Grocery Shopping - Like it or not, everyone has to do it!

If you're like me, grocery shopping is not usually a very fun experience. It's expensive and takes a long time and if you go without a plan, you still end up at home saying "what should I make for dinner?"
As a result of this, I am always looking for ways to simplify my grocery shopping experience. I have come up with some good options, but still always try new things. Here is what I do as of right now:

First, a little side note:

A while back I compiled a list of all the things I cook often for dinner. I would just add to it each night I tried something new that we liked. This makes planning SO much easier because it fuels me with ideas of what to make. That's the hardest part anyway, right? So, make your life easier by doing this - you'll be glad you did it, I promise!

Okay, here we go...

• My shopping/errand day is on Thursday, but I only do my grocery shopping every two weeks. So, every other Wednesday (when I get coupons and ads in the mail) I sit down for 5-10 minutes and plan out 2 weeks worth of meals* using my handy dandy master list of meal ideas. I also include any veggies, fruit or side dish we'll have with the meal.
  

• When I have two weeks worth of meals, I go through my list and write what food items I need to purchase for each particular meal.

• I've used two kinds of list formats for this:

I found these cute note pad lists in the dollar bins at Michaels. I bought three of them because I loved them so much. I write the meals under the days and then on the rights side of the page I list what I need to buy for each meal. I also have a matching coupon organizer (also a dollar!)

It ends up looking kind of like this:

Monday
Homemade Mac & Cheese -Elbow Macaroni, Cheddar Cheese, butter, milk
Green Beans -Frozen green beans
Biscuits -Pillsbury Biscuits

Tuesday
Potato Bar -Potatoes, chili, lettuce, sour cream
peaches and cottage cheese -Canned peaches, cottage cheese

This form is not as cute, but MUCH more user friendly at the store. I created it on Excel. The nice thing about this is I arranged it by store sections. So, all your dairy is in one spot, and all your canned goods are in one spot, etc. It even has a place for non-food items! This list is great because it prevents you from having to run back and forth through the store, which I tend to do a lot. You just list your meals at the top and then write in your ingredients at a box below. Cool, huh?**

• After you have made up your list, you are READY to face the grocery store! Hallelujah!
  

*I usually just plan out dinner because we eat leftovers for lunch and cereal for breakfast. If you cook for these two meals, you'll have to adapt your shopping list.

**If any of you would like me to email you a copy of this list, email me at hayleyology@gmail.com I am always happy to share!