The Grocery Shopping Challenge

Last week, we worked on a meal plan that will save our sanity for weeks to come. This week we will do the grocery shopping.

#1 Get the lay-out lists for the grocery stores you shop in

Near the front entrance of most stores is an aisle list for the most common ingredients. You’ll want this so you can put your shopping list in the order the items appear in your store. If a store doesn’t have one, take time to go through the aisles noting the numbers (if any) and what can generally be found there. You can also do this with a grocery shopping app.

#2 Create a master shopping list

If you did your meal plan on paper, you’ll now combine totals for all ingredients needed to make the meals on your plan. In other words, you’ll know you need 8 pounds of chicken breast total for the month. You may wish to create a paper grocery list that is organized according to the aisle layout you obtained.

If you’re using a digital meal planner like Plan to Eat, the shopping list will be automatically generated for you. However, depending on how you entered the recipes, you may find that some of the ingredients aren’t listed for the correct aisle. This is where your aisle list can come in handy! Make sure all items are categorized properly so you don’t have them listed in different sections.

#3 Finish creating shopping list

To save the most time possible, you’ll want to have a master list of non-food items to purchase as well. If you don’t know how many items like paper towels and laundry detergent you purchase in a month, make note of the date you purchase them next and the date you run out for future planning. When you know how much of something you need each month, you are better able to take advantage of coupons and sales for bulk shopping.

If you don’t feel like being that organized, you can continue to organize the shopping list for your meals and just add these extra items to your weekly shopping list as needed. Your weekly shopping list will be much smaller with the advance shopping you’ll be doing.

#4 Shop and put items away

When I do monthly shopping, I go to two stores and have multiple carts. I need a clean vehicle and a helper or two. I definitely need space cleared for storage and lots of help to put items away. I recommend shopping when you have the most energy! If you’re using coupons or shopping sales, make sure you have everything you need organized. Oh, and don’t forget your purse! Yes, I have done this.

When you’re done, you will have saved lots of time in the upcoming month and probably money, too!

For more information on shopping for a monthly meal plan, read my free ebook, The Once-and-for-All Meal Plan.

Happy Shopping!

Here is the challenge on Periscope:

Here is a list of previous week’s challenges:

Orga nized Homeschool Challenge

Week 1: Daily Devotions Challenge

Week 2: Daily Routine Challenge

Week 3: To-Do List Challenge

Week 4: Memory Keeping Challenge

Week 5: The Decluttering Challenge

Week 6: The Organized Computer Challenge