It's a foolproof way to eat healthier, save money and spend less time wandering the aisles of your grocery store
Here’s How the 5-4-3-2-1 Method Can Save You Money on Groceries
Published on Feb. 07, 2025
Cooking at home isn’t just better for your health. Research shows it also saves you money. So while I’m no trained chef—and constantly fight the temptation to order in after a busy day—I cook pretty much every meal for our family of four. It’s hard for me to stomach spending nearly $100 on a single meal.
I’m always looking for new strategies to make shopping for food and cooking for my family easier, alleviating the mental load and saving time in the kitchen. When I heard about TikTok’s popular 5-4-3-2-1 method for grocery shopping, I was intrigued. Frugal shopper that I am, I decided to test it out.
Read on to find out why so many people swear by it—and what happened when I tried it myself.
Get Reader’s Digest’s Read Up newsletter for more money-saving tips, humor, travel, tech and fun facts all week long.
What is the 5-4-3-2-1 method for grocery shopping?
No, it’s not a hide-and-seek countdown. The 5-4-3-2-1 method is an easy-to-follow grocery-shopping trick created by chef Will Coleman, who shared the details on TikTok.
@chefwillco GROCERY SHOPPING TIPS FOR BEGINNERS (and those who are looking to save money.) If you’re not the best at grocery shopping or never know what to get, don’t sweat it or be embarrassed! Let’s step up your game with my 5-4-3-2-1 method. Tag @Whole Foods Market in the comments if you think I should make this a series 🫶 #adulting #tips #groceryshopping #hauls #howto #cooking #budget #nyc #budgetmeals #comewithme #vlog #explorepage #fyp #viral #nyc #comewithme ♬ original sound – Chef Will Coleman
The name—a nod to the number of items in each category that you should purchase each week—will help you build a grocery list that doesn’t intimidate you (or break the bank). Here’s the breakdown:
- 5 different vegetables
- 4 different fruits
- 3 different proteins
- 2 different sauces or spreads
- 1 grain
He also suggests throwing in a special treat for yourself because why not?
Why do people swear by it?
The 5-4-3-2-1 method makes grocery shopping simple. Instead of just piling up your cart with items that sound good—without a vision of how to throw them together—this method compels you to be strategic and do a little meal planning. It also forces you to make a strict list, which keeps you from impulse-buying processed foods and items you don’t really need.
Even better, you don’t have to be a pro chef to appreciate the process. Just look at the comment section of Coleman’s TikTok video: User @aartemisrho22 writes, “I used your method yesterday and it made sense of the grocery store madness. Thank you!” And user @HunterWu comments, “Your method helped me to start my better eating lifestyle.”
This trick can be a great gateway into meal planning because you’ll need to figure out what meals you’re making before you can decide what items go on your list. “Meal planning doesn’t have to be complicated or overwhelming,” says money-saving expert Andrea Woroch. “It simply requires you to think ahead—figure out which meals you will prepare at home for breakfast and dinners and what you’ll pack for lunches for school and work.”
Once you know which meals you will make at home, you can start brainstorming ingredients, checking recipes and using the 5-4-3-2-1 method to decide what will make it onto your grocery list (and what won’t).
How much can you save with this method?
In general, having a plan when you grocery shop keeps you from overbuying and helps curb food waste. But this method’s constraints can help you save even more money when you use the same ingredients for different meals throughout the week. So choose recipes with overlapping protein, grain and produce ingredients, or make swaps so that you’re buying only the number of items for each category of the 5-4-3-2-1 method.
“When you find recipes that use the same ingredients, this ensures you use up everything in its entirety,” Woroch says. And don’t be afraid to adjust the recipes. Instead of overbuying a bunch of different veggies for various dishes, tweak your recipes to use the five vegetables you purchased for the week.
Buying items strategically also means getting creative and using them in new ways: If you plan to buy peanut butter as one of your spreads, for instance, you can use it to make sandwiches for the kids, an Asian-inspired sauce for a noodle recipe and your morning protein smoothie.
How do you adapt this method if you’re shopping for your family?
Woroch suggests keeping it simple when you’re shopping for your family. “Stick with your family’s favorites, or go with themes such as Taco Tuesday and Pizza Friday,” she advises. “Kids actually love themes and will look forward to them.”
