I'm a big believer in lists. I love to cross things off. Sometimes, I even make lists knowing that I've already accomplished half of the things on it, just so I can be proud of myself. Who doesn't like to see those neat little lines, piercing horrid tasks like "clean the baseboards" straight throught the heart?
ooh, gives me a chill just to think about.
But I make lists... then I make lists about my list... then I make lists about my list about my master list... Do you see where I'm going with this? me neither.
At any rate. Ask and ye shall receive. I give you,
a grocery list.....
(click on the picture to see it up close and personal)
This is Grocery List #1. It coordinates with Menu #1.
Which is pretty impressive, no? I have 10 weeks of this... That's right. 10 weeks of meals, with very, very few repeats. (BTW, it's color coded as well... Yeah I'm a dork.) But that looks like just dinner, no? Why yes, that IS just dinners. But you see, I have a system.
Check out my menu bulletin board.
Breakfast and lunch are always the same. Not the same every day. Just the same week to week... My grocery list has all those items on there. Then I added everything you could possibly need for the dinners.... (oh, let me show you a close up of one of my cards. It has all the ingredients you need for dinner. Very husband and older children friendly... no more whining and saying, "but I don't know what to get out!" or "What's for dinner?" whine whine, simper, simper...)
Ingenious, yes?
So here's the deal. Like I said, I have 10 weeks of this stuff. And I have the Master Grocery List that coordinates with each menu, which already has breakfast, lunch, and snacks worked in. (I also feel like I should mention that Yes, my children do indeed eat all these things. Well, except for the Red Enchilada's. now I do Green Enchilada's since one of us decided to be super allergic to chili peppers, but I digress. My kids LOVE salad... because I taught them to.)
So then before you go Grocery shopping, you have to SHOP. AT. HOME.
Why? Oh, let's say you can't remember how many cans of green beans you have but you're sure it's only like, one or two. So you buy some. To go home and figure out that you have 18 cans of green beans, but no corn....
So you shop at home. Take a few minutes and see what you have in your cupboard, and cross it off the list accordingly. For example. The list I showed you says to get 2 packages of bacon. But you have one in the freezer. SO, cross out the 2 and put a 1. Because you only need 1. And so on and so forth.
So there you have it. And if you're thinking that groceries is the only thing I make lists for? You just don't really know a danged thing about me, then, do you?
Oh yeah. Be afraid, be very, very afraid.....
