Failure to Plan is Planning to Fail

I'm not sure who first said "failure to plan is planning to fail" but I find this rings true with many things. Grocery shopping is one of them. I don't know about you but I find that if I can manage to go grocery shopping at a "big" store once or twice a month and then hit the local store once a week for essentials (bread, milk, bananas, etc) I'm happy. If I don't do this then I spend a LOT of time going grocery shopping and a LOT of extra money. I like how saving time and saving money tend to go hand in hand.

This is how I save time grocery shopping:

~ Plan out at least 5 meals a week and have a few (super quick and "floating" meals)

~WRITE DOWN your meals!! You don't have to assign them to certain days, but you need to write down the list so you know what you have ingredients to make.

~AFTER you plan out your meals and ingredients go to coupon.com and print off any coupons you can use. (I find if I print off coupons first I print off a lot I don't need and that wastes time and ink).

~ORGANIZE your list the way the grocery store is set up. Thank YOU hubby for this suggestion. This has been by far the largest time saving tip for me when grocery shopping.

Meal planning sound like a time consuming task but in the long run it saves you time and money. You already know what meals you have ingredients to make so you aren't rummaging through your cupboards at 5pm wondering what to make. (I can't tell you how many times that has happened to me when I haven't planned ahead!!!) Finally, you have a list of what you need to buy at the grocery store, so you don't have to go back and forth in the store looking for things.