What is your least favorite thing to do? If you are like my ADHD clients, grocery shopping is right at the top along with paying bills and doing laundry. Grocery stores seem to be designed to play tricks on the ADHD mind, with eye catching displays, seductive product packaging and so many different brands. You can’t forget all those “on sale” signs; they are rocket fuel for impulsive spending. While other non-ADDers go up and down the aisles, putting things in their cart and checking off their list, we just stand there like a deer in headlights, trying to figure out should we go for chopped spinach or just the box of frozen veggies? In the end we just give up trying to make the right decision and end up buying both. What starts as a quick trip to buy a few items turns into a half of day excursion that leaves the wallet empty. So what are the tricks to get the most out of your food shopping, while staying focused? Here are a few tips to make grocery shopping a breeze.
Go Grocery Shopping When You Have Already Eaten – If you go grocery shopping on an empty stomach you are going to be ruled by your stomach rather than your head, you will make bad decisions on what you buy. If you eat something before you go, then you will be much more likely to stick to what you need.
Write a Shopping List & Stick To It – It is not a good idea to go into a grocery store and only buy what you need for the night and come out with a lot more than you really need. You either can’t make a decision so you end up buying a couple of different choices or you just go for more unhealthy choices. If you write a grocery list (ideally based around your meal plan) and stick t it then you won’t go wrong.
Sales are Only Worth It – Think about the sale item before you put it in your cart. If 2 for 1 bags of salad are on sale and this may seems like a good idea but if you only eat half of one of the bags and the other one might just sit in your fridge and will be thrown away. Think about what you are planning to eat for the next week/month and look around at the sales around what you are going to need anyway and that is when it is a real bonus.
Pick The Time You Shop – Going to the grocery store at certain times makes sense for a few reasons, the stores sometime mark down produce at the end of the day so you can get a bargain if you time it right, go to the store when your children are not with you as this can lead to stress and distractions for many of us which can be avoided, don’t shop too many times during the week/month, try to go once a month for bulk shopping and then weekly for your fresh produce and it will cut the stress.