Dull, dull, dull, but, does anyone use a 'master shopping list'?

[DrivenToDistraction]

I've been wondering if I should make myself a master shopping list, I've looked at a few on-line and they look good in principle. I don't think I'd be able to use a pre-made one though, the ones I've seen would need a lot of work to be right for us. Making one from scratch would be a lot of work too...

Does anyone use one? Is it worth the initial effort? Does it save time? Is it, in fact, a massive PITA?

I'd love just to do an on-line food shop but over here the only supermarket that does it is very expensive.

I made one up for us a few years ago, and it was a total waste of time, unfortunatly.

The problem is that as the family ages your tastes change and stuff that we bought every week, we never buy now.
Also I love trying new recipes, and then they become current favorites, which require different store-cupboard ingredients.

I do have a master list of stuff to check each week over and above abny recipes - toothpaste, bubble bath, nappies, wipes, washing posder , washing up liquid, bread, cheese, fruit, yoghurts, butter, Alpen, kiddie cereals ..... Otherwise easy to forget

no, but my step mum does - she is the most organised person I have ever met. She doesn't have any dc's, which is probably why she is organised .

Agree that tastes change so it might not last long if you have young children.

I shop on line and it seems that sainsburys keeps my previous items on record for about 6 weeks which does help me remember what I need to buy.

Thanks everyone! OK. Mixed views as one would expect

I did expect that if I made one it'd need maintenance, I certainly but different things depending on the weather / season. I do have small children, 2 under 2.3, which, TBH is the main reason I'm after anything that could possibly save me a bit of time.

Gah, really not sure if it's worth the bother or not.

Anyone else got an opinion?

I have a de facto one on the online grocery store site I use - it lists all the products I have bought in my last five shops with it. It's very useful and of course evolves on its own.

I had one i used to delete stuff i thought we didn't need off it for the week. I found it was much more expensive per week than the meal planning i do now.

OK, confession time -

i have a list of all the meals we regularly eat - along with all the ingredients you need for them

i then go through and choose 7 diiners to plan for the week, then i have a semi-ready shopping list that i can just check if we have any of it in already or if i need to buy things

it also means i can keep track of what we're eating, and not eat the same thing too many times in a row

and then i use 'my usuals' on the shopping site to go through all the other things that we always get - milk, bread, fruit, veg etc etc

that is quite sad - altho i could have created some kind of macro in my xl sheet to actually produce / print a shopping list, which would definitely be geeky

Oh I do meal plan! Always have

I'd love to do my main shop on line but the only supermarket that does an on-line service here is really expensive. An on-line shop works out about 25% more expensive fore me than an RL weekly shop!

People laugh at me but I have three. One is for the monthly shop and has all the tins, packets, bottles etc that we buy regularly and have delivered. I print it off, take it to the cupboards and cross off anything we already have. With the 'your favourites' function makes the monthly online shop very quick. Second one is the occasional items, the stuff that you run out of less often - like peppercorns, shoe polish etc. That's stuck up in the kitchen and when stuff runs out we make a note there.

Third one is a master list for the weekly shop and includes all the things we always buy every week like ham, eggs, apples, wine etc. Again, I print it out and once I've planned meals I scribble the rest of it on.

Suburbanite x posted (somehow )

I'm already working on the meal list with integrated shopping lists. I'm afraid I'm a bit of a house geek! I get so sick of doing the same thing endlessly though...

Thanks. can't keep up ATM! The DC are being to crazy! Will be back later

I have just started one, it is to supplement the stuff we actually need for our planned meals, so I don't forget the stuff that we need regularly but isn't part of a main meal. For example teabags, cheese, butter, also the non food stuff such as toilet roll.

Keep it on the computer with a few copies printed out, it has lots of room to scribble all the other stuff on it ( I do a weekly menu plan). Also keep a white board on the fridge to note things that run out during the week, eg this week mayonnaise, lemon juice, toilet cleaner.

So far this works very well.

I'm trying to stop spending so much on food at the moment (not easy when I live 200 metres from a big Tesco) so I have an Excel spreadsheet with a meal plan template. Each week, I plan all my meals then on page 2 of the spreadsheet I write a shopping list for it. I save each week's spreadsheet as 'week 1, week 2'... etc.

The idea was that if I'm having a busy week I can just look back at an old meal plan and print out the shopping list instantly.

Not sure if I could do a master list because I love experimenting with different meals.

I have a blackboard in the kitchen on which I write anything that is near to running out through the week. I also keep a list in the Notes section of my phone and add things to that if I think of them. At the top of that list are bread, milk, yogurts, fruit, ham, and they stay on every week (otherwise I delete stuff once I've done the shop). For the rest of the list, I do my meal plan on Monday night, then sit down on Tuesday and put the things off the blackboard and for the meal plan into my phone, so when I get to the supermarket on Tuesday pm the list is all there.

I did used to shop online but as I'm mostly a SAHM at the moment it felt a bit daft to be paying for delivery when I can easily go out and get stuff.

I'm in awe of nellyup's organisation.....

I use my supermarket online so just check my favourite list

I have a master list that I downloaded from the internet and just tick off what I need plus it has spaces for extras. I use it every week and it works for me.

i have been considering making a master list too! really like nellyup's idea so I might just nick it.....

I've created four shopping lists on-line, called week 1, week 2 etc.

Week 1 is the first weekly shop after pay day and has things like a big box of tea bags, the biggest size of weetabix and that kind of thing, this is an attempt to stop myself buying two smaller boxes/packets of something in a month and therefore spending more than I need to.

Each week is different and links to a different meal plan, I usually add everything from that week and then add of delete things once I've had a look in the cupboards, fridge etc. You could easily do the same on an excel workbook.

nellyup mmmmmm. That sounds fab. I hadn't thought of doing it that way. I think I may to steal it too! Thank you.

I was thinking of doing pretty much what Ruby does. Thing is I have to do the shop with an 8 month old and a 2 year old. 'tis VERY challenging, I like the idea of doing one properly hellish shop a month in exchange for 3 more relaxed ones .

I just use the "all my favourites" bit on the Tesco or Ocado websides and choose from there, helps me remember things like kitchen roll and bin bags which I always seem to forget when I go to the supermarket.

I have a three week rolling menu plan AND a master shopping list

The ingredients for each weekly menu plan are saved online as 'Week One Ingredients' 'Week Two Ingredients'. The master shopping list is hanging up in the kitchen with a pen next to it, so whoever notices we're low on butter ticks it off on the master list. Then when I do the shop I choose for example "Week One Ingredients" then add the items on master list. The weekly menu plans are up in the kitchen as well so when I'm asked 'what's for dinner tonight?' I can point at the menu. I adapt the plan every 6 months or so if we're starting to get bored although as we only eat the same meal once every three weeks, it doesn't get boring as quickly as you'd think. And the menu plans are worked out so that every single perishable item I buy is all used up: we never throw any food away.

In defence of my ridiculous obsessive tendencies:

I spend less than ten minutes per week doing grocery shopping, and spend under £60 per week on the shop - including all toiletries, household cleaning, and top-up shops. (Although I'm quite strict about top-up shops, if we can live without it until the next internet shop, then we do.)

You could make one from scratch by registering with an online supermarket and then choosing the products etc. and then printing it off like nellyup does, shame you can't use the online shops where you are though.