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Grocery Shopping Made Easy
Thursday, December 29, 2005

I have an aunt who has a beautifully organized pantry. Everything in organized by size and shape and is in alphabetical order. Whenever anyone else in the family runs out of paper towels unintentionally or does not have enough mayonnaise to finish the potato salad, this aunt is the place to call.

Most people are not like my aunt. Their food cabinets are more of a smorgasbord of food than a really organized place where meals have been planned. If you would like to start to organize your time better, then one way you can do that is by being more organized about your food purchases. That will help you to save time with trips to the grocery store.

Chances are, though, that you know that already. You understand how you can save time by organizing your kitchen, but you do not know to get started. Well, I am here to help! Sit down for a crash course in Food Organizing 101.

First, make a list of the foods you frequently need. Many of these foods are foundational items, such as eggs, or items that you use often, such as milk. What foods do you always question if you have when you get to the store? Put these items all in a word processing program with a line between each item. If there is something that is always on your list, such as baby food, then put "baby food, ____ jars." This list is your master grocery list, and it will become your friend. Save the document. We will return to it shortly.

The second step will be to keep a list of the meals that your family eats often. Most families use some old stand-bys, such as meatloaf, lasagna, or tuna casserole. Once you have a list of foods that your family has eaten more than a couple of times, write down the ingredients you will need for each of those meals. You also should type up these ingredient lists. Your list may look like the following:

Chili
1 pound ground turkey
2 cans kidney beans
1 can basil-seasoned tomatoes
chili powder
2 cans tomato sauce

Then you can keep that list on hand. It is the regular meals list.

Next, you will need to decide how many times per week you would like to try a new dish. Do you want something every week? How about only twice a month? Part of this decision depends on how many regular meals you have. If, for example, you have only three regular meals but you want to only try one new dish a week, then your job for a while is to come up with a few regular meals.

To come up with new regular meals, then you will need to gather a few cookbooks. Try yard sales or book sales at libraries for some good cookbooks. You also can check out cookbooks from the library. If you are partial to certain ethnic cuisines, then you can look for cookbooks specifically with those types of recipes in mind. Another cheap place to find cookbooks is to use the checkout line at the grocery store. There are many cookbooks with themes, such as casseroles or one-dish, and they often cost $1 or less.

Begin looking for new regular meals by working through these cookbooks. Mark what you like and record the recipe in your regular meals list. If it is a meal you enjoy but will not eat often, then do not record it. Get a binder to put occasional meals in. Few people have the desire to try more than two new meals a week because the preparation takes longer for something you have never done before. That means that for the average month, you will need to have 10-15 regular meals to keep from having too much repetition in your diet.

Okay, you are ready to begin your monthly grocery planning. Yes, you read right. You are going to plan your meals monthly. By the end of the grocery-planning articles, you will find that you do not approach the food in your house the same way. Instead of dreading looking in the cabinet, you will find that your cabinets are stocked well in advance.

By Julia Mercer

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