Grocery Shopping Tips

This is a follow up to my tales of grocery shopping with two small children. I've noticed that certain things work better than others and so I will share. Most of it is common sense, but maybe you'll learn something new. Please feel free to add your tips in the comments. I could clearly use them.

1. Shop with a list, your visit will be shorter and therefore your children happier.
2. Make sure you bring a snack for your kids or make sure they are well fed before you go.
3. Stealthfully put favorite food items in the cart or at the end of your excursion. Example: bananas. Joshua will whine for bananas the whole rest of the trip if he sees them in the basket. With items that are sold by the pound, you can't exactly let them have some and pay for an empty package.
4. Utilize the area under the main basket. I usually stash the diaper bag there as well as bulkier items. This keeps toddler hands from tearing through the diaper bag, and keeps it from being buried under the groceries should I need it in a hurry.
5. Organize your basket by food type. E.G- Perishables, non-perishables, fragile items etc.
6. Use your cart organization to help you organize your shopping bags.
7. When using a cashier put your heavy items on the belt first. (These items will go back into your cart first, and avoid crushing the eggs, bread, etc.)
7A. Also put your refrigerated items on the belt together, increasing the likelihood they will be bagged together.
7B. If necessary, shuffle items around in your bags later on yourself. This is important to me because I want the cold items to help keep each other cold. I also then know which bags have a priority to make it into the house. (Yes, I routinely leave non-perishables in the car until the kids are napping, Daddy comes home, or whenever.)
8. Use a self checkout so you can bag and load your groceries however you want.
9. Avoid the express lane. I find that with two small children, nothing is ever express. I would just as not feel the death stares from five people behind me because I am buying three items, but have six coupons, a screaming kid, a dropped sippy cup, etc.
10. If you can, go when someone else can watch the kids. :)


What works for you??

Slow Cooker Lasagna

Over at Parenthacks they are having a discussion about good crock pot recipes, and this is by far my favorite. I couldn't tell you where my Mother got it from, but both of my picky eaters love it.

Slow Cooker Lasagna

1 pound bulk Italian sausage
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
3 15 oz cans Italian-style tomato sauce
2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (8 oz)
1 container (15 oz) part-skim ricotta cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
15 uncooked lasagna noodles

Cook sausage and onion in 10-inch skillet over medium heat 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sausage is no longer pink; drain.
Stir in tomato sauce, basil and salt.
Mix the Ricotta, Parmesan, and 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese together in a bowl. (Refrigerate remaining mozzarella cheese while lasagna cooks.)
Spoon one-fourth of the sausage mixture into 6-quart slow cooker; top with 5 noodles, broken into pieces to fit.
Spread with half of the cheese mixture and one-fourth of the sausage mixture.
Top with 5 noodles, remaining cheese mixture and one-fourth of the sausage mixture.
Top with remaining 5 noodles and remaining sausage mixture.
Cover and cook on Low heat setting 4 to 6 hours or until noodles are tender. Sprinkle top of lasagna with remaining 1 cup mozzarella cheese.
Cover and let stand about 10 minutes or until cheese is melted. Cut into pieces and serve.

Here are a few of my own little notes.
- In my crock pot it is always ready at 4 hours. If you go a lot longer than that, the bottom and sides can get over cooked. I'm sure different crock pots will vary.
- I've cooked it with cottage cheese instead before and it is pretty good. However I've found that depending on brand and sales, I can find Ricotta cheese cheaper, and it does taste better.
- I've had trouble finding Italian style tomato sauce, so I just add Italian seasoning to regular tomato sauce.

I can not say enough how delicious this stuff is. YUMMY!