Grocery List Templates

Grocery shopping is complicated stuff. Whilst making a shopping list can make things easier, creating one can be daunting if you don’t know where to start or how to organize things. Searching the internet brings up hundreds of shopping list templates from the basic to the incredibly complex. So, we'll share you our secret to creating a super simple shopping list, as well as provide you with a handy simple grocery list template you can use.

Keep It Simple, Shopper

Grocery shopping can be a bit of an ordeal. There are decisions to make, items to find, and temptations to avoid. Not to mention running a gauntlet of that supermarkets employ to prise your hard-earned cash from you.

One of the best ways to make grocery shopping easier is making and using a shopping list. We'd recommend using a  to build a great, easy to use shopping list with lots of smart functions.

However, we understand that many still like to have something tangible. Even in a digital age, many people still prefer to put pen to paper when making a grocery list. But if you don't know how to start writing one, you can potentially overwhelm yourself researching too many different ways and approaches to making one.

So, how do you pare things right back to being as simple as possible without sacrificing effectivity?

Well, we think a simple grocery list should have no more than 4 categories on it. But these can't just be any random categories. They should be:

• Fresh fruit & Vegetables
• Fridge
• Freezer
• Countertop & cupboards/pantry

So, let's take you through 3 reasons why you should have only these 4 categories on your simple grocery list. However, you can skip straight to our pre-made free printable shopping list template if you wish.

3 Reason Why You Should Use Only 4 Categories On Your Super Simple Shopping List Template

#1 It Makes It Easier To Find Items In Store

A more complex grocery list might organize categories to . It's handy but is a lot of effort. Also, supermarkets like to move things around every so often, so you'll need to change your categories when they happen.

So, it's best to keep it to these 4. This is because, although the categories may seem broad, items in the supermarket are still sold in these same general sections regardless of what gets shifted around and the variations in layout between different stores.

Fruit and vegetables are always sold in one single area. The refrigerated section of the store is always where you'll find all the milk, cheese, meat, and yogurt. Freezers selling frozen fruit, vegetables, and ice cream are always close together. Other items, like and olive oil, are everywhere else.

Therefore, organizing your list this way ensures simplicity, but makes sure what you need to find is still grouped in the general areas that they can be found in, speeding up your shop.

#2 It Matches How You Store Things At Home, Making It Easier to Check What You Have

If you're making a shopping list, you might want to check what items, or how much of a particular item, you may already have. Where will you look to check this? Where they're stored, of course.

By arranging your grocery list into the categories that match where you store items in your kitchen, you can quickly and easily jot down what you need to by when you look in that specific area because it's the same as your shopping list categories.

"Fresh Fruit and Vegetables" is the only section that takes a bit of work. This is because, depending on the type of fruit or veg you have, and its ripeness, they can be found on either the countertop, in the freezer, or in the fridge. But it's easy enough to pop them into the correct shopping list section as you find them.

To find out more about how to store fruit and vegetables to get the best out of their shelf life, you can visit our "" section.

#3 It's Easy To Look At

Having too many categories on your shopping list might lead to information overload. Keeping it at a nice simple 4 means your list is not going to look complicated or overcrowded.

Having this information presented in a clear manner means you're going to be able to process the information better. This means you're less likely to overlook an item and forget about it when at the supermarket.

Your Super Simple Grocery List Template

Now we've gone through the reasoning behind how to make a super simple shopping list, we present to you the template itself. You're more than welcome to use it as a basis to make your own more complex version. Eventually, you can gradually build it up to make it brilliantly bespoke to your shopping needs with extra handy details.

Environmental issues are becoming more and more important these days. In 2018, we turned our attention towards single-use plastic and the impact it has on our oceans. The palm oil industry also came under scrutiny for its deforestation of rainforest and putting at risk the survival of orangutans. In 2019, why don’t we look at how to reduce food waste using a weekly shopping list calculator?

Why Should We Avoid Food Waste?

As much as reducing your own food waste is very important, it must be noted that households are not solely responsible for food waste. A lot of it is created by the growers. Some is also wasted by supermarkets, who discard produce that doesn’t “look right”, or hurriedly bin products that are still safe to eat but are close to their “use by” or “sell by” date.

But in developed countries, a major amount of food waste is created in the home. In these countries, households can contribute up to 30% of food waste.

