GET ORGANIZED
How To:
Organize Your Grocery List
Have you ever gone to the grocery store with some items
and meals in mind but when you get home, you find that you have
only bought enough ingredients to make part of two recipes, but
not enough ingredients to make one whole recipe? This system
will help you avoid that in the future.
This may seem like an unnecessary topic, but this
organization tip will come in handy if you’re on a budget when
grocery shopping. It will also help if you unexpectedly run out of
time while shopping and don’t have enough time to finish buying
everything on your list.
Photo Credit: Fried Dough
This method allows you to break down your grocery list
into meals so that you know which ingredient belongs to which meal—at a glance. It is very simple. When
you write out your list, assign each meal a color. You can use markers, highlighters, colored pencils—get
creative! When thinking of the ingredients that each meal needs, write them in the corresponding color. This
can also be done in Excel (yes, I type my grocery lists in Excel sometimes!). In Excel, the color of the text can
be changed to match the recipe.
When you come across an item needed in two separate recipes, you can write the word in pen, or in
one color and indicate the number needed for each recipe in the color that corresponds with the recipe.
When you come across an item needed in two separate recipes, you can write the word in pen, or in one
color and indicate the number needed for each recipe in the color that corresponds with the recipe.
Example: Tomatoes are needed for 3
different recipes, so the numbers are
written in 3 different colors.
Photo Credit: Tom Karas
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Writing the total number in parenthesis
after each ingredient will show you the
total needed for each ingredient at a
glance.