Anyone want to help me make a grocery list?

[Amy]

I HATE grocery shopping. It takes me hours to come up with meal ideas in order to make a list, and if I don't make a list...well then, I just buy what looks good and usually have to go grocery shopping a lot sooner.

I don't have long to cook and need kid-friendly ideas for meals that I can throw together real quick- a short amount of preparation (cooking time doesn't matter AS much so long as it's less than an hour).

Help, please? I don't want to spend the whole morning looking on allrecipes. I hate Sundays. Errands, laundry, house cleaning, homework. Guh.

[Ms347]

The way we do it is write out the days of the week til the next grocery trip and start thinking bout the things we like... ie put spaghetti on one day and so forth til we have as many days minus the ones we 'think' will be leftovers.

Then go back through the cupboards and freezer and stuff and on a diff sheet write down what we need in order to make those meals. Since DH takes his lunch to work we add that in there so while we're shopping we know how many lunches we need and breakfast sandwiches and stuff.

Sundays aren't too bad. Good luck!!

[New2This]

I keep a calendar on the computer. That way when I need a dinner idea I have a few months of ideas to look from. It prevents me from repeating things to often and helps me to remember how old leftovers are. I usuallly sit down and plan a week or two in advance using what I have in the pantry and freezer and then go and pick up the things I need at the store. Sometimes I try to plan a little longer in advance if we are doing a big run to he commisary or walmart (which is in the next town).

[s. rosa]

I absolutely LOATHE figuring out what to make for dinner, and making grocery lists. One day I sat down, went through all my cookbooks, marked the recipes I liked (with a different color post-it for lunch, dinner, and side dishes), figured out how to lay out the week (i.e. fast dinner on mon and wed because of class, chicken tuesday, beef friday etc) and wrote out four months worth of meal plans in one week increments. Then, for each week, I typed up a grocery list.

Now every grocery day all I have to do is click print, and I have my list, and I won't have to figure out what to make for dinner for like the next three months, and that's if I decide not to just start from the beginning of this plan. It took me two days to do, but oh. my. god. It's totally worth it.

[daisyluvbug]

Do you have a crockpot?

When we grocery shop, we stock up on meats first. Roast, ground beef, chix, etc. Roasts are great for throwing into the crockpot. My crockpot is used a lot! More so when I was working outside of the home full-time. I have more time to prepare foods now.

I have a tendency to keep pasta sauces and noodles on hand because it is quick and easy to make. And it can be spruced up with veggies or meat easily.

Biquik or Jiffy baking mix is something else that I keep on hand. I like to try new recipes and sometimes I just pull them off the back of the box.

Rice. We eat rice with a lot of things. We've got a rice cooker and I love it! Again, makes the cooking process a bit easier.

When I make menus, I use my google calendar. DB can go in and add/change if he wants (though he never does).

I've got a five year old. I make mac-n-cheese, fish sticks, veggie burgers, kielbasa or smoked sausage (some of her faves that she could eat over and over again). Cheese quesadillas are another fave.