How to not grocery shop like an asshole

Hey

We need to talk about how you food shop. Not saying you are doing anything wrong with your food shopping but I wanted to share some tips and tricks to help you shop even better, eat healthier and have less friction to make more nutritious food choices

So, I know you are going to be thinking “ Mike I shop pretty well, I get veggies every week and during the summer I eat a lot of fruit”. Again, I never said you were bad at food shopping! I wanted to share some knowledge with you this morning to make your next trip even better

Step 1:

DO NOT GO TO THE STORE HUNGRY

There is nothing more dangerous than a hungry person in a food store. You have a better chance of sticking to your list blackout drunk than you do hungry. That is not an exaggeration, i’ve seen it done before.

Step 2:

Write out your list, in the order of where everything is placed!

If you don’t already do this I am judging you because that is unorganized and having to walk the store multiple times stresses me tf out.

Now that we have the obvious steps out of the way lets break this down some more. I personally like to break my shopping down into the same buckets that I plan my meals into:

Fruits

Veggies

Proteins

Carbs

These are some broad buckets but keeping it simple is the key to success. This list is also in order of how I shop at my grocery store

Fruits/veggies

• What fruit do I want this week? is there anything special in season?

• Is there any fruit on sale this week?

• How do I want to switch my veggies up this week?

The produce aisle is the cheapest and most fun section of the store. You get to see all the different fruits and veggies that are in season, you can see what looks good, and what doesn’t, and you get to see if there is anything new. ( I used to work in produce and my nerd side is coming out)

All kidding aside getting the right amount of produce is hard when you first start. You always buy that bag of spinach that you swear you are going to eat but throw out at the end of the week. Next week is different tho!! (it’s not). When it comes to produce I like to have 2-3 staple items that I get every week and then 1-2 fun/different items. This ensures I actually eat what I bought and didn’t over buy. It also allows me to try new things and add in variety each week.

Protein:

• What can I find that is easy to cook?

• Is anything pre-marinated?

• Can I buy in bulk and freeze what I don’t need right away?

These 3 questions will save you time, money, and effort, in no particular order. Finding easy proteins to cook is clearly the biggest need for the trip. You don’t want to have a long day at work and then come home to nothing to cook or no protein options. That just leads to a “girl dinner”.

Carbs:

• what can I have with my protein options?

• What snacks do I want?

• Do I want something special/different this week?

  • for context: I have been on a big cereal kick so switching the cereal option each week is my something special/different

Carbs are probably the easiest option here for you and for many. You can eat plenty of carbs in a day and not even think twice about it. This is why I put them last on my list. The store has plenty of different carb options and trying to tackle this first will leave you with too many snacks than you need. Going at this last, with a cart full of produce and protein, tricks your brain into really thinking if you need two types of chips this week vs just 1.

I hope this helped!

Dont forget to call your mom

-Mike