Sunday, April 3, 2011

How This Frugal Shopper Makes a Menu and Grocery List


After an ordeal putting together and posting my shopping breakdown for you all, I am now relaxed enough to give blogging a second chance today.  I am excited to share my menu for this week with everyone, including links to each recipe from Allrecipes. 

There are several reasons why I love using Allrecipes, and no, I do not get paid a single penny for singing their praises, nor am I in anyway affiliated with their wonderful website : )   First and foremost, I have yet to make anything that came out plain yucky, though I cannot say the same about other sites or my cookbooks.  Second, I love all of the pictures, because it helps me really see what the dishes look like in reality.  Last but not least, I appreciate the ease of throwing together a menu that includes a complimentary shopping list.

To do all of this, you may first have to set up an account, but you can do that for free.  You can then start adding dishes to a “recipe box,” or just jump to the next step of creating a shopping list.  When you create a new list, you will be prompted to name it & it will automatically be set as your default list where recipes and shopping items will be added.  Don’t forget to start a new list before your next trip, or you may find yourself doing a little repeat shopping.

Once you’ve started the list, you can browse recipes from the site or from your recipe box.  When you find a dish that looks like it belongs on your menu, click on the “add to shopping list” option in the “kitchen approved” box just to the right of your recipe.  All of the ingredients are automatically added to the list.  If you have recalculated the serving size, the ingredients will be added accordingly as well.

After selecting all of your dishes, go to your shopping list.  From there, you can “edit” the items.  For instance, you obviously won’t need to buy water that might show up because it was part of a recipe, so you’ll want to delete that item.  After you see what you have on hand, you’ll usually find a number of items to delete.  On the other hand, you may also want to add to your list, which you can do using the options on the right side of the page.  This way, you won’t need separate lists for your ingredients and other shopping needs.  Conveniently, everything is sorted by shopping category (dairy, meat, baking, etc.).  When you’re ready to print, be sure to select the print list option, as it will eliminate the ads and extra text to make your list neater and more environmentally friendly. 

Below is my menu for the next two weeks.  I use the term “menu” lightly, as I have not thought through what I will make what night with what sides, etc.  However, with a couple of leftover nights and boxed meals thrown in here and there, there is plenty to cover a full two weeks worth of meals.  I don’t like to be tied down to making the meals in any certain order, because I found that in the past we frequently ended up changing the menu order because we just weren’t in the mood for the what the menu dictated or didn’t have the time to do the preparation required by a certain item.  You can click on any item to go directly to the recipe.

All Recipes Below are Courtesy of Allrecipes.com

Barbecued Beef (12 servings) 
Asian Beef with Snow Peas (4 servings) 
Alice Chicken (4 servings) 
Dan's Meat Wrap (1 serving) 
Pepperoni Pizza Pita (1 serving) 
Seattle Cream Cheese Dogs (4 servings) 
Beef Taco Skillet (4 servings) 
Sopapilla Cheesecake Pie (12 servings) 
1-Dish Taco Bake (6 servings) 0
Beef Chimichangas (6 servings)

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