You can also adapt your recipes for kids by serving sauces on the side or keeping veggies separate from the grains instead of throwing everything together in a bowl. This way, you don’t have to make separate meals for kids and adults.
When is the 5-4-3-2-1 method not as effective?
If you’re not used to meal planning, this method can potentially backfire. “What I am most worried about with this trend is that you can still face the same problem that many people and families do when it comes to grocery shopping without a plan—you come home from the grocery store after spending hundreds of dollars and feel like you don’t have anything to cook,” Woroch says.
She also points out that families with people on different diets (like low carb or vegetarian), parents of picky eaters or those who don’t cook often may not know how to throw all of their ingredients together.
Another limitation of this method is that you may not be able to get everything you need to make a meal with just these items. Having cooking staples (vegetable or chicken stock, grains like rice and pasta, condiments like soy sauce and ketchup, spices and herbs) already on hand may be necessary to make many of the recipes you’ll want to cook.
Finally, it’s important to point out that having time to cook fresh foods for your family—as well as having access to and being able to afford to buy these foods—is a privilege that not everyone has.
How the 5-4-3-2-1 shopping method worked for me
I tried the 5-4-3-2-1 method myself this week, and I really enjoyed the process. Here’s how I approached it—and whether it worked for me.
Preparation
First, I meal-planned with the strategy of feeding my family pretty much the same thing for breakfast and lunch all week, which is typical for us because it’s easy.
For breakfast, I decided to use the eggs and frozen waffles I already had, then whip up some smoothies. For lunch, my plan was to make a huge kale and quinoa salad for myself and my husband. (Though most days, he just eats a bowl of cereal.) For my kids’ school lunches, we typically do peanut butter and jelly with fruits, hummus and veggies.
Dinner plans included two different stir-fries (one with quinoa and one with rice I already had), one pasta dish (using noodles I already had) and one soup. I planned on eating leftovers the other nights.
Shopping
With meal-planning done, I hit the supermarket. Here’s what was on my grocery list:
- 5 vegetables: Bag of shredded cabbage, two bags of chopped kale, two red bell peppers, shredded carrots and frozen cauliflower rice
- 4 fruits: Strawberries, bananas, grapes and apples
- 3 proteins: Rotisserie chicken, quinoa and ground turkey
- 2 sauces/spreads: Hummus and peanut butter
- 1 grain: Bread for sandwiches
My grand total was $70.16. When possible, I bought store-brand items. I purchase most of my veggies pre-cut to save time, which does up my cost. But hey, I’m busy! So it’s worth it for me.
Cooking
To make my meals, I mixed the cauliflower rice with my ground turkey to bulk it up so I could use the protein in two different dishes (one stir-fry and one pasta). I used the rotisserie chicken for the other stir-fry and to make soup. I spread the veggies across these dishes and used them in my kale-and-quinoa salad for lunch.
The bottom line
While I had to think more strategically and overlap my ingredients more than usual, I definitely saved money using the 5-4-3-2-1 method. And it helped me be more mindful about the ingredients I used and the meals I chose.
However, many items that I needed for the week were not on my list because we already had them at home: milk, eggs, waffles, pasta and rice. So the total above doesn’t reflect the true cost of the week’s meals, and my grocery list doesn’t include all of the ingredients I used while cooking.
Overall, the method worked for me and my family because we already had many of the staples I needed for cooking and because we don’t mind eating the same things a few days each week. I could see how people who don’t like leftovers or who want a wider variety of dishes could feel limited by the 5-4-3-2-1 method.
In the end, though, I’m happy I tried this grocery-shopping trick. Anything that keeps me on track with my cooking-at-home goals is a win in my book.
About the expert
|
Why trust us
At Reader’s Digest, we’re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers’ personal experiences where appropriate. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
Sources:
- American Journal of Preventive Medicine: “Cooking at Home: A Strategy to Comply with U.S. Dietary Guidelines at No Extra Cost”
- Andrea Woroch, money-saving expert; interview, February 2025
- Chef Will Coleman: “Grocery Shopping Tips for Beginners”
