Food: Create your own Grocery Planner

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Create your own Grocery Planner
Friday, July 28, 2006

By Christina VanGinkel

Magazines and local shopping guides often include grocery planners as freebies. The problem with this is that too often, over half of the categories are often those that we never, or rarely, use, and the planners often focus only on the items and not the cost, which is an important part of anybody's grocery planning nowadays. We might have good intentions as we clip these planners, intending to put them to use, but intent often never turns to practice.

A grocery planner can be an important tool in today's economy though, so what can someone do to make the most of those being offered in this way? Clip a couple of them to borrow the category titles and subcategories from, and then toss. Take a small refillable notebook, or your Palm Pilot or Pocket PC if you are more of the electronic gadget type, and with the aid of the borrowed category titles and your own kitchen cupboards and pantry, create your own Grocery Planner that will work in a way that helps you shop sensibly. If you do use your Palm or Pocket PC, make sure that it connects to your computer so that you can easily print your planner each week before heading to the store.

Build the planner in way that will leave room for checking off those items you need to replace, those you have a coupon for, and a place to record the last price paid including the size, if battening down your budget is going to be a part of the planner's goal.

Next, to make your grocery planner work to its greatest potential, take the time to open your own cabinets, your pantry, and your refrigerator, and take note of the groceries and staples in each of them. Ask yourself what some of your standby meals are, and consider the ingredients you use to make them. Throughout these tasks, make note of the grocery items needed to make each. Referring to the clipped planners from a magazine or paper, also take note of some of the more basic staples that you might overlook. Be sure to take note of items such as salt and other spices, flour, sugar, pastas, etc.

I also have a separate category of those groceries I almost always need. This short list includes milk and bread, along with apples, pistachios, and raisins. My family goes through these five items, three of which I consider short shelf life items, frequently and in large amounts. If your family has such a list, create its own category. Instead of making a check that you need these, keep track of the date that each was last bought, and in what quantity. By doing this, you will quickly build a guide by which you can gauge how much of and how often you buy these item to help you cut down on those trips to the store just to replace these frequently used up items. This might seem like a bit of work, but in the end, think of the time saved for those last minute trips to the store to replace items such as these that you go thorough repeatedly.

I also have a bulk category, under which falls items such as paper toweling and bathroom tissue, laundry soap, and light bulbs. I buy these items whenever I come across a sale; sticking to those brands my family is comfortable with. This helps avoid the dreaded question of 'Are we out of toilet paper?'

I happen to be a coupon clipper too, so I have incorporated my coupons into my Grocery Planner. I use a small file box that I picked up at the dollar store to accommodate both my coupons and small notebook planner. It keeps everything in one place and easy to use. If you would rather paper clip your coupons into the notebook, or even make something fancier such as an altered checkbook cover turn planner and coupon center, go for it. If dressing it up means that you will be more apt to use it, then by all means do so!

Remember that the most organized Grocery Planner will be of no use unless you use it. So create your own in such a way that it will be of use, easy to use, and memorable enough that you remember to take it with you whenever you head to the store.

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