Shopping Shortcuts |
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Do you whisk into the supermarket each
day to buy a few items, or do you stock up during one major weekly
shopping trip? Frequent trips to the market, coupled with slow service
and long lines at the checkout counter, can chip away at your valuable
free time — time you would probably rather spend doing something you
enjoy. You can cut down on the amount of time you
spend doing the grocery shopping if you plan all your meals
in advance, make a shopping list, and shop only once a week. You may
still have to stop off once during the week for perishable items, but
all in all, you should spend less time at the supermarket. Planning a week of meals isn't easy, but it's worth
the effort and it eliminates last-minute confusion over what to
prepare. Write down menu items for each day on a sheet of paper or in a
weekly diary. If you need some inspiration, go through your favorite
cookbooks or your own recipe collection and select dishes you might
want to serve. Be sure to save these menus to use again another time. In addition to planning meals ahead, you might want
to attach a list of frequently used staples to your pantry or
refrigerator door. As you begin to run low on an item, circle it on
your fist, and add new items when necessary. To help speed your grocery shopping, organize your
weekly shopping list by categories that correspond to the setup of the
aisles at your favorite supermarket. If you would rather not make a
specific list, try writing a general list that is broken down into
categories and quantities (for example: fruit-5 varieties; cheeses-2
hard, I soft; vegetables-3 fresh, 1 frozen). And if you're a coupon
clipper, this is the time to sort through and organize your coupons,
not when you're at the checkout counter. Now, with list in hand, you're ready for your weekly
trip to the supermarket. Once you are there, remember to purchase
frozen foods last and ask the cashier to pack them together in one bag.
This will keep them colder longer. If there is still room in the bag,
add refrigerated items; the frozen foods A help keep them cold. Some
people keep an insulated cooler in the trunk of the car for
transporting frozen foods, particularly in hot weather. To save time and energy when you return home, unpack
all the groceries at the same time and arrange them on your counter.
Then you will only need to open the refrigerator and freezer doors once
to put items away. (Be sure to put frozen items away first to avoid
partial thawing of foods.) When you put groceries away in your pantry, group similar items
together so they will be easier to find when you need them. For
example, keep canned fruits in one area, canned vegetables in another,
baking needs in still another, and so on. If you're organized when
putting things away, you will save yourself a great deal of time when
you need to find an ingredient. And if children are helping you put
away the groceries, label the shelves with a general description of
what goes there. A picture of the food A aid small children, who love
to help when they can. |
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