Back when I wrote my post on our Weekly Cleaning Schedule, my friend Lauren suggested I do one for a shopping list. I thought this was a super awesome idea, and I’ve been thinking about the best way to approach it. For my usual grocery runs I just make a list of whatever we’re out of and head to the store… no special organization needed. When I’m prepping for a freezer meal prep day however, I need to be on top of my game when I go to the store so I don’t forget things or take forever when I have a full day of cooking ahead of me.
The first time I did this I organized everything by food category with the thought that I could get through the store faster instead of jumping around all over the place. However when I found the store didn’t have a particular item, I had no idea which recipe it belonged to or what to sub it with. So the next time I just wrote the Recipe name and all the ingredients. This definitely helped me get exactly what I needed, but I probably looked like a kid with ADHD running back and forth to the same isles 15 times.
And so we have what I think is a pretty nice compromise:
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| Download PDF |
Here’s an example… the top spaces allow for the recipe name, so you know what you need to find a substitution for if it’s not at the store. The side columns break it down by category, so when you’re in the a certain section of the store you can get everything at once. There’s also the ability to +add what sides you would like to purchase to accompany a given dish as well.
After creating this template it occurred to me that it could also work well as a weekly meal planner. {Notice how I incorporated the above freezer meals into this :)?} You could also do a combo of the two and write down the recipe to go along with each weekday if your the type of person who cooks every day! The possibilities are endless {ok, perhaps not endless, but it sure sounded good…}
Unfortunately for me this comes 2 days after doing my big Freezer meal day… but you can be sure I’ll be pulling this out next month!
Oh that's super cute! And way more creative that me recently buying a shopping checklist off Amazon… haha.
Your organization puts my whole life to shame!
Since I am a list addict, this is right up my alley. I love how your organizational skills and attention to detail! 🙂
This is such a kick butt idea! I do the exact same thing, luckily we live close enough to the grocery store that its not too big of a deal, but I would most definitely prefer to cut my shopping time in half! WOW! Printing me a copy now! Thanks Kate for this great idea!
so creative! definitely love this! i really need to start being more creative when it comes to meal planning 🙂
xo TJ
lol! It would have never occurred to me that was even possible. Guess I shouldn't really be surprised that such things exist 😛
haha – organizing is what keeps me from losing my mind!
aww thanks. I too love lists {obviously} – they just make everything seem so much more doable!
Awesome! We actually live about 5 minutes away from Target haha… and in my pre-baby days I'd have no problem going there 15 times a day. However small children only tolerate so much time in the car & at the store so I've had to step up my game 😛
thank you! We've been finding that if we just suck it up and put in some time planning at the beginning of each month, it makes the rest of the month so much easier to deal with. 🙂