*I highly recommend you read parts one, two, and three of this Menu Planning How-To’s Series before continuing.*

Okay. So we have covered Why menu planning is a good idea, various ways How menu planning can be achieved, and the many different resources available to Help you menu plan. Today we will be discussing how shopping factors in to meal planning.

First off, shopping willy-nilly at the grocery store without a list is a bad idea. Having some idea of what you need and writing it down on paper will not only save you a headache as you browse the aisles, you will save lots of moolah as well. Below I will share some shopping tips and how to organize a shopping trip while you are in the process of meal planning.

Tips to keep in mind

• Do not go to the grocery store either hungry or tired. This is often talked about and well known but yes, it does bear repeating. If you are hungry while walking about a building packed with food you will buy stuff you don’t need. Your cart will suddenly be carrying all kinds of packaged snacks and things you might not normally buy. As for the tired part, you are less likely to stick to your list if you aren’t energized and are bogged down by fatigue. I go shopping by myself early in the morning after breakfast. The plus to this is that there are less people at the stores during this time.
• Shop by aisle. We’ll go more into this later on but this tip will save you a lot of time.
• Don’t forget a pen or pencil to cross things off of your list. You will see easily what is left for you to pick up and you’ll be encouraged by seeing that you are getting something done.
• If you are not the one who will be shopping (say, for instance, you are sending your husband to the grocery store) make your shopping list easily understood by that person. For instance, if I write down three cans diced tomatoes, I’ll know in my mind that I want the large cans. My husband won’t know that so I make sure to write down the ounces needed when I make a shopping list that he will be using.
• Leave the cold stuff for last. In my grocery store the produce is the first thing you see when you walk into the store. Then there are the frozen food sections. I start on the aisles just past those, such as the coffee and tea aisle, and work my way to the back of the store where the dairy items are. Then I go back to the store and pick up any frozen items or produce before I head to check-out. This ensures that my cold items are not thawing or warming up while I am getting other things.
• If you use coupons or price match with flyers, keep those readily available for you to look at. I suggest a clipboard with your shopping list and flyers and coupons attached. You will have everything ready at check out. Digging around in a cluttered purse after shopping to find crinkled up coupons and the like makes for an unhappy check-out experience. (Ask me how I know!) Of course, there are many ladies out there who have couponing down to a science and so they may offer other suggestions on how to better do this. As I have said before I do not coupon or price match myself.
• When putting grocery and non-grocery items on the conveyor built, group them together. Cold stuff together, boxes together, canned goods together, personal items together, and cleaning products together. Anything fragile such as eggs or bread needs to go at the end so that you can place those on top without getting ruined.

How to create a shopping list while making your menu plan.

• There are two ways I generally go about this. I either write out the list as I plug in each meal for my meal plan, or I make up the entire meal plan and then look at each day and write down needed ingredients. Personally I find it easier and faster to make up the menu plan at one time and then to move on to the shopping list and do that separately. Otherwise I have two things going on at once and I feel bogged down and easily get discouraged.
• If you haven’t done so it would be wise to keep a pad of paper on the fridge help up by a magnet to write down items as you think of them before meal planning time. If I see I am low on something I add it before I actually run out. I rarely run out of items at the last minute. Also, if my husband calls me on his way home from work and asks if I need anything at the store, I can easily look at my running list and let him know. Works great and saves me quite a few headaches. When you are finished making your shopping list from your new meal plan, make sure to add whatever you still need from the fridge list.
• When writing up your shopping list group items together in two categories: food and non-food. I shop at a major supermarket and most non-food items are kept separately from the food items. I generally get paper items and anything we don’t eat before I actually starting putting groceries into my cart. Keep any cleaning supplies away from food so that there is no contamination to what you are going to put into your mouth.
• When making this shopping list be sure that you are thinking ahead. Look around your home. If you have half a package of toilet paper you may think you have enough to last till the next shopping trip, but more than likely you will run out. Go ahead and purchase whatever you are getting low on if you are financially able. Remember, less trips to the grocery store for last-minute items means less spending of your hard-earned dollars.
• Make an extra copy or two of your shopping list. There have been a few times when I have either spilled something on my list making it unreadable or have lost it entirely. Because I make extra copies and also keep a copy on my computer I don’t need to panic.

What have I missed? How do you shop? What tips do you have? I hope this has helped somewhat and will give some basic ideas as to how making a shopping list and how shopping at the grocery store can save money and time.

On Friday I will be sharing an interview Laura from Organizing Junkie! Stay tuned!

Photo credits: iboy_daniel, BruceTurner,