Anything to Make the Job Easier

I remember I once said that I loved going grocery shopping.  I'm not sure what I was thinking then.  Maybe I was still dripping in newlywed bliss and didn't know any better.  But that so-called "love" has turned into a huge chore.  While I do love to cook, I wish I didn't have to go fetch all of the ingredients to do the cooking.  But, since that is part of the deal, I have tried to make my menu-planning, list-making and grocery shopping as easy as possible. 

I've tried keeping a list of the meals we like, but after a while I kept forgetting to update it.  Then, I tried making a seperate menu and grocery list, but flipping back and forth between the two spreadsheets got annoying and I always seemed to foget to add something to the list.  This method did, however, help me keep track of meals I had made in the past and which meals we liked. 

So, as I was browsing through my Real Simple magazine over Christmas break, I came across a downloadable menu and grocery planner (I can't find it on the website right now or else I would link to it).  It was only a pdf that I would have to fill out by hand, but it gave me a good idea of how to create a menu and a list all on one sheet.  So, I did just that:


{I don't know how to make this spreadsheet downloadable so if you would like a copy, I'd be happy to email it to you.}


Now, this may not seem like rocket science to some of you, but for me it was a genius idea!  Now, instead of flipping back and forth, I can just look at the recipe for the meal that day and add all of the ingredients needed in the adjacent columns and I'm set. 

Now, if I could just figure out a way to make the actual grocery shopping trip more enjoyable....