I did something today that I RARELY do….I went grocery shopping without a plan, not even a short list! Those that know me well, know how much I value a meal plan and shopping list. Having both those items for the week helps me feel prepared and ready. When I don’t have a plan and a list I tend to circle the store, forget items, and leave the store without the food we actually need to prepare meals for the week. Did I plan to fail?
This is how I got into this situation:
- When I did my monthly meal plan (yes, you read that right I said “monthly”) I did not plan the last week of the month. We are going out of town for some of the week for spring break.
- My Saturday was not the day I had planned due to some unforeseen circumstances. I didn’t have time to sit down and think about the week ahead.
- I had more work to do on Sunday than a typical Sunday. Like work work, my M-F 9-5 sometimes spills over onto Sunday.
- For some reason, the partial week was really throwing my brain out of whack and I couldn’t come up with anything. I decided to just wing it.
How did I overcome this challenge?
I started in the produce section. I grabbed all our usual suspects (bananas, berries, broccoli, lettuce, apples, cucumber) then started grabbing anything else I know we enjoy (kiwi, asparagus, brussel sprouts, potatoes, peppers) to round out some fruit and veggie options for the week.
Next, I went to the cold foods and grabbed more of our usual items like half and half, yogurt and cottage cheese.
Then I proceeded to the meat department. I stood there and thought of what I could make with what I saw in front of me. Looking around it seemed like others were doing the same. Thankfully I already had Sunday planned and knew I needed to grab some chicken. As I stood there it made me think of what I had in my freezer that I could use as well. I came up with 3 meals: burgers from ground beef at home, fish from what we have in the freezer and lastly, sheet pan sausage and veggies.
After coming up with those meals I realized I needed sausage, burger buns and rice. The veggies I had already grabbed complimented those meals nicely. I circled back in the store for some items and then was ready to hit the checkout.
Failure?
At the end of the trip I realized I did not fail. Was it much more uncomfortable and unorganized than I wanted to be in the store? Absolutely! I very much enjoy having a list organized by section/order of the store and being able to get in and out efficiently. Today I did not have that but I still left the store feeling prepared to make meals I needed to make before we left for our mini vacay. I ended up with a plan after all! It did not come together as it usually does but it did come together in the end.
Over the coming weeks we will be diving into meal planning. You will learn strategies to make meal planning easier and will see some of my family favorite meals. Stay tuned!
-Lindsay
