Go grocery shopping, broken into 6 small steps
Without a list, grocery shopping becomes an hour of wandering, an expensive cart, and getting home to realize you forgot the one thing you went for.
Ten minutes of planning at home saves a lot of time in the store, and makes it much more likely that the food actually gets cooked.
Start here · under 2 minutes
Open the fridge and take a photo.
Thirty seconds. Now you know what you have, even from the store.
The rest of the steps
- Step 2:
Pick three easy meals for the week.
Ones you've made before. Three is enough; leftovers and quick meals fill the rest.
- Step 3:
Write the ingredients you don't have.
Plus the basics that are running out: milk, bread, coffee, toilet paper.
- Step 4:
Group the list by store section.
Produce, fridge, pantry, household. You walk the store once.
- Step 5:
Go, or place the order online.
Delivery or pickup counts. It's still shopping, and it saves energy.
- Step 6:
Put away the cold things first.
Then the rest. Leave the list on the fridge so you know what the meals are.
Why this one stalls
Deciding what to eat for the week is surprisingly tiring, so you postpone the whole trip until the fridge is empty.
If you get stuck
Keep a running list on your phone and add things the moment you run out. The list builds itself during the week.
What “done” looks like
Food for three meals at home, and the basics restocked.
These steps follow the same rules as the method in our task breakdown guide: the first step is physical and takes under two minutes, and every step after it is something you can see yourself doing. Got a head full of other things too? Start with a brain dump.