Customizable Grocery List

I've been trying to meal planner better lately and that effort led me to needing a more customized grocery list. On a recent meal planning day, I realized I needed quite a bit from the grocery store as we transitioned from more summer type meals to some more winter meals. As I began to make a grocery list (which I usually divide up by categories - meats, produce, boxed goods, etc.) on a random piece of paper that usually ends up being too small, I ran out of room in the impromptu columns I had created for each of these categories. My list quickly became disorganized. And if you know me, I don't do disorganization. So, I began searching the internet for a pre-made grocery list template and downloaded a few. I used them and then realized I wanted sometime even more customized for me, particularly due to where I shop and the manner in which I move through the store (which is largely based on its layout).

I typically shop at Aldi and most Aldi locations are set up the same. You either walk right into the produce section or into the bagged/boxed good sections. In my Aldi, I move from the produce section to breads to dairy to boxed/bagged/canned goods to a cold section to the meats. Therefore, I made this customized grocery list template based on my typical route through the store. I'm sharing it with you because I've realized this has helped me to streamline my grocery shopping after I meal plan for a couple weeks. My hope is that you can use it to help you do the same. In this busy life we live, sometimes you don't have time to go perusing through the store at a leisurely pace (although that has become one of my new favorite past times when I get to venture out of the house sans baby 😉). Writing down what you NEED on this list and sticking to it should help you to move more intentionally through the store and avoid too many of those impulse buys.

This template is just made with Microsoft Word, so you can easily download it and customize it for yourself based on where and how you shop. You can also edit the boxes and font to your liking. For example, my list doesn't have a section for personal items like shampoo and conditioner or an area for household products like cleaning supplies. It does have a small Jewel/Trader Joe's/Target section and an "other" section for things like this. After I finish at Aldi, I typically run across the street to Target or down the street to Jewel to finish off my shopping and get whatever I can't get at Aldi. That's the one downside to shopping at Aldi -- they don't have everything. However, I save a TON of money on my groceries, so I don't mind making an extra stop.

The boxes and font turned out to be pretty big once it was printed, so if you need or want more room for more boxes, simply shrink the font or boxes, or you can shorten the lines for which you write items. You could definitely make more space that way. Or, add a second page if need be. This might be what I end up doing next. Right now, I only shop for 2.5 people. Once my family grows, I may need more lines in each box, so it may end up overflowing to page two.

My favorite thing so far besides shopping more intentionally and being organized -- I forget fewer things. I HATE leaving the store and getting home and thinking, dang it! I forgot the cheese I needed for our salads! This seems to be happening more infrequently. Yay!

Hope you all can use this and find it helpful. Happy shopping!

Customizable Grocery List Link (Google Doc)
(after opening with Google Docs, you should be able to download the file as a Word Document to further edit!).