Grocery shopping has become a bigger challenge for many households, with rising food prices and busy schedules making meal planning feel more complicated than it needs to be. People online have been sharing simple strategies designed to make shopping and cooking easier, and one method in particular is getting a lot of attention.

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The method

Recently on TODAY Food, a new grocery shopping strategy known as the 5-to-1 method was discussed. The simple formula has been gaining traction on TikTok, where many people say it takes the stress out of meal planning and grocery shopping.

Chef Will Coleman appeared on the show to explain the idea, introduce his new cookbook, "From Cart to Kitchen," and share how the concept first came together.

Coleman said his love of cooking and entertaining always begins at the grocery store, but he realized his shopping habits were not always efficient. "I was shopping with my eyes first, spending way too much money at the grocery store. A lot of food was going to waste." Wanting a better system to save both time and money, he developed what he now calls the 5-to-1 grocery method.

The structure is intentionally simple. People pick up five vegetables, four proteins, three fruits, two starches, and one fun item. The idea is to create a flexible mix of ingredients that can easily be combined into multiple meals throughout the week.

This flexibility allows people to build meals around what they already have rather than feeling locked into a plan. It's like having your own set of grocery shopping hacks that isn't complicated or hard to remember.

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