Intentional Housekeeping: Part 5 - Planning Your Shopping Trip

Here we are again. We skipped a week due to the Thanksgiving holiday and I hope each of you found plenty to be thankful for.

With so many people in the house, I am very thankful that I was intentional and planned ahead. I was able to make dinner for everyone and still not spend my entire holiday in the kitchen. It was very relaxing!

In the last post, I mentioned my recipe binder....here's an in-depth look:


Once I have my meal plan written out and a list of ingredients, I can then make my master list. I write this out by hand. Writing it out helps me to think it through better and make sure I don't miss anything.

I find that writing my list using categories helps my shopping trip go smoother. I put things in categories like dairy, meat, frozen, pantry, produce and other. This saves missing something on the list and having to backtrack.

I add all the ingredients on my meal planner list as well as any other items we may need that week to the master list. For example: bread, yogurt, fruit for lunches, etc.

Once the master list is complete I compare it to the deals lists posted on Simple Saving Savvy for Homeland, CVS and Walgreens to decide which items should be purchased where. I then make a separate list for each specific store I will visit.

I then purchase the remaining items either at Crest or Walmart (usually switching back and forth so I can keep an eye on prices).

I also cushion in any deals I find that might be used for coming weeks and are too good to pass up. By planning menus and having a list of tried and true recipes, it makes it easier to stockpile and keep on hand those things you use regularly WITHOUT having to pay regular prices.

Quite a bit of planning and organization goes into my weekly shopping trips but it pays off in the end where budget and time are concerned.

How do you plan your shopping trips?