A reader emailed me this morning asking about my Master Grocery List. I've had a couple of emails along those lines in recent weeks so I thought I'd describe how I use mine.
I'd often see printable Master Grocery Lists online and very quickly learned that they weren't specific enough for me (many brands listed we don't get here in Australia, and so on). But they were a good starting off point so I began by using them as 'memory joggers' to build my own. On mine, I slotted each item into specific categories. This is where my OCD rears its head again, LOL. I have over twenty different categories from Meat, Fruit & Vegetables and Toiletries through to Laundry Products, Beverages and Baking. It just helps keep it all straight in my own head. I used the online lists and my grocery receipts to build my own Master Grocery List to a point where most of our regular purchases were listed. I also left a 'Misc' section at the end with bullet points.
I printed off several of these and slipped them into a sleeve of my Home Management Binder. Each week I take one out and stick it to the fridge. I keep a highlighter marker nearby and instead of writing down items on a regular list, I highlight the item on the Master Grocery List instead.
There are a few benefits to doing it this way. Firstly, you can just grab the list and go on grocery day, and then buy only the items you've highlighted. With everything neatly compartmentalized, shopping is a breeze - milk and cheese from the Dairy section, potatoes and mandarins from the produce section, and so on. But I also tend to be walking through the store and running into non-advertised sales, or new brands that are cheaper than the brand I usually buy (no couponing down here...all you over in the US make me insanely jealous). Though you may not need the item that week (ie, it isn't highlighted on your list), having a full list of the items you purchase regularly right there in your hand will prompt and remind you either stock up on the sale item (since, if it's on your Master Grocery List, it will be something you would eventually use) or it will help to remind you that no, you don't use that item regularly enough (ie, it's not on your list at all) and therefore no matter how good the sale is, it's not a good use of your money.
Here's a link to my own Master Grocery List (PDF). Please be aware that this is offered as an illustration only - some of the brands won't exist in the States (or elsewhere), and some of the products will be unfamiliar. Anything I've listed is purchased with enough regularity to warrant its position on the list, but that frequency of purchase could be weekly or it could be every two months (for example, icecream is on the list, even though we buy it only occasionally over summer and never during winter). My list also includes categories for Stationery & Postage, Chemist (Drugstore - anything non-prescription) and Household (air freshener, paper towels, batteries and so on). These three categories are included more for convenience sake, as the chemist is right next to the grocery store where I do most of my shopping and I usually pick up the stationery items and minor household stuff with the groceries as well. And I don't list brands here, just items. You can make the decision about which brand/item when you consider the sales circulars and coupons before you go shopping.
So use mine as a guide to jumpstart your own. You can easily open a Word document, adjusting the columns and margins to suit. I find it easier to have everything on the one side of one sheet of paper, but if you prefer a larger font, or have as many items as I do, then you can print on the back of the paper as well. One sheet definitely works much better though. Another thing you might like to do is to use 'checklist boxes' bullets so that you have a space to tick off your purchases as you go through the store. Highlight the items you need as normal, then tick them when they go into your cart (I run a line through mine). For quantities, simply handwrite the amounts of things you need next to the highlighted item, for example: Chicken breast fillets, 1 kg.
Hope that helps!
Cheers,
Lizzie
I'd often see printable Master Grocery Lists online and very quickly learned that they weren't specific enough for me (many brands listed we don't get here in Australia, and so on). But they were a good starting off point so I began by using them as 'memory joggers' to build my own. On mine, I slotted each item into specific categories. This is where my OCD rears its head again, LOL. I have over twenty different categories from Meat, Fruit & Vegetables and Toiletries through to Laundry Products, Beverages and Baking. It just helps keep it all straight in my own head. I used the online lists and my grocery receipts to build my own Master Grocery List to a point where most of our regular purchases were listed. I also left a 'Misc' section at the end with bullet points.
I printed off several of these and slipped them into a sleeve of my Home Management Binder. Each week I take one out and stick it to the fridge. I keep a highlighter marker nearby and instead of writing down items on a regular list, I highlight the item on the Master Grocery List instead.
There are a few benefits to doing it this way. Firstly, you can just grab the list and go on grocery day, and then buy only the items you've highlighted. With everything neatly compartmentalized, shopping is a breeze - milk and cheese from the Dairy section, potatoes and mandarins from the produce section, and so on. But I also tend to be walking through the store and running into non-advertised sales, or new brands that are cheaper than the brand I usually buy (no couponing down here...all you over in the US make me insanely jealous). Though you may not need the item that week (ie, it isn't highlighted on your list), having a full list of the items you purchase regularly right there in your hand will prompt and remind you either stock up on the sale item (since, if it's on your Master Grocery List, it will be something you would eventually use) or it will help to remind you that no, you don't use that item regularly enough (ie, it's not on your list at all) and therefore no matter how good the sale is, it's not a good use of your money.
Here's a link to my own Master Grocery List (PDF). Please be aware that this is offered as an illustration only - some of the brands won't exist in the States (or elsewhere), and some of the products will be unfamiliar. Anything I've listed is purchased with enough regularity to warrant its position on the list, but that frequency of purchase could be weekly or it could be every two months (for example, icecream is on the list, even though we buy it only occasionally over summer and never during winter). My list also includes categories for Stationery & Postage, Chemist (Drugstore - anything non-prescription) and Household (air freshener, paper towels, batteries and so on). These three categories are included more for convenience sake, as the chemist is right next to the grocery store where I do most of my shopping and I usually pick up the stationery items and minor household stuff with the groceries as well. And I don't list brands here, just items. You can make the decision about which brand/item when you consider the sales circulars and coupons before you go shopping.
So use mine as a guide to jumpstart your own. You can easily open a Word document, adjusting the columns and margins to suit. I find it easier to have everything on the one side of one sheet of paper, but if you prefer a larger font, or have as many items as I do, then you can print on the back of the paper as well. One sheet definitely works much better though. Another thing you might like to do is to use 'checklist boxes' bullets so that you have a space to tick off your purchases as you go through the store. Highlight the items you need as normal, then tick them when they go into your cart (I run a line through mine). For quantities, simply handwrite the amounts of things you need next to the highlighted item, for example: Chicken breast fillets, 1 kg.
Hope that helps!
Cheers,
Lizzie
1 comments:
I made my own master list some time ago after reading this, after shopping with it a few times I refined it a little. Then I printed it out, wandered across the road to Officeworks and had it laminated. now I use a wipe-off whiteboard marker to tick items that I need, then on shopping day I take the list and as I pick up the ticked items I cross the tick making an x. Next day I wipe it clean and post it back on the fridge.
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