Everyone has a list of places they’ve wanted to try for forever, and if you don’t… what are you doing? Get on that.

I’m pretty sure I’m one of the major foodies in my friend group back home. When making dinner plans, I’m usually the one they’ll come to for suggestions, or I’m the one they come to when they want to try some place new and they want someone to join them.

Food is my everything, and I’m not just saying that. I actually have a folder on my phone of Instagram screenshots from various food accounts I follow just so I can remember the name of all the places I’d like to try out.

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As I was looking through my list this past week, I realized it’d be cool to view it as a sort of summer to-do list. My goal is to try at least one restaurant a week and create my own food tour of sorts a couple times throughout the summer and encourage myself to review them all.

Here are some directions on how to make your own foodie to-do list and finally try the places you’ve been telling yourself you would for the past year.

Form a basic list

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Form a basic list of places you’ve already heard of and want to try. Don’t limit yourself to just restaurants, try bakeries, food trucks, and food carts too; search for the “best” places near you and go from there. 

Do some research

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I cannot stress this enough. You’ll want to do research before you actually go out and eat at the places you’ve chosen. The last thing you want is to show up to a cash only place with only credit cards in your wallet. Make sure to read reviews, check pricing and find out what everyone raves about most on the menu.

Form a schedule

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You want to make sure you’ll actually stick to completing the list, so form a schedule that works for you. Maybe you’ll go to one new place on a certain day each week or decide which restaurant you’ll go to each week and then pick a day as you go. Whatever that schedule may be, make sure you stick to it.

Get a group together

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Get some friends to join you. You’re going to need company as you go through your list, so make sure you have some friends with a love for food and a willingness to explore. Who knows, maybe they’ll even have some suggestions to add to your list.  

Enjoy yourself (and the food)

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Honestly, the most important part is that you have fun with this to-do list; make the most of it. Don’t make it so that it becomes a scary or stressful task, make it something that you can turn to or look forward to completing.

Take pictures of yourself, your friends and everything you eat; make a fun little keepsake album or document it all on your Instagram. You can even take notes on each place and write up fun little reviews so you remember which places you liked the most.