The next step in the process when shopping for healthy foods is to create a grocery list. If you used a paid meal plan service they will usually include a weekly grocery list for your convenience. Some services, like Whole Foods meal plans, will give you the option to add the ingredients for each recipe to a centralized grocery list.
If you created your own meal plan using a collection of recipes, creating the grocery list will be the biggest challenge. As shown in the intro video, I like to use Evernote to create my grocery lists. It’s fast, easy, portable, and it keeps me organized. You can use whatever tool will be most useful for you: pen and paper, or any sort of electronic note taking application.
Start by gathering all of your recipes. Take two at a time and compare the ingredient lists. Add the ingredients to the grocery list, making note of duplicated ingredients or ingredients you may need to purchase more than 1 of. This is a great time to check your inventory, too – no sense buying something you may already have. Repeat with all of the recipes, adding ingredients to the list as you go. This is demonstrated below:
Lastly, you should organize the ingredients on the list into the order you will find them in the store. You saw this in the video, but I want to emphasize this step because it is the most important for organization and time saving. If you group like ingredients together, your time in the store will be much faster and much less stressful.
Task:
Create a grocery list using two separate recipes. Try using a few different tools (hi-tech and low-tech) to see what works best for you. Once you have decided, participate in the poll below.
Intro to Health and Wellness 