Interrupting your usual programming of truth bombs, honesty, and vulnerability for a practically genius invention I spotted recently on the Instagram Stories of a Catholic mom of six I follow.
Her name is Kate Whitaker and you’ll find her at https://teamwhitaker.org/ and @kwhitaker96.
I wish I could say that I came up with this, but I can’t; I’d rather give credit where credit is due. I’m sure there are a ton of printable grocery lists out there, but I found her own grocery list (see a picture of it here) to be so easy to implement, that instead of asking her to send me her printable, I just created my own based on the one she made.
The reason I wanted my own is because she lists several things that we don’t consume and omits others we do often get. (Her list has many unhealthy things, to be honest.) I figured you may also want to model your own after ours so I’m sharing it with you today.
When I lived with my parents before getting married, I never worried about grocery shopping or meal planning; my parents were responsible for that. In turn, I’d eat whatever they made. (I had a good life, I know.)
Fast-forward some time and I found myself married and living with a guy who had been living on his own for over a decade and knew how to fend for himself: He’s really handy around the house and knows how to do pretty much everything.
However, for some time before we got married I knew I wanted to be in charge of doing most of the cooking and meal planning–among other things. He’s a fabulous griller and smoker so I leave those up to him, but I’m happy to do the rest. (In fact, go visit my Stories Highlights for step-by-step recipes I make!)
Yet I have to admit it’s sometimes difficult to come up with a different plan every week. Do I do it based on what’s on sale that week? What we might be craving? What’s easy?
The challenge with doing it based on what’s on sale, at least for us, is that almost all of the food we buy is organic. If it’s not organic, there’s a chance we’re not getting it. And since organic food can be more expensive, there’s almost no point in making a plan based on what’s on sale as organic food is rarely on special.
(I know there are exceptions! For instance we sometimes shop mostly at Whole Foods and Sprouts [both of which promote sales on organic items], and the organic sections at our local Kroger and Fresh Market stores. However, these kids of sales may be difficult to come across to those of you who rely more on other chain grocery stores.)
That is where this free printable grocery list comes in handy!
By listing SO many ingredients, this list will help inspire meal planners who may find themselves lost amid possibilities and potential picky eaters.
Another reason I thought this thing was genius is because we’re just two people and we pretty much eat the same thing every day: We make two giant meals on the weekends and then portion them out for lunches and dinners for the week. Although lately, I’ve begun to forego making that week’s dinners on weekends, and instead I prep whatever ingredients they’ll require (e.g., sliced veggies and cut up chicken for fajitas) either on the weekends or Monday, and Chris will cook dinner after work with those prepped ingredients. So this list makes it easy to know what to get from the get-go!
Below I’ll be sharing the PDF and Word versions for the sake of convenience. If you don’t want to change a thing, the PDF is the one you want. If you want to modify it significantly, then download the Word doc instead. Again, this one is largely based on Kate’s own list; if you see items on hers that you want on yours because I excluded them on mine, then again, go ahead and get the Word version.
Oh, and if you grocery shop with a list from your phone like us?
No problem at all! Just print this list (or save it on your computer) and use it as reference, as inspiration, for the list you’ll create on your phone.
Speaking of: I use the Google Keep app to take all kinds of notes that include pictures and recordings, and of course make lists (its checkmarks are very handy!).
Then, when my husband does the grocery shopping and since he doesn’t have the app, I just share the list with him via text message and the app turns each checkmark into brackets, like so: [ ] , so that the recipient can more easily distinguish between the items.
Get the printables below:
PDF (or click on the picture)
And here’s the Word doc version.
Now you’re ready to more effectively hunt down for items at the grocery store: Go laminate the list (or copy it onto your phone) and you’re set!
– – –
How do YOU meal plan and grocery shop? Got any tips for those who might just be getting started?