Strategies for Stress Free Grocery Shopping & Meal Planning

September 18, 2019

We’ve all been there, busy weeknights, after school activities, homework, school projects and errands.  How do you manage to fit it all in and still get a meal on the table?  Let’s be honest, some nights it just isn’t going to happen.  No need to beat yourself up over it either.  It’s called life, and sometimes it’s just crazy busy and we just have to be flexible.  For many of us working moms those few hours after work every day are the busiest hours of our week!

I have picked up a few tricks over the years that I want to share with you today that will hopefully make those crazy busy weeknights just a little less stressful for you.  I have a few tips and suggestions that will help you get organized so that when all heck breaks loose, you will not only have a plan A, but a plan B and plan C as well.  So no matter what comes your way, you will be better prepared to handle it which will help to reduce the stress in your life.

I never imagined that one of the biggest stressors in my life would be coming up with and preparing delicious, healthy meals that my family will eat and enjoy, every single day of my adult life!!!  Not only does it need to taste good and be nutritious, but it needs to be economical and I have to make the time to prepare it as well.  That’s a pretty tall order to fill, every single day!  It’s no wonder why we eat out more often than we know we should.

Here are the tips I’ve learned over the years to help take some of the stress out of getting dinner on the table.

You must plan ahead!

Meal planning does take some time and effort, and if you are not a planner, this step is going to be hard for you to incorporate into your routine.  I, on the other hand, am a foodie nerd that loves to pour over new recipes and try new things, so I actually enjoy planning meals in advance.  Having a plan in place takes away about 90 percent of the stress that meal planning and cooking meals entails.

Shop for a week at a time. Countless trips to the grocery store through out the week will eat up precious time and you will end up spending more than if you shop just once a week.

  1. Plan your menu based on what meats are on sale.
  2. Pick the recipes you want to make during the upcoming week.
  3. Make a shopping list.
  4. Shop for an entire week at a time.

Don’t plan for more than 4-5 meals in a week. For us, a local pizza parlor has 40% off pizza’s on Tuesdays, so we have a pizza night most Tuesdays. I like to toss together a salad to make it a tad healthier.

There will be at least one day when you just don’t have time to cook dinner or you may not have the energy after an especially grueling work day to cook a meal. Plan for having a meal out once a week. No guilt!

Use an app to save and organize all your favorite recipes.

I’m old school and hung on to my binder of printed recipes for more years than I would like to admit.  But when I stumbled upon a free app a few years ago called Pepperplate I finally went digital, and I have never looked back!  I save all my tried and true recipes onto this app and I also add recipes I find online that sound good and that I think I may want to try someday.  The app allows me to sort by categories so I can easily find any recipe in an instant.  When I am at the grocery store I can easily pull up a recipe and check to see if I may need any ingredients to make it.  It’s a great tool that I use to make my shopping list as well.

Pinterest is another place to save your recipes, but it doesn’t allow you to personalize recipes with the changes you make to them when you change them up to suit your families tastes.

Shop the sales.

Grocery stores publish their weekly ads on Wednesdays.  I recommend planning your menu by what meats are on sale for the week.  Meat is probably the most expensive food item that you will purchase for meals so it makes sense to plan your meals around what meats are on sale for the week.  

Crockpot Chicken Tacos.

When chicken breasts are on sale, I check out the chicken recipes on my Pepperplate app and put together my grocery list.  Are you looking for some tasty recipes using chicken?  Here are a few of our favorites to try. They are all kid tested and family favorites so I know they will be a hit with your family as well:

Roast beef on sale? Try these tasty recipes:

Ground beef makes it easy to get dinner on the table in a jiffy! Any one of these favorites will surely be a hit with your family:

Need a tried and true recipe for pork tenderloin? Try one of my favorites.

Sloppy Joe’s, an iconic American favorite.

Write out a menu for the week, making the meals using the most perishable items on your grocery list first.

This is kinda a no brainer but something you may not consciously think about. That way if your meal plan for an evening gets derailed, there’s no need to worry.

Have contingency plans in place for when life happens.

I have an arsenal for what I call pantry meals. They come together using mainly items that you can store in the pantry and freezer and come to the rescue when you haven’t had time to make a trip to the grocery store to stock up on fresh ingredients.

Keep the ingredients for pantry meals stocked and you will never be at a loss for dinner.

My top three favorite pantry meals?

If you are just plain out of energy, ideas and inspiration my fall back easy meal is breakfast for dinner. How about a cheesy omelette? Chop up whatever veggies you may have in the fridge and you have a quick nutritious meal. Bacon, eggs and toast with jam will always hit the spot whether its the crack of dawn or the end of a long busy day!

Don’t feel like cooking? Assemble a charcuterie board with assorted meats, cheeses and crackers. Add whatever fruits and veggies you have in the fridge and let your family nibble on what looks best to them.

Need inspiration and ideas on how to create a charcuterie board? You can read all about how to assemble one here.

With a little planning you can always have something tasty and nutritious on the table for dinner. If all fails there’s always cereal. The kids will never complain, but you can pretend I didn’t say that 😏