So you have picked out your recipes and it’s time to find the food. I’m sure there are plenty of ways that someone can easily put together their shopping list, but I can only tell you what works for me!
The first thing I do is print off the recipes I plan on using. You will need them anyway when it comes time to put the meals together. Once those are all together, I get a cup of coffee and get comfy on the couch with a notebook and pen. One recipe at a time, I go through and tally up the ingredients I need as I go. Something like this…
Pay special attention to things that you don’t need until you are actually making the meal. Example: if you are making one of my favs, crock pot cheesy chicken and broccoli, you don’t put the broccoli in until you are ready to serve. So, you don’t need to purchase broccoli right away (unless you plan on making that meal soon.. Before the broccoli goes bad!). If it’s something that won’t go bad an a month or so, feel free to get it when ever. If you have limited storage space like myself, you can hold off until you actually need it!
Once you have all of your ingredients tallied up, feel free to rewrite your list so it’s easy to read. I can be ocd, so I also group my ingredients together by what kind they are. That way all my meats are listed together, my produce is listed together, canned goods, and on and on. In the end, my lists end up looking something like this
Next, you will need to figure out what stores are going to save you the most money. I actually shop at 5 different stores to get everything! My first stop is always Costco. Anything I need a TON of (like 237 oz. of chicken broth… 60 chicken breasts) I get there. For my meat, I go to the local House of Meats. Best deals on meat, and it’s a local business! Produce, if it’s not summer and I can’t get it from my own garden, I only go to one place. If you are from the Toledo area and have never been to Ciolino’s, you are missing out! You can get emails sent to you with their daily sales, and all you have to do is show them the email on your phone! Here is an example of today’s sale
Once Costco, house of meats, and Ciolino’s are done, I head over to Aldis to get whatever I can get there that’s still on the list. And last but not least, I go to Kroger to take care of any stragglers I have left.
Once you get home, try to keep all your canned items and other like items together. It will be easier to find when you need while putting the meals together!
The Apathetic Chef 