By the end of this email you should know everything you need to have in your shopping cart to be successful this week with your nutritional habits.
It’s crazy, but even though you have most likely grocery shopped weekly your entire adult life, most people have no clue what they are doing at the grocery store!
Those people go around the store aisle by aisle randomly grabbing things that look good, or that they might want to make for dinner that week. There’s no game plan, there’s no math, there’s no rhyme or reason.
“That wastes money and fattens your waist!” -me
Today I’m going to try and break it down into the simplest steps and create the most clarity possible that you can dominate the aisles with confidence 🙂
#1) know what you need
This one sounds so basic, but it’s where most people go wrong. If you don’t know what you need, how can you know what to buy?
You need to either pull out a sheet of notebook paper, open up the notes section on your phone, or open up your meal diary in MyFitnessPal and start to put together a daily plan.
#2) Figure out breakfast (it’s the easiest)-
For me I keep it simple and do a 2 scoop protein shake every day. But 2x weekly I leave the house early and gone from the house for a while so I bring a pre-made shake that I can throw away afterwards. I also bring a piece of fruit with me on those days to give me a little more energy.
add to list:
==> 10 scoops Rule 1 WPI chocolate protein powder
==> 2 ready to drink Pure Protein or Equate chocolate 32g shake
==> 2 pieces of fruit
#3) Next figure out lunch & dinner portions (leftovers can be used for lunch)-
This step needs to start with figuring out your portion sizes. I eat about 10 ounces of meat for lunch and dinner, 1 cup or 8 ounces of carbs for lunch and 1/2 cup or 4 ounces of carbs for dinner, 1 cup of vegetables at lunch and 1 cup of vegetables plus a salad for dinner.
So that’s 20 ounces of meat and 12 ounces of carbs, 2 cups of vegetables and 1 salad per day.
Multiply x 7 days and you will need…
add to list:
==> 140 ounces of meat
==> 84 ounces of carbs
==> 14 cups of vegetables
==> 7 bagged salads (we pay for convenience, but you can make your own)
#4) Check your schedule for breakfasts, lunches or dinners away from home-
If you look ahead in your schedule and see you have appointments that week that will keep you from eating your prepped food, take it off of your list above.
remove from list:
==> subtract any missed meals from your list
#5) Do steps #1-4 for everyone in your family-
The quickest way to sabotage a meal plan is to forget to cook enough food for everyone else in your household. Don’t skip this step!
add to list:
==> family quantities to list
#6) You now have 2 choices before shopping-
Some people are very calculated and want to plan out every single meal and ingredient. If that is you, start taking the quantities of meat, carbs and vegetables and figuring out what meals you will cook each day. This will also help you figure out which days you will have leftovers for the following days lunch.
If you are like Shelly and I we don’t like to lock ourselves into a daily menu. We make what we are craving, with what we have and mix things up with different seasonings. We are pretty simple when it comes to meals so we typically grill chicken, turn ground beef into burger patties or browned to add to rice, and we nuke or bake our vegetables. For us this leads to less food waste, but it also takes more time since we cook meal by meal.
#7) Look for sales-
Whether you are a coupon clipper or just pay attention to the sales when you’re at your favorite store, sales are a great way to stock up and save. Your weekly protein, carb and veggie totals you calculated above will be the same EVERY week now. So if you see a deal on something you like, buy it now and take it off next week’s shopping list!
remove from list:
==> if you buy extra quantities, subtract from next week’s list
#8) Divide, separate and freeze-
When you get home from the grocery store don’t just put everything away. You now know how much food you and your family needs to eat each day, so individually bag up each day or person’s portions. This will make it super quick and simple to grab and go out of the fridge or freezer when you’re ready to meal prep during the week.
#9) This is your rough draft-
The list above is only an initial guess. Week by week and tweak by tweak you will MASTER your grocery shopping list just by paying attention to what is left in your fridge each week. If you notice you didn’t eat 15 ounces of protein and 10 ounces of carbs then take them off of this week’s grocery list! If the same or more quantities are remaining again next week, remove that amount from the list again.
#10) You’ll get better with consistency-
By eating the same quantities of food each week, you are essentially putting yourself on a calculated caloric plan. This means that if after 4 weeks you haven’t lost any weight, you can adjust your weekly totals.
If you lost weight during the 4 weeks and didn’t have to track macros, count calories or feel like you were on a diet, YOU WIN!
I think today’s email is a home run if I can give myself a pat on the back 🙂
I’d love to hear your feedback and what you think is going to help you most.
If you are registered for the 2020 Fitness Project you’ll be receiving your meal plan this afternoon so you can use the strategy above to plan and customize your grocery list!!!
Committed to your fitness success,
Derek Kuryliw
