I recently received a question from a reader asking how I manage to not buy duplicates when I go grocery shopping. Until I received that question, it hadn’t occurred to me that I was guilty of doing that very thing on countless occasions. Then I realized I haven’t had it happen in a while… hmmm?
Picture this true-to-life scene: You walk through the door with your many bags of groceries in tow. You gingerly sit them on the counter and start unpacking them to put in their respective places. As you add the bell peppers, the cucumbers, the cheese, and a few other items to the refrigerator, you quickly realize that you could have saved your money on those items since you are fully stocked. “Oh well,” you think, “let’s load up the pantry.” Turning to the pantry you are shocked to realize that the situation is much the same in there…
Sound familiar? Well, that was often the scene in on any given Sunday in my house. There’s nothing like coming home from your weekly trip to the grocery store to discover that at least 30%-40% of what you just purchased is already in your frig or pantry.It’s extremely frustrating because not only is it a waste of money, its potentially going to be a waste of food as well.
Now the question remains, how have I rectified the problem for my household? First, I think the most important change made was to start meal planning. Planning for the week ahead not only saves me from constantly thinking about what I’m going to eat but it’s also the key to my shopping trip. Once all the meals are planned, I write all the ingredients down on my Grocery List printable. Well, I don’t include the seasonings, unless it’s something unique I've never used before.
With my completed grocery list in tow, I make the short trek from the office to the kitchen to compare my grocery list with what’s already in the frig and freezer. If I already have something I can simply cross it off the list now and not waste my money at the store.
Next, I take stock of what’s in the pantry as well. I can once again mark off what’s on my list that I already have and I can add the staple items that we are low on.
Can you tell this was taken before my shopping trip? It’s looking kinda bare, need to fill this baby up.
Lastly, I have a chalkboard where I write down items we've run out of during the past week. I double check to make sure they made to my list as well. This hangs right across from the kitchen island so its in plain sight and easily accessible.
The whole process takes about 10-15 minutes and saves me time in the grocery store (I hate grocery shopping) and saves money, so it’s well worth it to me.
That’s all… now it’s off to the store.
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