How to Lose 2 Pounds a Week: The Grocery List

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, nutritionist, or professional** lifestyle coach

The humble grocery list is about more than what's on it and what it's on. It's about planning wisely to nourish yourself and your family... efficiently. Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens are nice, but lists and efficiencies are two of my favorite things.

I organize my grocery list according to the layout of the store where I most often shop: Costco. (You're thinking, 'Bhan, you are a single person. What could you possibly need to buy in bulk?!?' The answer: Herdez salsa casera. Three times a day keeps the doctor away.) This is a picture of my pantry:

Truth is, I've had great luck with the produce section at Costco and find the quality and prices to be significantly better than my local grocery store.

You certainly have noticed that all supermarkets feature the same few departments and often the layouts are similar even between different franchises. Produce near the entrance, deli and bakery along the back wall, and dairy rounds it out along your way to the checkout lanes. Using this to your advantage by aligning your grocery list with these basic sections will perform several important functions.

Maintain one single accurate list

I advocate the use of a smartphone list. It goes everywhere with you. Think about how convenient that is! Stopped at a red light and remembered you're almost out of ________? Just add it to the list! Laying in bed at night, unable to fall asleep, when it occurs to you that you used up the last of the _________? Just add it to the list! Easy, right?

Though a notepad-type app (I recommend NoteMasterLt -- free -- for the iPhone) works very well, in the past I have also simply opened a text message or email to myself to keep a running list. 

Put everything you think you might want or need on the list 

Once you get to the store, make the decision to buy now or later. At least that way the light bulbs you don't imminently need are on the list for the future and you don't have to worry anymore about remembering to get them.

Reduce the number of times you visit the store

Rather than making multiple, time-consuming trips to the store each week, select a day of the week to pick up groceries on your way home from work. With a carefully planned grocery list, you probably won't run out of food for meals between trips.

Tip: Choose one weekday that fits your schedule; this will actually help you make time for other things... like workouts! I go so far as to actually put it on my calendar as a recurring appointment.

For the Lose-2-Pounds-a-Week Club Members

You can basically eat as much of anything on this list as you want. More on meal planning in an upcoming article, but basically here's how it will break down: soy milk and oatmeal for breakfast, a mid-morning protein snack, a salad with protein for lunch, a mid-afternoon protein/veg snack, and kebabs or protein/veg combo for dinner.

Update: I added a couple fruit options based on feedback from friends. (I don't have a sweet tooth so it didn't occur to me to include this.) Because they're so filling and won't cause your blood sugar to spike the way other fruits would, melons, citrus fruit, and stone fruits provide the best bang-for-your-buck. And I know from personal experience that fresh lemon sliced in hot water is a proven appetite suppressant so enjoy some of that mid-afternoon before you head home from work to avoid the pre-dinner binge.

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The List

Produce

• Cucumbers x 5
• Cherry or grape tomatoes
• Pre-washed lettuce x 5-8 servings
• Avocados x 5
• Bell peppers x 3-5 (depending on size)
• Onion
• Mushrooms (baby bellas)
• Zucchini x 2-3
• Update: Stone fruits (like peaches), melons, and citrus (as many as you want)
• Update: Lemon (great in hot water in the morning in place of coffee/tea)

Deli/Bakery

• Boneless, skinless chicken breasts x 10 servings

Canned & Dry Goods

• Organic olive oil-based salad dressing*** or salsa
• Canned black beans x 3
• Unsweetened peanuts or raw almonds x 5 servings

Frozen Items

• None for now, unless you choose to buy frozen chicken (which is fine)

Dairy

• Laughing Cow spreadable cheese wedges x 5 servings
• Soy milk x 5 servings
• Dozen eggs
• Single-serving cheese slices

Misc., Household, and Pets

• Reusable water bottle, like a Nalgene
• Snack-sized Ziploc bags for your snacks
• Gladware big bowls for your daily salad

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Scale up the list
Happen to not be a single, childless girl who lives alone (that doesn't make me sound awful or anything...)? Multiply each item by the number of adults for whom you're preparing meals.

Shop on the way home from work on Friday afternoons
Because I suffer from lack-of-willpoweritis, this ensures I have plenty of healthy food choices throughout the weekend. For my readers who are parents, you might recognize this as the "apple or orange, not apple or cookie" maneuver that you use on your children and that I use on myself with great success.

Tip: Stocking up on the weekend also affords an opportunity to prep most of the foods needed for the upcoming week. Grill the veg and chicken, wash and dry the vegetables, prepare single-serving portions of peanuts and cucumbers. This makes for a single round of kitchen clean-up and for very quick lunch assembly each morning.

Now that you're armed with a strategy and a list, are you ready to just start? 

What tricks do you use to make 

your grocery shopping experience 

the most efficient use of your time? 

What items recur on your list week-to-week?

If you have children, how does 

their routine impact your food-buying schedule?

**Unless by 'professional' you mean 'gets paid' in which case you might make the argument that I do get paid in beer sometimes and am therefore at least an unprofessional lifestyle coach.

***When reading nutrition labels, also read ingredients. Avoid low-calorie and/or fat-free salad dressings. With all the additives, sugars, and preservatives, they barely qualify as food. You could probably buy Elmer's Glue and get the same effect.