When I was fresh out of college and teaching, I had NO grocery plans at all! I would go into the store, buy whatever I wanted to eat that week, and then eat it!
Yogurt with some granola for dinner every night? Sure!
Then I got married! While Clay is awesome and would totally (and always has!!) eat anything I put in front of him, I thought he would probably appreciate a little more hearty cooking than I had been giving myself.
In comes meal planning, and shopping and learning how to cook. God bless my sweet husband for stomaching the meals I made him in the early years! All with a smile on his face and a “that was great!” attitude. He’s the best. Really.
Something I found I would consistently do in the early years is rebuy pantry staples that I wouldn’t be sure if I had or not.
A recipe would call for rice, but I wouldn’t check my rice container and end up at the store rebuying another package of rice. That same thing would happen with sugar or flour or whatever.
I would either over buy a pantry item and have multiples or I would not buy a pantry item I thought I had plenty of!
There is nothing worse than being halfway done with a recipe and finding out that the baking powder container is completely empty!
Hello, super flat muffins or flat as a board pancakes!
So, what is the key to not overbuying pantry items and always having your pantry staples in your home?
A pantry checklist!
Going through all of your pantry or cabinets takes time, so I now keep a list taped to the inside of my cabinets where I store all of my items. As soon as I’m running low on one of our pantry items, I put a check on the date it needs to be purchased!
When it’s time for me to place my grocery order, I just reference my checklist in about 2 seconds and I’m good to go.
I’m never out of the staples that I use and need on a daily basis!
I also never buy too much of one item!
It’s the perfect sweet spot for keeping my cabinets uncluttered but also having everything that we need.
I’ve made a free printable so that you can try out this method in your kitchen!
Click DOWNLOAD below to get your FREE PANTRY CHECKLIST Printable!
After you’ve downloaded your free printable, just fill in the pantry items your family uses, and fill out the top with the dates you will be grocery shopping! I shop every 10 days, read about that here!
Hang the checklist somewhere you can easily access while you’re going about your daily life in the kitchen, and just check off an item when you notice it will be needed soon.
I can’t wait for you to simplify your grocery shopping routine and save a lot of money!
To read about how I meal plan and grocery shop to save a ton of money, click here!
Do you like this printable? If you’re interested in more, check out my free meal planning printable bundle!