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[Guest inoubliable]

Hire Aunty Social's kid to write you up a program?

 

Yeah. That's the best I can do. I just read your post and hers back to back. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around being able to make pizza dough in my stand mixer.

 

Oh. Wait. I don't know how you could pull it up on an iPad, but couldn't you create a spreadsheet with items crossed with months and enter a value in for how much at each month? I have no idea how clear that is, but it looks awesome in my head.

[BrookValley.]

Hire Aunty Social's kid to write you up a program?

 

Yeah. That's the best I can do. I just read your post and hers back to back. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around being able to make pizza dough in my stand mixer.

 

Oh. Wait. I don't know how you could pull it up on an iPad, but couldn't you create a spreadsheet with items crossed with months and enter a value in for how much at each month? I have no idea how clear that is, but it looks awesome in my head.

 

 

Ok. I seriously lol'ed at that. Whole post. Too funny.

 

But as for the OP's question: I don't have a great suggestion for how to set your lists up, but I might go at it differently altogether; I'd probably use inventories (freezer, pantry, fridge) and generate my lists each month from those.

[2squared]

I just keep a stocked pantry. At the beginning of the month I check my pantry, and if I have 2 boxes of pasta, I would know to buy 6 more. I keep a spare of most things, so I would have two olive oils and add it to the grocery list when I was down to one. Alternatively, I would notice at the beginning of the month that olive oil was running low and add it to that month's grocery run.

[TammyinTN]

I'm just like Jennifer and keep a running tab of what's on hand. I restock around the 1st and 15th of each month. I only go out for fresh milk, fresh produce and fresh veggies inbetween my 2 big shopping trips.

[Steffanyace]

This is the best app:

 

Menu Planner by InnovaDev, LLC

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/menu-planner/id304945491?mt=8

 

You can download recipes from anywhere on the Internet or enter your own recipes. It keeps track of what you have in your pantry. You can schedule your meals on the calendar. Tell it which days you want to shop for. It knows which ingredients you don't have and will put those on your shopping list for you. You can add other things to your list as well. It will keep track of how much the items cost at the stores you shop. It can account for coupons. I could go on and on. The app maker seems to be very responsive too. I bet they would add things you needed to the app if you ask. It is great! Well worth the money!!!

 

There is another app that is just a grocery list, but other family members can add things to it even as you are shopping. I forgot the name of it though.

[ksr5377]

I don't know if it's a possibility for you or not, but I find that it works best if I do the MAJOR once a month grocery shopping and then have DH pick up things like milk and fresh produce the rest of the time. He does a better job of sticking to the list mainly b/c he doesn't know what's on the menu and so he can't think "Oh, garlic bread sounds SO good with the pasta we're having tomorrow." Also, he doesn't mind the quick, easy trips and it helps that he can easily go without children, he just runs in after work 2-3 times a month.

ETA: And what I wanted to say at the very beginning and yet somehow forgot to mention is that we use the Menu Planner app as well and really like it!

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[happypamama]

I'd set up a Notability note myself, but that's because I adore Notability. It is exactly the all-purpose keeper of lists that I've always needed, and I don't lose it. In fact, I set up a freezer inventory on it, which is really helpful. For your purposes, I'd maybe set up a heading for each month, spreadsheet (I use QuickOffice) or note, and list the things that need to be purchased in those months.

 

In my case, I know that we use certain staples a lot -- frozen veggies, canned tomato products, chicken breast, coffee, certain household and personal products -- and for those that tend to be expensive if not on sale, I watch for sales so I can stock up. For instance, when I inventoried my freezer the other day, I saw that I was low on chicken breast and coffee, so I made a note to purchase those the next time I saw them on sale. Lo and behold, chicken was on sale when I went to the store last week, so I bought at least a month's worth. Today, there was the buy one get one free sale on the coffee we like, so I bought 8 bags, which should last us for about 8 weeks, which is roughly when the sale should come around again.

 

Now that I write that, I think I will make a note of when I bought things like chicken and coffee so that I can, over time, track the sales. I do shop mainly at one particular chain of stores; I live minimum of 10 miles from any grocery store, so I would waste more in time and gas to shop at multiple stores each week than I would save (plus I rely heavily on the gas discount points I get from the one chain), and that probably helps, because I know what is a regular price, an okay sale, and a great sale at that store.

