So many reports, so little time. I believe that investing a little time in a weekly plan will actually save time in the end. In fact, I believe that the time I spend on Sunday afternoon or evening planning my week’s worth of meals saves me time in many ways throughout my week.
1. Time savings inside the grocery store. Instead of looking, browsing, I’m in and out because I know the plan and I know exactly what I want. My shopping list is organized in “store order,” saving even more time.
2. Time savings each day because I don’t have to run out and pick up items that I may not have on hand or forgot to purchase ahead. I used to buy in bulk but invariably I would need some random ingredients that would send back to the store at dinnertime.
3. Time savings in the kitchen cooking because I am able to coordinate my cooking tasks. Like if I know that I need ground beef for tacos and spaghetti, I can brown all the meat and freeze or refrigerate for later use. If I’m cutting vegetables I can prep for future use as well.
4. Time savings before dinner every day because I don’t have to scurry around at the last minute trying to figure out what I can make out of what I have on hand. Searching through cookbooks or online recipe databases for a recipe that works with my inventory.
Studies show that a grocery list will save you as much as 34% but I’m not sure anyone has documented the time-savings. Last week I blogged about my Monday morning shopping trip taking 24 minutes. That has to tell you something! Grocery shopping can be an all day event or it can be an hour activity – you make the call!
If I can do it, you can do it, too!