My system is inelegant and not very high-tech, I fear. When something runs out, I write it on a white board in the kitchen. Then I have something to go on before I make my list and don't forget something ridiculous like cumin if I need it. I do think having a specific place to write things in the kitchen immediately helps in keeping track. The list can't very well be misplaced when it's fastened to the wall.
When I make the list, I first decide on a menu for the week so I can make sure I have the things I need to make those meals. (Generally, this is "stuff" for breakfast and lunch options, with meal-planning focusing on supper.) I've tended by now automatically to divide the actual list into sections, which have wound up mostly in the order I get to those items in my usual grocery store, which is the Price Chopper in Bonner Springs.
Very likely this is a system that is so specifically organic to me that it couldn't help anybody else. For that, I apologize. I wish I had a gizmo to offer you, but all I have is a spiral notebook and a pen. :-)
You've seen my handwriting, yes? No, they would be full of fail at following my list due to penmanship alone, I freely confess. Sometimes I don't even know what I've written and have to think a minute.
And then there's my husband. The list says, say, pineapple. I write "pineapple" because I know what I mean by "pineapple." David will call me, bewildered, from the grocery store asking what I mean: Fresh or canned? Big can or little flat can? Crushed, sliced, or chunks? In syrup, in light syrup, or in juice? Brand name or generic? If I'm lucky, this process will take fewer than five phone calls.
I don't have an electronic system, but it sounds like a great idea! Lots of lifestyle diet cookbooks have a sort of pantry checklist in the back. I suppose one could type up everything into a database or spreadsheet and make one's own.
List, you say? Fully half the time I go shopping for groceries, I don't even know what I'm going to cook during the week, and I wander around the produce department until I am inspired by a vegetable. Then I buy stuff. When I get home with the assorted haul, I parse it out into probable meals, which I then make a tentative plan about, which I then often cheerfully ignore. Makes dinner exciting!
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saffronhare
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Date: 2010-05-27 11:06 am (UTC)When I make the list, I first decide on a menu for the week so I can make sure I have the things I need to make those meals. (Generally, this is "stuff" for breakfast and lunch options, with meal-planning focusing on supper.) I've tended by now automatically to divide the actual list into sections, which have wound up mostly in the order I get to those items in my usual grocery store, which is the Price Chopper in Bonner Springs.
Very likely this is a system that is so specifically organic to me that it couldn't help anybody else. For that, I apologize. I wish I had a gizmo to offer you, but all I have is a spiral notebook and a pen. :-)
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Date: 2010-05-27 05:45 pm (UTC)If somebody else (not a family member) had to do the grocery shopping for you, do you think they'd be able to succeed with your handwritten list?
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Date: 2010-05-27 07:12 pm (UTC)And then there's my husband. The list says, say, pineapple. I write "pineapple" because I know what I mean by "pineapple." David will call me, bewildered, from the grocery store asking what I mean: Fresh or canned? Big can or little flat can? Crushed, sliced, or chunks? In syrup, in light syrup, or in juice? Brand name or generic? If I'm lucky, this process will take fewer than five phone calls.
This is me, being not-helpful.
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Date: 2010-05-27 01:05 pm (UTC)Hm! I might try that.
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Date: 2010-05-27 06:58 pm (UTC)