The 6-To-1 Grocery Shopping Method That’ll Save You Time and Money

When you’re a busy parent trying to feed a family with different tastes, grocery shopping can quickly turn into a chaotic—and expensive—chore. Between inflation, food waste, and the endless “What’s for dinner?” dilemma, many of us are hungry for solutions that help us do more with less. Enter Chef Will Coleman’s 6-to-1 Grocery Shopping Method: a smart, flexible strategy that makes planning, shopping, and cooking simpler and more sustainable.

What is the 6-to-1 Grocery Shopping Method?

Designed to help shoppers focus on ingredients that can be used across multiple meals, Coleman’s method is straightforward: shop for six vegetables, five fruits, four proteins, three starches, two sauces, and one fun item. The result? A cart full of cost-effective, versatile ingredients that can stretch into a week’s worth of meals without waste or overwhelm.

Before coming across the 6-to-1 Method on social media, I thought I had a decent grocery shopping strategy. I’ve always been conscious about food waste, so each week, I would plan meals around ingredients I already had and only shop for what I was missing. Seems simple and efficient enough right? While that strategy does work, I found myself in a constant loop of trying not to waste leftover groceries from the previous week, and I wasn’t always prioritizing produce and healthier whole foods. Plus, shopping that way just wasn’t exciting.

“I created the 6-to-1 Method out of a need for more intentional grocery shopping,” Coleman told me. “I wanted a system that made it easier to plan balanced meals, reduce my reliance on processed foods, and cut down both time and spending at the store.”

I recently put Coleman’s method to the test, and the results were impressive. I enjoyed the ability to be creative and plan how I would use fresh ingredients in various ways for multiple meals within the same week so that I could start fresh the next. I shopped with intention, stayed under budget, and had what I needed to make nine complete meals (three breakfasts, three lunches, and three dinners) for my family of four.

what I bought:

Vegetables: Butter lettuce, celery, Caesar salad mix, onions, fresh herbs, cucumbers*

Fruits: Apples, citrus fruits (orange, lemon, lime), strawberries, grapes, tomatoes

Proteins: Ground beef, salmon, chicken, eggs

Starches: Spaghetti, brioche buns, flour tortillas

Sauces: Mayonnaise, avocado cilantro sauce

Fun item: Chocolate chip cookies

*Although cucumbers are technically a fruit, I categorized them as a vegetable here since I only used them in salads and green juice. Again, one of the great things about the 6-to-1 Method is it’s customizable!

what I made:

Breakfasts: Breakfast burritos, green juice, fruit salad

Lunches: Salmon Caesar salad, ground beef burritos (with pantry rice and beans), jerk salmon burgers with lemon-garlic-herb aioli

Dinners: Curry chicken (with pantry rice), spaghetti and meatballs (with store-bought sauce), sweet and sour chicken with homemade fried rice

Snacks: Fruit, chocolate chip cookies

Cost Breakdown for the week

Total spent: $117.90

Meals made: 9 (with 4 servings each)

Cost per serving: $3.28

Why this method works

As a working mom, I can’t always prepare three meals a day, every day. But even with my hectic schedule, this method helped us eat most of our meals at home rather than resorting to fast food, takeout, or spending hundreds on a single dinner out. Beyond the cost savings, I also appreciated how it encouraged us to eat healthier—with fresh ingredients and balanced meals I felt good about serving.

“Prioritizing whole ingredients not only supports better eating habits, but it also helps to avoid overspending on unnecessary or overly processed food items,” Coleman explained.

In addition to cost savings and healthier food choices, the beauty of the 6-to-1 Method is in its customizability. It works whether you’re shopping for picky eaters, trying to clean out your pantry, or just wanting to avoid the temptation of impulse buys. Plus, you don’t need to be a professional chef to make it work—just a home cook looking to simplify the weekly food routine.

And if you’re interested in learning more, Coleman recently expanded on this concept in his debut cookbook, From Cart to Kitchen, which dropped on June 9th. The book features 60 recipes and ten grocery lists that follow the 6-to-1 Method, making it easy for anyone to start shopping smarter and cook with confidence. It’s available for pre-order now, and after trying the method myself, I can confidently say it’s worth every penny.