How to Save Time at the Grocery Store for Meal Prepping

These helpful tips will show you How to Save Time at the Grocery Store for Meal Prepping. Now you can save time in the kitchen and shopping for groceries!

I don’t know about you, but for me it seems like there are never enough hours in the day. The last thing I want to do is spend lots of time grocery shopping. It’s why I usually do my grocery shopping in the middle of the night. Now, I have teenagers and a husband that works late, so for me it’s no problem to do this midnight grocery store run.

There are times that I need to go during the day and since I do meal prepping, I know that time is very important to me. If you do meal prepping as well, you may be looking for more ways to cut down on the amount of time it takes to grocery shop. Here are some tips on How to Save Time at the Grocery Store for Meal Prepping.

How to Save Time at the Grocery Store for Meal Prepping

Shop where you can buy in bulk. Bulk shopping is one of the best ways to save money, but it also saves you time since you don’t have to keep going back to the store to get more as often. Most bulk goods like rice, beans, and oats that can be used in batch cooking have a super long shelf life. Since you get a good stock of them going, you don’t even have to think of them much on your grocery list.

Make a list. There is no doubt about it, a grocery list will save you time. Making one is easy when you meal prep because you already know what you will be making. Save yourself time and stress and make one before you hot the store so you can get in and get out. Additionally, making a list helps ensure you won’t forget anything that would require you to waste even more time making a second trip later.

Categorize your list before you get to the store. It takes just a little bit of extra time at home, but it saves me so much more at the store to put my groceries into categories like pantry, dairy/eggs, meat, and bakery before I go. This cuts down on me having to go back to aisles to grab stuff I forgot on my list. I really can just about cut my time in half by taking the extra 5 minutes at home to do this before I go.

Shop alone if you can. Bringing the kids and spouse in tow really can make your grocery bill add up and it also slows down how fast you can go in the store. If you are able to, leave everyone at home and go to the store alone. You will get through it much quicker if you do.

Use apps to check sales before you go. I like to use apps like ibotta to check for rebates that are available on the items I am buying. What is great about apps is, most of them not only allow you to make a list with the quick tap of a finger. They also put your list into categories as well so when you are in that part of the store, you can make sure you grab that item.

Chose a non-peak time. I like to go in the middle of the night, but for most people, this is not reasonable. The good news is, there are other non-peak times to go and for most areas, this includes mid-morning (when the kids are in school) on Mondays and Tuesdays and early morning any day. Skip weekends, the very beginning of any month, and if you can around the 15th. These are typically high traffic days at most stores.