My family's meals were all planned ahead for the week and I was feeling quite organized. I made out the menu, put together the grocery list, and got my shopping all done in one trip. This week we were not going to waste any money on fast food or delivery meals. I was on a roll.
Then I opened my pantry to put my groceries away. Oops. I was staring at items of food that I purchased while they were on sale a couple weeks ago... items I just bought today at full price. I had completely forgotten them when I made out my grocery list. I guess if I would have dug around a little I might have seen them, but it was too late now. I really hate to waste money in such a foolish way.
I think it's time for a plan to get my pantry set up so that I don't buy food when I don't need it and when it's not on sale. A 4 step plan should work for me. Let's see if it will work for you, too.
Step 1: Clear Out Your Pantry. Pick a day, make a cup of coffee, and start cleaning out your pantry or cupboards out of all the dry or canned food items. Take everything out, checking each item for expiration dates or damage. Then wipe your shelves off so you can start fresh with a clean space.
Step 2: Categorizing Your Pantry items. Here's where your organizational skills come in. Group your pantry items by similarities, like canned vegetables, broth, snacks, dressings, soup, pasta, and so on. Lay your spices out alphabetically so you can easily check for duplications. You'll be surprised how many times you buy the same spices. Check all the items for expiration dates or damage and throw out anything that seems questionable.
Step 3: List The Contents Of Your Pantry. This is somewhat involved work, but it pays off. Make a "basics" list; a list of all the items that you use routinely, and tack it to the inside of your pantry or cupboard door. If you use an accounting type columnar pad, you can make tick marks in the columns to indicate how many of each item you have in the cupboard and draw a line through one when you use it. That way you can keep a running tally of how much of any one item you have. This seems more labor intense than it really is. Your ongoing list of items will get easier as time goes on.
Step 4: Use Your List On Shopping Day. If you're sitting down with your recipes for the week, you can now grab your pantry list and easily eliminate any unnecessary purchases. You won't pay full price again for staples in your pantry if you know ahead of time that you already bought those items the other week on sale. Now you will stock up on the basics, like canned tomatoes, rice, or broth, when you find a sale, and not buy at full price when you need it for tonight's dinner.
In a perfect world we know what we have in our pantry and only buy food when we need it and it's always at a sale price. Since we don't live in that dream world, we all end up with food lost in the far recesses of the cupboard or pantry shelves. Once your pantry items are inventoried, categorized, and listed, your grocery shopping trips should never again yield a gross of unneeded, duplicated, and overpriced surprises.
Then I opened my pantry to put my groceries away. Oops. I was staring at items of food that I purchased while they were on sale a couple weeks ago... items I just bought today at full price. I had completely forgotten them when I made out my grocery list. I guess if I would have dug around a little I might have seen them, but it was too late now. I really hate to waste money in such a foolish way.
I think it's time for a plan to get my pantry set up so that I don't buy food when I don't need it and when it's not on sale. A 4 step plan should work for me. Let's see if it will work for you, too.
Step 1: Clear Out Your Pantry. Pick a day, make a cup of coffee, and start cleaning out your pantry or cupboards out of all the dry or canned food items. Take everything out, checking each item for expiration dates or damage. Then wipe your shelves off so you can start fresh with a clean space.
Step 2: Categorizing Your Pantry items. Here's where your organizational skills come in. Group your pantry items by similarities, like canned vegetables, broth, snacks, dressings, soup, pasta, and so on. Lay your spices out alphabetically so you can easily check for duplications. You'll be surprised how many times you buy the same spices. Check all the items for expiration dates or damage and throw out anything that seems questionable.
Step 3: List The Contents Of Your Pantry. This is somewhat involved work, but it pays off. Make a "basics" list; a list of all the items that you use routinely, and tack it to the inside of your pantry or cupboard door. If you use an accounting type columnar pad, you can make tick marks in the columns to indicate how many of each item you have in the cupboard and draw a line through one when you use it. That way you can keep a running tally of how much of any one item you have. This seems more labor intense than it really is. Your ongoing list of items will get easier as time goes on.
Step 4: Use Your List On Shopping Day. If you're sitting down with your recipes for the week, you can now grab your pantry list and easily eliminate any unnecessary purchases. You won't pay full price again for staples in your pantry if you know ahead of time that you already bought those items the other week on sale. Now you will stock up on the basics, like canned tomatoes, rice, or broth, when you find a sale, and not buy at full price when you need it for tonight's dinner.
In a perfect world we know what we have in our pantry and only buy food when we need it and it's always at a sale price. Since we don't live in that dream world, we all end up with food lost in the far recesses of the cupboard or pantry shelves. Once your pantry items are inventoried, categorized, and listed, your grocery shopping trips should never again yield a gross of unneeded, duplicated, and overpriced surprises.
About the Author:
Nicole Dean is the mostly-sane mom behind ShowMomtheMoney.com - a resource dedicated to helping moms work from home successfully. She welcomes you to learn more ways to save money in her Kitchen Organization Tips section. Be sure to sign up for her free lessons for work at home moms.
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