Having a system in place to ease the struggle of "what's for dinner?" and the grocery shopping can be a huge time and stress saver for many people. Follow these tips and you will be on your way to staying on top of meals.
Make a menu.
- This may sound overwhelming to some people but if you use a computer calendar like Apple's ical, you can have your menu repeat for you on a regular basis. If you go to the trouble of making a monthly or yearly menu, why not have it repeat each month or year? Not having to decide what to make for dinner each night is a major stress reliever.
Create a database on your computer for recipes.
- Recipes can be copied and pasted from websites like allrecipes.com in a snap. When you look at your menu for the week, simply copy the ingredients for each recipe for week and paste it into your grocery list. Print it out and you have everything you need to make that week's menu.
Highlight what you have.
- Using a highlighter, mark the items from your printed grocery list that you already have on hand in the house. These are the items you no longer need to purchase. If your kitchen, pantry and refrigerator are organized, the process can take as little as 5-10 minutes of time.
Keep a running list.
- It can be as simple as having a magnetic pad on your refrigerator or as cool as a product like http://www.smartshopperusa.com/. Whatever it is, get in the habit of recording it when you run out of something so you don't need to remember it when you are at the grocery store. Just before you leave for the store, transfer these items to your printed list.
Become a regular.
- Shop at the same grocery store every time. You become familiar with the layout and can find things more quickly.
