WHEN WE WERE kids, the weekly shop was a bit of an institution.

It was the height of excitement to be brought along – oh, the power you thought you’d have, picking groceries for the week. Why would you buy anything other than biscuits, you’d ask? Why?

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Now, as an adult you (probably) know better and probably face this dilemma – do you do a big shop in one go, and run the risk of food going off in the press or fridge?

Or, do you shop day by day, or every couple of days, as this fancy strikes? The problem with this method is it seems to work out a little bit more expensive overall. Especially when you just popped in to the shop to grab a bag of carrots and ended up with fifteen other things you ‘really (really) needed’.

Jocey K Jocey K

Now, the times they are a-changing. There are many ways to shop. Supermarket, grocer, local, organic – if you want it, you can find it.  You can even shop online from the comfort of your own sofa and get your food delivered to you whenever it suits.

Marcie Casas Marcie Casas

Are you a list-maker, are you an old-fashioned pen and paper type, or do you embrace the technology available using some of the online meal and grocery planners? We’ve rounded up a couple for you to try.

From your very basic – just write a list, you can use any note-taking function on your phone. Or, you could get Evernote, which gives you more, so much more – as they explain in a blog post here.

Next, we move onto something a little fancier with the MenuPlanner, whose real stroke of genius is letting you keep track of what you have in your cupboards as well as helping you import your favourite recipes and coordinate your shopping list.

Tell us – how do you grocery shop?

Any suggestions for taking the pain out of grocery shopping? Let us know in the comments below.