I LOVE the month of October, and this October was no exception. I had a great birthday weekend, a fabulous fall couples trip to Lake Geneva, insanely perfect weather…. and also a lot of work stress, illness, hectic weeks and big emotions.
I basically crawled to the finish line of October this past week.
November is the start of the holiday season (yay!) and the start of Asher’s swim season. But at least for the next few weeks, there’s a lot more white space on the calendar than there has been.
Turning the proverbial calendar page has made me feel refreshed and ready for a fresh start! It helps that I’m finally feeling fully better. After a full 5 days with no workouts (ugh), I got back to the gym this morning, complete with a new November program!
I returned a couple books at the library yesterday and came home with this little stack, found while browsing:
Hoping to keep doing some regular reading in November! I finished almost 3 books in October which is great for me.
I’m woefully behind on doing any sort of monthly recaps, and I’ve done no November/ quintile 5 planning yet.
But I got to inbox zero last night in my Gmail, so that was good at least. Oh, and tomorrow our new roof goes on! Exciting.
One thing routine-related thing I’m mulling over for November:
GROCERY SHOPPING.
You may recall I did a little overhaul on our system last year, which led me to start grocery shopping religiously every weekend, either Saturday or Sunday (instead of the random ad hoc system I’d followed for years…).
This has worked much better, on the whole. We’ve done a lot better job of meal planning and it feels nice to start the week all fully stocked.
But I also kind of hate it. The grocery stores are SO BUSY on the weekend, and even though I always “say” I’m going to clean out the fridge and do meal planning before the weekend (Thursday or Friday, so I only have to actually shop on the weekend), it seems like inevitably the weekend ends up including cleaning out the fridge, making the meal plan, making the grocery list, going to the grocery store (usually two stores, because I’ve been on the Aldi train but can’t get “everything” there, so I end up going to both Aldi and Woodman’s), and then home to put it all away.
😩 I feel like no matter how I slice it, we end up spending way too freaking long dealing with food and grocery stuff on the weekend. And this is before you add in any EATING or cooking of any kind… (which admittedly we don’t always do every meal at home on the weekends, but definitely some). Or any other chores, cleaning or errands.
I’ve been wondering if maybe I should try to shift to a mid-week grocery shop instead, especially now that I’m not running kids all over the place. I also technically do have a somewhat flexible job- I could theoretically do an Aldi run over my lunch hour on a Wednesday, provided I was prepped in advance. But I don’t think I’d have time for two stores.
Also, the nights we cook the most at home are Monday- Thursday. It’s nice that if I buy fresh meat and produce on say, Sunday, I’m all set for our high volume cooking days. Whereas if I shop Wednesday, well, it’s harder to have fresh meat ready to go for Monday and Tuesday dinners… Hmmm.
I could make more of an effort to go earlier on Sunday morning, right when Aldi opens. But I’m sure I’m not the only one with THAT idea, and also, I kind of like lazy Sunday mornings…
I could also just send Ivan on the weekend, who actually doesn’t mind grocery shopping. But I kind of PREFER to do it myself, since I WFH and eat way more meals at home, and I’m also the one who wants all these certain “high protein” things and whatnot… 😆 It’s just easier to do it myself.
Anyway! When do you all grocery shop?? I am not sure why this feels so complicated, but I just resent the whole process. lol.
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for new month energy. Some months it’s needed more than others. 🙂
Costco delivery (sometimes I shop in store but really just because I love Costco)– it’s through Instacart, but you do not have to have an Instacart membership. I get an order every week and can often just re-order the same things
Whole Foods delivery– not every week, but probaby twice a momth.
Hyvee online for pick up every week. They let you inspect your produce when you pick up, and if they forget something or gave you the wrong item, they will immediately Door Dash a replacement. IT IS GREAT.
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Haha I actually almost texted you about this because I was like, ok Sarah has FIVE kids and manages to do this, I bet she has some tips! 😅
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For the past couple of year we have used the same grocery system. I plan the following week on Friday morning and while I am doing that I meal plan. I am already thinking about what each day will look like and we use a meal template so I am really only deciding on 2-3 dinners. On Saturday morning I make a quick list (I keep a list in google docs and add to it via Instinct as needed during the week) and pull out any past-their-prime leftovers (I don’t do a full fridge clean out weekly just a quick scan).
Then my husband and I head out together. We drop our food scraps, hit the farmer’s market, and the grocery store. And we are efficient! This week we left the house at 9:30 and were home at 10:30. And that included running into an acquaintance in the parking lot and chatting for a few minutes. Food scraps and farmers market at 1/4 mile and the grocery store is a 10 minute drive.
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Our grocery shopping habits had to change recently and I’m leaning in to pick up orders. I place. Walmart pick up and then I get our veggies and fruit at Kroger as well as the things we can only get at Kroger. Bonus if I know what I couldn’t get in our pick up so I grab at Kroger. Then I’m only really shopping one store. I go Sunday late afternoon and it isn’t very busy.
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While I was working full time I remember hating the need to go shopping every Saturday or Sunday morning. I did try to get in earlier as much as possible. I’m retired now and cheat a bit. I do have a toddler I watch all day so he goes with me. I usually do a Costco run every two weeks, and because the toddler doesn’t do well traipsing from store to store, I cheat. I do pick up. I order the groceries the night before, the store is right across the street from Costco so it’s a quick stop. At some point I’ll go back to doing my own shopping because I hate other people choosing my produce and proteins. But for now, it works.
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I can never find time to grocery shop! Most weeks I do an online Meijer order for delivery (basically all of our staples) then I often stop in to Aldi for anything I forget or run out of each mid. Occasionally a Costco or trader Joe stop for a few favorites too.
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We have a pretty rigid schedule around these things but the schedule has been in place for years so it’s such a habit for us now. We have a shared Apple note shopping list. We put the 1-3 meals I will make each week at the top and often Phil will put meal ideas on there before we discuss it on Friday night (I don’t cook every day as we love leftovers and our kids often eat different things since they eat asap when they get home and Phil and I eat 1+ hour later).
Phil grocery shops on Saturday and ideally leaves our house at 9 so he gets to Aldi when it opens. I manage the kids during that time.
We are in a different stage of parenting with lots of active management of schedules in the evening and then when the kids are in bed around 8, we are both so tired so watch a show and then I go to bed. When the kids are older and more independent I could see Phil shifting his grocery shopping to a week day. But I am more likely to retire before we hit the independent kid stage and then I will take over grocery shop and do it on week days. I kind of miss grocery shopping sometimes but it was the decision of labor we settled on after having kids as previously I was meal planning, shopping and cooking. Now we share meal ideation, he shops, I cook.
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