This Tip Will Cut Your Grocery Shopping Time in Half

When you’re a kid, your parents are bound to drag you to a least a few places you hate. On the top of my least-favorite-places shortlist was Syms Clothing, a now-defunct clothing store that made me feel like we were shopping in a prison. The way I remember it, it was a windowless store with black walls, blinding florescent lights, and communal dressing rooms. I mean, just look at their slogan below. It doesn’t exactly scream kid-friendly fun.

But, not much further down the list was the grocery store. It’s not that going to the grocery store itself was so bad. That’s where Peanut Butter Cap’n Crunch and Maruchan ramen and mashed potato flakes came from! (I did not eat particularly healthy growing up.) It was more that each time we went it took forever.

So, as an adult, I’ve come up with a system that makes it profoundly faster. My system is very simple. And, perhaps you’re already doing it.

The system: Organize your list based on the layout of the store.

If you’re going to multiple stores, write multiple, organized lists. You’ve been grocery shopping enough to have an idea where most things are. If not, do some reconnaissance on your next trip! If you write shopping lists like most of us do, this will likely require you to write out one list and then write out a new, organized list.

For example, if your first list is (vegetarians, vegans, and paleo folks, bear with me):
– Tomatoes
– Oats
– Ground turkey
– Greek yogurt
– Tuna
– Zucchini
– Parsley
– Eggs
– Vanilla Extract
– Apples
– Soy Sauce
– Blueberries

Here’s the new, reorganized list:
– Tomatoes
– Zucchini
– Parsley
– Apples
– Blueberries
– Tuna
– Ground turkey
– Eggs
– Greek yogurt
– Soy Sauce
– Oats
– Vanilla extract

No more going from the dairy aisle to the vegetables to the meats to the middle aisles to the fruit to the…you get the point. You just make one, linear path through the store and you’re done.