5 Tools for More Efficient Grocery Planning
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Want to save time and money when grocery planning? Here are 5 of my favourite tools to make it a breeze.
1. Dry-erase calendar. Plan ahead of time what meals you are going to make. This way you can ensure that you will have the right ingredients on hand and any frozen items thawed in time. Check your current inventory and try to plan meals around what you already have. I purchased this dry erase board from Walmart.
2. Magnetized list. Having a magnetized list right on my refrigerator allows me to jot things down more easily as I'm planning meals on my calendar or notice I've run out of an item. I purchased this magnetic list pad from Dollar Tree.
Additionally, I keep all of my writing tools for grocery planning in this small magnetic mesh organizer on the refrigerator, directly beside my calendar and list, so they are always handy. I also purchased this mesh organizer at Dollarama and these and Expo Dry Erase Markers from Walmart.
3. Grocery Store Planner. To make my grocery trips more efficient, before I head out I sit down for about 5 minutes and transfer my list to my Grocery Store Planner. I have broken up the planner into specific departments of the grocery store and I fill in each section appropriately. This way when I am in that department of the store I can just check that section of my Grocery Store Planner without having to check my entire list every time I am in a new department. If you know your grocery store well, you could even be more specific and make your own planner broken down each specific aisle.
4. Coupon binder. Whenever I get coupons for food that I am actually going to buy I place them in my Coupon Binder. I purchased a basic binder from Dollarama and inserted baseball card holder pages inside. I insert the coupons inside each slot (with the expiry date showing) and use dividers, again, to separate each different department of the grocery store.
5. Cell phone. Of course you should always check your inventory before heading out to the grocery store but why not take a quick photo of your refrigerator and pantry before you leave the house. When you're in the store wondering if you already have that item at home you can just take a quick peek at your photo.
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