Do you like going to the grocery store?
Is the trip a thrill?
Or is it a chore?
How can you make this trip fun still?

The way to make grocery shopping easier is simple. Have a list.

How to make a list

There are only a couple steps to making your grocery list. Before you can even begin making a list, you need to locate a piece of paper and a pen or pencil. Trust me, some days this is a challenge in my house!

1. Make a menu for the next week or two weeks.
2. Check the cupboards for ingredients for menu items.
3. Write down the items you need to make the food on your menu.
4. Check the staples (bread, milk, eggs, coffee, chocolate, etc) and write down the items you are running low on.
5. Check the non-food items you have on hand and make a note of things that are out of stock or low.
6. Ask the rest of the family for items they need from the store.
7. Go back over the list, check it twice. Add anything you notice is missing.

Doesn’t seem that hard now, does it? I’ve followed this process for a long time, and it’s never as simple as it looks.

Details

1. Making a menu.
Doesn’t have to be fancy or formal. In fact, I take a piece of paper, draw a line down the middle so I have two columns. Then I draw lines across the page, marking off boxes for each day of the week. Ta-daa, two weeks worth of boxes. Then I write in a menu item idea for supper. (Lunches are usually left overs or peanut butter and jelly at my house.)

2. Check the cupboards.
I usually keep things like spaghetti sauce, noodles and spices on hand. Sometimes I end up with extra veggies one week to the next. Or maybe my menu didn’t play out the way I had planned and I have ingredients waiting for their big chance. Most days you could make a meal out of the odds and ends that are in the cupboards.

3. Needed ingredients.
After comparing the cupboard ingredients with the menu, I write down the items needed to finish out the menu. It seems like I’m often picking up one of those tiny tins of spice, since I don’t keep a large stock of spices on hand. Meats are always on the list too. Meat doesn’t stay in the freezer long here!

4. Staples.
It seems like there are some items that appear on my grocery list every week. These are the things we use in the highest consumption, probably equivalent to a small country…coffee, tea, sweetner, snacks, bread, milk. These are what makes our household run. These are the things that will save my sanity as long as I have a stash on hand.

5. Non-Food
Toilet paper, pet food, laundry detergent, shampoo. You get the idea. This is the most expensive part of my list. It’s also the most random part. AA Batteries. Scotch Tape. Bubble Wrap. Phillips head screws.  … you know.

6. Family Requests.
I always ask my family if there’s anything we need from the store. I’m not sure why I waste my breath most weeks. Maybe it’s so when I hear the “8:30 p.m. Tuesday evening, school night, Mom, I need to have a piece of poster board, 100 Cheetos and a pink highlighter for school tomorrow. I’ll fail my class if I don’t have these things” lament I feel justified in using my MOM TONE and asking “When did you find out about this assignment?”

7. Check it Twice.
Too many times I’ve discovered a very important item missing from my list when I look at it the 2nd time. Other times, I find that I can streamline the list a bit and save some money by crossing items off. If you’ve ever had to watch your grocery budget, you know what I mean!

So, while the steps are simple enough, the process can be a bit drawn out. Especially if you’re working on a two week cycle, instead of a weekly one. With a bit of practice you can manage to go through these steps in a minimum of time, though.

Making your way through the grocery aisles is a topic for another day. Stop back!

This month, I’m participating in BlogHer’s National Blog Post Month. The challenge is to post an original post every day for January. You can read more posts here.

 

 

[wp_eStore_fancy1 id=5]  [wp_eStore_fancy1 id=4]