLLY MAID are convinced that with a little bit of planning, you can make grocery shopping a fun, easy and rewarding experience. MOLLY MAID suggests implementing these simple tips to help you achieve a stress-free grocery shopping experience:
1) Take a Food Inventory – The first step to stress-free shopping is knowing exactly what you have in your kitchen. Try organizing your cupboards according to food type so you can easily tell when you are running low on a particular product. You can even take a picture of your kitchen pantry and fridge so you can refer to the photo while at the supermarket.
2) Plan your Meals – Determine what type of meals you would like to make for breakfast, lunch and dinner that week. Creating a pre-planned meal schedule will help you narrow down your shopping list. If you’re eager to try something new, visit foodnetwork.ca, allrecipes.com or Pinterest.com to get some inspiration!
3) Make a List – Having a list is one of the simplest ways to avoid stress while shopping. Instead of browsing the aisles, trying to remember what you need to buy, you can simply look down at your shopping list and walk directly to the next item. Sticking to your list will not only help relieve stress, but also limit the amount of time you spend in the grocery store.
4) Have a Snack before you Go – Eating something before you go to the grocery store will help you not only avoid the snack aisle, but also avoid over purchasing. If you don’t have time to grab a snack before you leave, we suggest creating a ‘healthy snacks’ list to turn to.
5) Shake things up! Try one or two new items each trip to stay inspired in the kitchen. You can even try using traditional ingredients in new ways with new recipes.
