How to set up a weekly shopping and prep routine

Choose a plan day and a shop day

Pick a regular day to plan and a regular day to shop. They can be the same day, but many people find it easier to plan the evening before, when they have a few quiet minutes, and shop the next morning.

• Shop when stores are quieter, such as a weekday evening or early on a weekend morning.
• Plan the day before you shop, so the list is ready when you leave.
• Prep on shop day or the day after, while everything is at its freshest.
• Allow for a small mid-week top-up of bread, milk or salad if your household needs one.

Suppercharge can send you a weekly reminder to plan, on the day and at the time you choose, as a notification or by email. Set it once in Settings and let it prompt you.

Keep a running list during the week

The plan covers dinners, but the kitchen runs out of other things too. Add them to your list the moment you notice, not when you are standing in the store trying to remember.

Anything you add to the Suppercharge grocery list is sorted into the right section, right next to the ingredients from your plan. With household sharing, everyone works from the same list, so whoever finishes the coffee can add it themselves.

Plan the week in one sitting

On plan day, look at your calendar and decide how many dinners you will cook. Then pick the meals yourself from the recipe catalogue, or let the automatic builder suggest a set that shares fresh ingredients. Our guide to planning a week of dinners in 15 minutes walks through this step in detail.

Give each meal a night in the week view, with the quickest recipes on your busiest evenings. If you already know next week will be hectic, you can put together the next plan before this one is finished and start it when you are ready.

Shop in one trip

A list sorted by aisle turns shopping into a single pass through the store. Start with cupboard items and finish with chilled and frozen food, so cold things spend the least time in the cart.

• Check the fridge and cupboards before you leave, and mark what you already have.
• Bring enough bags, plus a cool bag for chilled food in warm weather.
• Pick the ripest produce for meals early in the week and firmer produce for later ones.
• If something on the list is unavailable, choose a close substitute rather than dropping the meal.

Your Suppercharge list is grouped into store sections, so produce, dairy, meat and dry goods each come together. Check items off as they go into the cart and they move out of the way, leaving only what you still need. You can also print the list, or share a read-only link with whoever is doing the shopping.

Prep for 45 minutes after you shop

A short prep session after shopping makes weeknight cooking noticeably faster. Keep it small. The aim is to get the slowest jobs out of the way, not to cook every meal in advance.

1. Wash and dry salad leaves and herbs, then store them wrapped in a clean towel.
2. Chop onions, peppers, carrots and celery for the first two or three meals and keep them in sealed containers.
3. Cook a pot of rice or another grain that several meals use.
4. Make any sauces, dressings or marinades that keep for a few days.
5. Portion meat or fish for later in the week and freeze it, then move each pack to the fridge the night before you need it.

Cook with the plan in front of you

On the night, open the recipe from your plan. Suppercharge lists the cookware and ingredients before the steps, so you can get everything out first. Cooking mode then shows one step at a time in large text and keeps the screen awake, so you are not unlocking your phone with floury hands. When you finish, mark the meal as cooked so the plan shows what is left. If you need to stock up on basics, our list of kitchen essentials covers the tools most weeknight recipes rely on.

Review the week in five minutes

Before your next plan day, take a quick look back. Which meals were a hit? Which ones got skipped, and why? Did anything end up in the bin? Rate the meals you enjoyed, save favourites for later, and move a skipped meal into next week rather than buying for it again. Small changes each week make the routine fit your life better. For more ideas, read our guide to cutting food waste.