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It’s Freebie Friday! Today’s free printable is my meal planner and grocery shopping list. Before I had a family I could wing my meals. It was easy to throw something together at the last minute and be happy with what was for dinner. However, as our family has grown to six hungry mouths to feed three times a day (plus snacks), I’ve been forced to start planning.
Personally, I hate grocery shopping. I don’t know why, but I can’t stand it, and I’m lucky to have a husband who does it for our family. However, I do have to plan the meals, compile a list, and cook everything, which is where this printable comes in handy.
Our list making has evolved through the years. I used to write everything in one big list but frequently found myself running from one side of the store to another, and the inefficiency drove me crazy. When my husband kindly took over, he too would be gone for much longer than I anticipated because the list was disorganized.
I eventually started meal planning at the top of our list and writing needed ingredients at the bottom, which were divided into categories. We were then able to make our way through the store just once grabbing what we needed along the way. This worked great until we got home where we’d usually throw the now tattered list in the trash… along with the meals at the top! Mommy brain barely allows me to remember my name let alone various meals for the week so this printable was born from years of frustration and confusion. (Who knew meal planning could be so dramatic?!)
What I love about this printable is that I’m able to meal plan across the top, list what I need to buy at the bottom, and cut the list along the polka dotted line so the meal plan can stay at home while the bottom half goes to the store.
Now my meal plan stays pristine on the side of my fridge so I can easily refer to it…
while the shopping list accompanies my husband to the store and can be thrown away afterwards.
I hope this helps things run a little more smoothly around your home too.
You can access this and all of my other free printables by signing up for my newsletter. Just enter your e-mail address in the sidebar right over there —–> A welcome message will be automatically sent to you soon afterwards with a link to all of my available printables.
I like the detachable meal plan! Thanks for sharing on the Get Inspired Hop! I’m going to pin it to the You’ve Inspired Us! board on Pinterest 🙂
Thank you, and thanks for hosting! 🙂
Thanks for linking up to The Creative Home and Garden Hop, which is where I found you! I’m following you now on G+ and have just added your blog button to my button collection. http://mumtopia.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-button-collection.html#.UiORtdLObZI . Looking forward to future posts!
Best wishes from England!
Thanks so much, Alison 🙂
You just got featured at http://mumtopia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/the-creative-home-and-garden-hop-7.html#more – please head on over and grab your “I was featured” button to celebrate!
Thanks, Alison! I desperately need to update my featured page. I can’t wait to add your button 🙂
Thanks for sharing your printable at Monday Funday! I could always use a little help in the organization category! Have a great week!
Thanks for hosting, Katie 🙂
Thanks for sharing! Don’t forget to link up to The DIY’ers! http://homecomingmn.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-diyers-27.html
Thanks, Kayla! Looking forward to linking up 🙂
I need to print this and use it when I go shopping this week. It would save me time and money and help me to have a plan for dinner instead of making a last minute decision.
Please do! And I hope you’ll let me know how it works for you. It’s been a lifesaver for us.
Love the menu plan and shopping list printable! Thanks for sharing, now grocery shopping may be a little more enjoyable now that I have a fun shopping list form!
Thanks! Fun and hopefully faster too, right? I can never get out of that place fast enough! 🙂
Great post and great idea. I am definitely “pinning” and sharing. Thanks for posting. Found you on IMM blog hop. Will follow, can always use the help!
Thanks, and please check out my blog?
http://30minutefitnessdallas.blogspot.com/2013/08/tale-of-tapeworm-how-far-is-too-far-for.html#.UiXvg7y862w
Thanks, Diane! I’d love to check out your blog. On my way there now 🙂
You are so stinkin’ creative! LOVE THIS! Hopefully it’ll organize my manic shopping trips a little bit… LOL! Thanks so much for sharing it with us! 🙂
-Heather
Thanks for hosting, Heather! It’s helped us a lot. We did an impromptu trip (With 4 kids in tow) this past weekend so we didn’t have a list, and it was a mess. We tried to divide and conquer (i.e. get out of the store before too many meltdowns occurred), and my husband and I passed one another multiple times running all over the store. I missed my list!
I love this. I have just started a meal planning series on my blog and this is perfect. I love how you have the food broken up into different categories. Stopping by from the Homemade by You Link party.
The different sections have been very helpful in getting through the store as quickly as possible because, like I said, I hate grocery shopping. Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Hi Emily! I’m popping over from I Heart Organizing. Your meal plan/grocery list is the best I’ve seen as yet, I love the idea of the two sections. It would be neat to get one of those perforated line rollers to make the bottom section an easy tear off too. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Tess! It was definitely born of necessity and years of having a bunch of groceries and not remembering what I was going to make. I love the idea of perforating them. I wish I could offer a version like that electronically! 🙂
Thanks for the freebie! I definitely need to print this out and plan ahead better! Thanks for sharing! Stop by my Friday’s Five Features tomorrow and link up this post (and others)! http://diy-vintage-chic.blogspot.com
I’d love to, Becca. Thanks for the invite 🙂
I love this free printable!!! I am such a meal planner, this is perfect! I am sharing this right now on my facebook page! Thanks for linking up at Domestic Superhero today! http://domesticsuperhero.com/2013/09/05/sharing-with-domestic-superhero-link-party-25/
Thanks, Allyson! I hope it helps you as much as it’s helped us 🙂
Great printable!!! I too hate grocery shopping with a vengeance. For a while, my fiance and I went together. When he was laid off from work, he took over, but when he started back to school, he declared his hatred for it too. We started ordering our groceries for delivery this year. We love it! We no longer bicker about who needs to go grocery shopping. This printable is super cute!
I wish we could order our groceries! That would be amazing. The only time I remotely enjoyed grocery shopping was when I was single and thought I might meet a decent guy strolling the aisles… yeah, that never happened. I’m married now so I no longer have any use for them (other than for that food stuff I eat way too much of!) 🙂
Great printable. I love the way you organized the shopping! Thank you for sharing this at Tuesdays with a Twist! Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures
Thanks for hosting, Marci 🙂
I LOVE this printable! You have been featured at Back to the Basics for Tuesdays with a Twist.
Come on over and share your latest post and grab your button!
http://back2basichealth.blogspot.com/2013/09/tuesdays-with-twist-23.html
Thanks for the feature!