5 Ways to Make Grocery Shopping Easier

Grocery shopping can be time-consuming and take up a part of your day that it doesn’t necessarily need to. Although technology has changed at a rapid pace around us, many people still do their grocery shopping in the traditional way. With all of the technological advancements and innovations, grocery shopping can be done quicker and with convenience. Rather than checking off a task on your to-do list, you can make grocery shopping a fun experience.

In this article, we’ll break down 5 ways that you can make your grocery shopping easier. Each of these tips leverages technology in new ways to make grocery shopping faster and more convenient. Some of these tips you will be familiar with, and may already use to streamline other areas of your life. The important thing to keep in mind is that there are many great tools out there you can use to make technology work for you. Hopefully, this article will encourage you to find innovative ways to use technology to make your grocery shopping easier and more efficient, as it will soon be the future of grocery retail.

Shop Online

More and more people are getting their grocery shopping done online. What is online grocery shopping? It is a convenient way to shop and only takes a click of the button, mirroring a process you are already familiar with. Online grocery shopping is a great way for busy families and individuals to save time by eliminating the need to walk through aisles picking out your food. Instead, let a store associate do the shopping trip legwork, and you’ll simply have to pick up your order when it’s ready if you are choosing in-store pickup, also called BOPIS, or buy online pickup in store.

Be sure to choose a retailer that utilizes refrigerated lockers for the most convenient, efficient process possible. This type of shopping is referred to as BOPIL, or buy online pickup in locker. Read more in our related blog article about BOPIS vs BOPIL and the benefits of retail parcel lockers for groceries.

Get it Delivered

Grocery delivery is steadily rising in popularity, and for good reason. As the technology supporting grocery delivery has matured it has become a more cost-effective and efficient way to get your weekly groceries. As carriers and retailers find efficiencies in last-mile logistics, grocery delivery will continue to become more widespread and commonplace. If you live in an apartment community that has refrigerated multifamily parcel lockers, grocery delivery is even more convenient as the lockers keep your perishables fresh and allow you to pick them whenever you’d like.

Recurring Subscriptions

If you find yourself going to the grocery store every week to buy the same staple items and ingredients, for example, fruits and vegetables, consider signing up for a subscription service. Subscription services are an excellent way to replenish the grocery items you use most. You’ll always have a firm idea of what your grocery inventory looks like, and can use your supermarket trips to create unique meals out of what you already have on hand. Additionally, many retailers that offer recurring subscriptions give you a discount on the pantry items you receive, so this approach can result in cost savings over time. Best of all, recurring subscriptions allow you to cross one more worry off of your to-do list.

Meal Prep Kits

If you are wondering how to make grocery shopping easier, one way that many people are exploring is the use of meal prep kits. Meal prep kits are a kit that contains everything you need to make a meal, minus the oil and spices. Some meal prep kits have instructions and recipes that go along with them, helping even novices in the kitchen gain familiarity with cooking techniques and dishes that are simple to prepare. Even if you don’t like the idea of meal prep kits for every meal, consider replacing one meal a week with one drawn from a meal prep kit. You might be surprised at how much time this saves you. Don’t worry if you have special dietary needs, there are a number of meal prep kits out there that cater to everyone from vegans to carnivores.

Make a Plan

This is an old and timeless tip on how to grocery shop efficiently, but it doesn’t make it any less relevant. Take the time at the beginning of the week to make a plan, grocery budget, and grocery list for your weekly meals. It can seem daunting at first, but over time will become second nature to plan your meals. There are a number of different meal planning apps available, both free and paid, that can streamline the process even further. The added benefit of these is that once you put in a specific meal, it’s quick and easy to add it again to a subsequent week. Some shopping apps allow you to add profiles for family members, including foods they like to eat or foods they are allergic too. This way you’ll know that the meal plans you create don’t conflict with anyone’s diet.

Conclusion

Grocery shopping doesn’t have to be the hassle it was in the past. Leverage technology to make your grocery shopping more streamlined and more efficient. Online grocery shopping has come a long way in the past few years, and with options like BOPIL your perishables will remain fresh until it’s convenient for you to pick up. If you feel like you are overwhelmed with your weekly grocery shopping, create a meal plan at the beginning of the week and consider augmenting your groceries with meal prep kits for your busiest days. Lastly, use recurring subscriptions to replenish staple items in your household. This makes your grocery shopping list shorter, more manageable, and saves you time and money in the long run.