Once A Month Shopping- Making A List and Checking It Twice

By now, you should have your recipes put into cards, your calendar all filled out and you're ready to go shopping! Making the list is one of the most important parts of Once A Month Shopping. You have to have everything you are going to need for the whole month on that list or you are going to end up making a million short trips to the grocery and probably paying far more than you should for what you need.

This is going to take a couple pieces of paper. On the first piece, go through all of your recipes and write out what you are going to need to buy. If I have recipes that use the same items, I just make hash marks by the item and count up how many I need when I get to the end. If I need different sizes of an item, I'm sure to note that as well. Do this for every breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack and dessert recipe you are planning for.

Now, go and shop your cupboards! Mark off any items that you already have (for me, this is usually things like flour, sugar, salt, oats, pepper, spices, etc). Check your freezers and stored dry goods too. Getting low on dry beans, rice, flour or sugar? Make a note that you need more.

I take my list and re-write it at this point, because it's covered in crossed out items and notes about things I need. I shop at a store that has an online store directory and I use this to organize my list into isles. I find this easier for me than dividing it up by produce, dairy, dry, canned goods, frozen, etc. I know exactly what I need from each isle and it also keeps me from forgetting something and having to go back an isle. This usually leads to me picking up something not on my list that I really don't need.

Here's a little tip that I use to make shopping in such an organized and sometimes restrictive way- give yourself permission to pick up one item that isn't on your list. This keeps me on the lookout for something I really want to try or something that is a special treat for my family.

I've had several questions about how I handle produce when shopping once a month. Well, it's pretty simple really. For the first week we plan on eating any fruits and veggies that go bad quickly (peaches, plums, lettuce, anything like that). The next couple weeks we plan on the fruits and veggies that last a little longer (apples, bananas, oranges, potatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, cabbages, etc) with a few frozen or home-canned items added into the mix. The last week or so is frozen veggies and home-canned produce. If you are absolutely against eating frozen and canned fruits/veggies and you have a store close enough for you to go to weekly JUST for produce and you think you could get out of the store buying JUST produce, you could save some of your budget and do it that way. It's not an option for our family, but it might be for yours.

Then you get to bring home all of your groceries, put them away and feel wonderful knowing that you have 30 DAYS of food on your shelves and in your freezer! You did it! As long as you stay organized and stick to your menu plan you will have immense success with Once A Month Shopping.

Look for an expanded series on building a kitchen binder, I have a LOT of ideas to