Grocery Day
Being that this bi-weekly event occurs tomorrow, I thought I would share with you some of my ideas on meal planning and grocery shopping.
Every two weeks, when the king is paid, he allocates money to me to help manage his kingdom. The day before payday (that would be today), I pull up my pre-made Master Grocery List. This list has everything from household products to bananas on it, and everything in between. This is the order of what I do:
~Copy the Master List and paste it into a new document (this saves my Master List for me)
~Add to the new list anything that is immediate in my mind that we need that is not on it normally (those odd things like sunscreen or Jerusalem artichokes...)
~Make up my 2-week dinner menu list and put it on my calendar, taking careful note of special events ocurring during the upcoming weeks. That way I don't forget to get items for events, nor do I overshop, buying for days that we won't be here. For example, in the next two weeks, we have a fireworks show (picnic type food), a graduation party (gift), my dad's birthday (gift, BBQ items, cake makings), and a BBQ at a friend's home (meat plus side dish).
~Highlight on the list anything from the menu lists that I don't have on hand and need to purchase
~Highlight breakfast, lunch, and household items that we need
~Delete items that we don't need, which leaves me with only the items that I need to shop for
~Add the 2-week dinner menu list to the bottom, so that I can refer to it as I'm shopping
~Print and shop!
That's the basics. I'll go into more detail in the future, but I have a grocery list to put together!
Happy shopping, folks.
posted by Karen | 3:09 PM
4 Comments:
Do you check sales as you are making up your menu?
No, actually, I check sales when I'm there. I always reserve some leeway for good deals. Can't pass those up!
The only reason I don't check ads for sales is because we generally toss our junk mail as soon as we get it. And because I can't afford to covet grocery items if it's not grocery day (read: payday), regardless of how good of a sale it is.
:-)
So, you don't go to the grocery between times for milk or ANYTHING? I already feel I spend too much time in the grocery store and I still end up back for things we run out of, things I need for recipes, etc.
(And my husband thinks that I keep my freezer WAY TOO FULL and should only buy what I need for "tonight's meal" or some such. His mother evidently does not buy ahead when she finds a good deal on meat)
Oh, yes, true, I do on occasion shop "in between" but my dh would really rather I didn't. So I don't look at the flyers...it helps me avoid the "gimmees".
My dh thinks my freezer is too full, too, but I really do use most of what's in there on a regular basis.
But we have 2 full-sized fridge/freezers and an upright deep freezer. The main fridge (in the kitchen) is the one I "work" from, as well as the deep freeze (which is in the pantry). The extra fridge is upstairs, and is used by folks who stay with us, and is overflow for things. Like, my dad's birthday is coming up, and on shopping day I bought things for that. It's an easy place to store extras. I'm grateful for it.
But yes, it can look like we maybe have too much food, and why-are-you-shopping-if-we-already-have-this-much-food-anyway??
:-D
*sigh* I'm not perfect, I guess.
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