Grocery shopping gets a bad rap as the hardest part of meal planning. Despite that I personally love grocery shopping, I understand the pain points here: You've done the fun parts of meal planning and now you've got to schlep to the store, shell out hard-earned money, and just hope that you don't forget anything!

I imagine that if we could skip straight from planning to cooking that more people would actually meal plan. Fortunately, we've polled the experts and are sharing a few ways you can actually improve your grocery shopping experience to make it easier on you and your wallet. Bonus: We've even got a simplified shopping list template to get you started!

Meal Plan Club: Grocery Shopping

The secret to better grocery shopping isn't new or novel — its all about simplifying. A smartly designed grocery list helps you to avoid food waste, overspending, and missed items. Here's everything we learned about grocery shopping this week during Meal Plan Club.

How to Use Our Printable Shopping List

If you're used to a single-column top-to-bottom list scribbled on a scrap of paper like your mom used to make, then this printable shopping cheat sheet might require a tour. We've done our best to organize this list base on how you might walk into the store — produce first, followed by meat, staples, dairy at the back with space (and a list) to grab freezer items on your way to the cashier.

Working from your weekly meal plan and the recipes you've selected, check the pantry first for items you think you have on hand. Nothing is worse than finding you didn't have a can of chickpeas after shopping. Next, write the items and the amount you'll need in their appropriate sections. Now you can grab your grocery bags and head to the store.