[AdventureMoms]

This is the best app:

 

Menu Planner by InnovaDev, LLC

https://itunes.apple...d304945491?mt=8

 

You can download recipes from anywhere on the Internet or enter your own recipes. It keeps track of what you have in your pantry. You can schedule your meals on the calendar. Tell it which days you want to shop for. It knows which ingredients you don't have and will put those on your shopping list for you. You can add other things to your list as well. It will keep track of how much the items cost at the stores you shop. It can account for coupons. I could go on and on. The app maker seems to be very responsive too. I bet they would add things you needed to the app if you ask. It is great! Well worth the money!!!

 

There is another app that is just a grocery list, but other family members can add things to it even as you are shopping. I forgot the name of it though.

 

Oh that is nifty. I may have to try it out. THe pantry tracker is especially cool. Can you tell it what actually got eaten (ie the kids actually ate the WHOLE box of waffles even though I was only planning on them eating 4....)?

[Matryoshka]

I just keep a stocked pantry. At the beginning of the month I check my pantry, and if I have 2 boxes of pasta, I would know to buy 6 more. I keep a spare of most things, so I would have two olive oils and add it to the grocery list when I was down to one. Alternatively, I would notice at the beginning of the month that olive oil was running low and add it to that month's grocery run.

 

I do this and shop the sales. I try to stock up on things when they're on sale. I only buy whatever meat's on sale, and then buy enough to freeze. When I'm being really good I meal plan for the week and plan 2-3 meals that I specifically buy for, the rest will be leftovers or pantry meals.

 

I usually shop once a week.

[2squared]

We used up most of our food storage last year and are looking to restock it this year. We've never approached it with a deliberate plan, and are interested in trying something new. In the past, I've always just looked in the pantry, made a list out and went shopping. It never fails that i forget to include several things, hence the extra trips to the store. If we have master lists that are scheduled out, it should spread out the purchases, make it easier on our budget, make sure we're well stocked, and allow us to build a food storage back up.

 

I've never made a spreadsheet in my life, maybe I'll play around with that.

 

I don't think you even need a spreadsheet. I have one, but it's just a list of all the things we buy in the span of a month. You could make a master list and probably add to it every shopping trip since you will forget some things. The master list would have the name of the item you need and next to it you could put how much you want stocked in your pantry/freezer. Write all that out and make copies of it. When it's time to shop, run through the list comparing what you have to what the list says you need. My list is organized by type of food - produce, dairy, toiletries, baking, etc.

 

The other thing I do is write down on a list on the fridge when we run out of things (or get low) so I don't forget to include them in the next grocery run. Right now I have walnuts and veg oil on my list for the next time we do a major grocery run.

 

The combination of a master list and a perpetual grocery list means our pantry stays pretty well stocked.

[Steffanyace]

 

 

Oh that is nifty. I may have to try it out. THe pantry tracker is especially cool. Can you tell it what actually got eaten (ie the kids actually ate the WHOLE box of waffles even though I was only planning on them eating 4....)?

 

 

It will only adjust your pantry supply based off of what you told it you would eat in your calendar. You can adjust your pantry inventory on the app though for those times you eat more/less than what you have on your calendar.

 

I love that I can make a meal plan for the whole month in one day and not have that daily stress of what to make for dinner. I can tell the app I want to shop for one week (or the whole month). It will make my shopping list for me which is really nice! The shopping list is sorted into categories, so I can go orderly through the grocery store saving time. I hate grocery shopping, so I love that!

 

So long as the pantry inventory is adjusted as needed, this app is a big time saver.

[skeeterbug]

 

I love that I can make a meal plan for the whole month in one day and not have that daily stress of what to make for dinner. I can tell the app I want to shop for one week (or the whole month). It will make my shopping list for me which is really nice! The shopping list is sorted into categories, so I can go orderly through the grocery store saving time. I hate grocery shopping, so I love that!

 

 

 

Can you print your grocery list? Or email it? I don't want to take my ipad to the store, I'm wondering if I can somehow transfer my list to my android phone, maybe by email.

[Steffanyace]

 

 

Can you print your grocery list? Or email it? I don't want to take my ipad to the store, I'm wondering if I can somehow transfer my list to my android phone, maybe by email.

 

 

You can email your shopping list. I've gotten to where I bring my ipad to the store, so I can check things off as I go. Sometimes I want to double check recipes if the store is out of what I need to see if I might be able to substitute something else.

 

You can email your recipes to other people too.