Monday, June 3, 2013

Formulating a Master Shopping List: Step One

I am slowly becoming a fan of using multi-step programs to improve one area of my life or another.  My latest favorite is The Granny Plan from Granny's Vital Vittles.  As we have been bouncing around the country, our grocery habits have been rather eccentric.  As we have been settling into our new home, I have also been settling into a routine of grocery shopping and cooking.

The one problem with the "Granny plan" is that Granny did not move nearly as often as we do.  The whole concept of building up a pantry (a key step in the program) is thwarted, when you continually move in a matter of months, rather than years.

So, I thought I would share the system that I have developed over time to help me stream line the store to table process both financially and time wise.  I find it useful to start this process at the beginning every time we move, although pieces of it can be reused.  Ultimately, using this system you can switch over to shopping for staples monthly,  or even less often.  Or, you can plan to start utilizing all the great tricks for purchasing needed goods at the best prices.  Or, you can just be sane and get dinner on the table without stressing about it too much.


Step one:  Write down a list of what you are going to cook for dinner for the next seven days.  


Here are my rules for writing down this week's meal plan.

1.  The complete menu for each dinner is written down--either on a list on the fridge or in my planner.  I can't decide which place I like better

2.  No more than one new recipe may be included in any week's plan.  Cooking new recipes takes more time than cooking things I have already mastered.  This rule keeps me from overwhelming myself.

3.  Repeated meals, purposeful leftovers, frozen pizza, and restaurants are all valid entries on the meal plan.  The point is to plan ahead, so that on a given day you can swing into action rather than using time and energy to make a decision in the moment.   There is plenty of time later for becoming super woman of the kitchen.

That's it.  Go ahead and write yourself a quick meal plan.  Tomorrow, I'll share what I do with my seven day meal-plan.  In the mean time, please share any hints you have on how to write a successful meal-plan.

This post is kind of a mistake.  I meant to be writing on my other blog.  Yes, I was feeling a little tired, and writing is supposed to clear my mind.  If you're interested in this series, please click  here to go over to my other blog and follow along!  






2 comments:

  1. your little sister is following you again with this one. I even have a planner that lives in my purse.

    ReplyDelete