Tuesday, July 30, 2013

I love lists

You all know I do a major grocery trip once a month and stay away from the store until another month rolls around. I've had people ask my how the heck I do it. Well, here it goes!

In order to make a month's long shopping list, you need to plan a months worth of meals. I only need to plan dinner since we all eat the same things for breakfast everyday, daddy takes left over dinner for lunch, and the kids live on sandwiches and extra left over lunches. Totally works for our family.

Plan out a detailed list of your dinners to include any side you are having. I always use a calender.

Once you have your meals planned, go through each meal and tally up the items you need. Like for this month, I need 5 lbs of ground beef and 1 thing of asparagus


Make your list, check it twice and add any and all non perishables that you will need like diapers, cereal, soap, and candy for mommy ;)

Once you have that list (told you I like lists) go through your pantry, fridge and freezer and adjust numbers based on what you already have. There is no need to buy more meat/veggies if you won't eat them this month

So here is where the fun part comes in. Now you need to organize the list for the grocery store, I go to 3. That means I have to know what I buy at each store and separate the list accordingly.

No idea what that top part says, the husband speaks Serbian, I do not. 

I have my book divided by store and just fill in what I need from each place like this 



Then I can just go on my merry way and check off my list as I go. I never forget anything, and thanks to the power of planning my family can eat a delicious dinner every night with no "OMG WE DON'T HAVE ONIONS" at about 5:15. 

Also, making lists is a great way to find out where you impulse buys are and adjust the budget if I need to. If something is not on my list, I add it when I get home so I can chastise myself for buying that bag of chips that no one will eat. If my budget is a little high one month, I can look back so see where/how I bought or spent more and adjust on that. 

Lists make me happy, and so does feeding 3 men on a budget. Hope you agree! 


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