How to plan your weekly shop
A ShopLister guide.
A weekly shop without a plan tends to go one of two ways: a trolley full of things that seemed like a good idea, or a second trip on Wednesday for everything that was forgotten. Usually both.
Planning it takes about twenty minutes once you have a routine, and it pays for itself in fewer trips, less food thrown away and a smaller bill. Here is a routine that works for most households.
1. Look at what you already have
Start with the fridge, then the freezer, then the cupboards. Two questions for each:
- What needs using up? The half bag of spinach, the chicken that goes out of date on Tuesday. Plan those into the first meals of the week.
- What is running low? The last few teabags, the nearly empty washing-up liquid. Add them to the list now, while you are looking at them.
It saves buying a third jar of something you already have two of at the back of the cupboard.
2. Plan the meals
Count the meals you actually need. Check who is home which nights, and leave out evenings you are out or know will be a takeaway.
- Plan five or six dinners, not seven. Plans slip, and a spare night for leftovers or something from the freezer stops food going to waste.
- Cook once, eat twice. A bigger chilli or curry on Sunday can be Tuesday's lunch or a frozen meal for a busy week.
- Share ingredients between meals. If one recipe needs half a pack of mince or a bunch of coriander, plan another that uses the rest.
- Put the perishable meals first. Fresh fish and salad early in the week; things from tins and the freezer later on.
Don't forget breakfasts, lunches and snacks. They are easy to leave off and are usually what sends you back to the shop midweek.
3. Write the list from the meals
Go through each meal and write down every ingredient you do not already have. Note quantities as you go: "chicken thighs, 2 packs" saves standing in the aisle trying to remember how many the recipe needed.
4. Add the usuals
Most of a weekly shop is not planned meals at all. It is the same things every week: milk, bread, fruit, cereal, yoghurts. Then there are the things bought every few weeks, like toilet roll, washing powder and coffee, which are the ones most often forgotten.
Keep a standing list of your usuals and run down it every week, adding only what you need this time.
5. Put the list in shop order
Before you go, sort the list into the order you walk round the shop, so you can go up and down each aisle once instead of doubling back. Our guide to writing a shopping list in aisle order shows how.
6. Shop to the list
- Go when the shop is quieter if you can: early in the morning or later in the evening.
- Don't shop hungry. It really does add things to the trolley.
- Treat offers with care. A multi-buy is only a saving if you would have bought it anyway and will use it before it goes off.
- Tick things off as they go in the trolley, so a glance tells you what is left.
Make it a habit
Pick the same time each week to plan, such as Thursday evening for a Saturday shop. Keep the list somewhere everyone in the house can add to it, so things are added the moment they run out, not remembered at the shop. After a few weeks most of the list will write itself.
Planning with ShopLister
ShopLister helps with the parts that repeat every week. All the Usuals shows what you buy regularly, with the things you are likely to be running low on marked, worked out from your own shopping, so step 4 takes a minute. Everything you add goes into shop order by itself, so step 5 is already done. And it all works with no signal in the shop.
See how ShopLister works · Coming soon to the App Store, iPhone first, with Android to follow.