This was definitely me before I started keeping running grocery lists in the NOTES on my phone.
I don’t want fancy grocery apps. I don’t go to several stores a week, etc.I don’t want handfuls of coupons. I just want a quick list with healthy foods on it! 🙂
Here is what I do:
1) A different page in my notes for each store I go to plus Amazon. (For me, that is Sam’s, Kroger, and Amazon. Plus a page for when my husband runs into Walmart once or twice a month.)
2) The bottom of each page has the ongoing list of the things I usually get there…somewhat grouped by area (though I will admit that the notes section is not nearly as user friendly as a WORD doc!).
3) The top of the list has the current grocery list for that week (or the next week…I alternate Sam’s then Kroger’s, etc.). I have been adding to this since the last time I was at that particular store.
4) When it is time to go, I do the following:
a. I ask everybody what needs added and add those items to the top.
b. I look at the meat sales and produce sales quickly (as in while I am getting my cart in the front of the store).
c. I decide sort of what we are eating next week. (With only four of us at home, this is not a huge deal…plus, I have my freezer entrees.)
d. If there are good meat sales, I add that meat in bulk a little– plus anything else it takes to make a few freezer entrees out of that meat (to the top for today). (I.e. If ground beef is on sale, and I just used our last lasagna, I will add eight pounds of ground beef and the lasagna ingredients for four pans of lasagna.)
e. I skim the bottom of the page (where the “things I often buy at this store” list is). If I remember we are low on something, I add it to the top.
5) Then I shop!
I had much more elaborate systems (too elaborate!) when we had seven kids at home, homeschooling–all meals and snacks at home! But this works for our little family right now and for the number of hours each week I am working.
Even if this is too simple for your home, I hope that you will see that sometimes “less is more.” Sometimes we make things harder than they need to be. Sometimes it doesn’t have to as long and laborious as we think it does.
KISS—Keep It Simple, Sister! 🙂
