Meal Planning 101: The List

I am a list girl. Always have been and always will be.

Real lists – the kind written with paper and pen are my favorite (because I love the satisfaction of crossing things off ), but I’ll take a bulleted outline in a Word document or a chart with numbered lines any day as well.

Once I’ve mapped out all my meals and snacks for the week, the final step in my meal prep process is making the grocery list. It should come as no surprise that making a weekly grocery list is a joy-filled task for me (no eye rolls please).

I mentioned this in Meal Planning 101: Essential Tools post, but below is the current list I use. It makes it easy to keep track of things by category, which I think also makes it easier to shop. You can follow the layout of your preferred grocery store and make sure you don’t forget anything in any of the categories listed.

Of course, you can use any piece of paper or an app on your phone if you prefer.

And, you can customize the categories according to what works best for you. I usually add an “other” category to my list, which is where I put things like toiletries, paper products, cleaning supplies, beverages, etc.

In addition to the ingredients required for the week’s menu, I also make sure to include any pantry or fridge staples as well. So, as I’m making my list, I do a run through of what we are out of or running low on, and then make sure to add it to the list.

Note: a well-stocked pantry is the key to keeping things easy and flexible, when your plan go awry during the week. If you’ve got the basics, you can pivot easily!

If you need some help figuring out what should be in your pantry, you can Google “What should I stock in my pantry?” and a gazillion articles and blogs will come up.

Once I have my list, then I set out to my favorite grocery stores to gather the loot!