The most obvious reason we should avoid wastage of food is that a lot of it ends up in landfills. It makes up 12.5% of what goes into the waste system, even when some of it (around 2%) does end up getting composted or recycled. The problem is that whilst this seems like a small part of waste, food waste makes up for 34% of methane emissions: a gas that is 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide in its contribution to climate change.

Whilst there are many wider negatives to food waste, you can reap some great personal benefits. Firstly, you can save money. The average American household can throw away up to . This can buy you a comfortable vacation for your family.

Next, if you include good meal planning as part of your food waste solutions, it can help control or even lose weight. This is because one way to help reduce food waste is to control your portion sizes. By scaling back your portions to recommended sizes, and shopping accordingly, you can tackle both overeating and reducing the amount of food you throw out at the same time.

So what are we waiting for? Let’s work out how you can build your weekly shopping list. Alternatively, you can skip straight to our free printable weekly shopping list template and calculator should you wish.

Dos and Don’ts

Do

Plan meals - if you plan your meals in advance you can calculate exactly what you need to buy. This will also save you time as you can then get everything you need in a single shop (if possible) rather than popping in and out of stores during the week.

Use a shopping list - by using a grocery list you’re more likely to stick to what you need when at the grocery store and not be tempted to succumb to impulse buys or supermarkets . If you’re trying to throw away less food, the last things you want to be doing is buying extra items that you don’t need. You risk wasting these additional bits and bobs or let these derail your original plan and creating food waste there instead.

Buy some kitchen scales and a measuring jug - most people don’t use weighing scales when preparing food. You probably don’t weigh out 1oz/30g of cereal for breakfast, which means it’s highly likely that you’re actually serving up something closer to 60g: that’s double the recommended serving! If you don’t already own some kitchen scales, investing in some will really help you make sure you’re keeping to the correct portion sizes. Likewise, a measuring jug will help you do the same with liquid.

Have some backup food - this is quite important for the first few weeks as you adjust to your new regime. You might find you’ve not calculated items properly, or find it difficult to stick to smaller, recommended portions sizes. You can use our template to enable you to prepare basic meals at a moment’s notice.

Find out how to store items properly - most people will just bung all dry goods into the pantry and everything else in the refrigerator or freezer. But sometimes this isn’t the best way to store things. By using the guides in our section, you can find out how to optimally store items and ensure they don’t go bad too quickly. You might even be able to extend the life of them for even longer than you’d expect. Longer lasting food means less unexpected waste.

Keep an inventory - this is because it’s likely you’re going to have spare quantities of ingredients. Food often comes packaged in quantity or weight that doesn’t divide easily into the number of portions you need. If this does happen, make a note of the amount left over, and be sure to subtract this from your shopping list for the following week.

Learn the difference between “Sell by”, “Use by”, and “Best Before” - by learning these distinctions you can make better decisions on whether something needs to be thrown out or not, and avoid throwing out good food too early.

“Sell by” is used by supermarkets to indicate when food should be sold before in order to maximize the freshness of the produce in the buyer’s home. 

“Best before” tells you when for how long the product will taste best for. Many products are still perfectly safe to eat after their “best before” date. They just might not be as tasty as eating them before that date.

“Use by” is the date which indicates when a product is most likely going to expire and become bad. However, these can be quite generous, meaning sometimes a product can still be perfectly fresh and safe to use not long after this date. It’s a good idea to learn how to better determine whether something has gone bad or not, and use or throw out accordingly. However, if you’re unsure, it is best to err on the side of caution to avoid food poisoning.

Don’t

Be tempted to buy food in bulk - buying in bulk is very tempting as the price per unit or weight is usually significantly cheaper. However, unless you’re absolutely certain you’re going to use all of it, buying in bulk can turn out to be a more expensive way of shopping and will end up creating more food waste.

For example, imagine you use only 4 onions a week. You could buy a bag of 10 onions for $5 ($0.50 per onion), instead of 4 individual onions for a total of $4 ($1.00 per onion). However, if you only use the 4 onions and throw away 6, you actually have ended up paying $2.50 an onion: that’s more than double the price of buying them individually. Plus, you’ve just created a load of food waste.

What are the recommended food portions?

It is recommended that a person eat no more than the following recommended portions per day:

Food type	Portions per day	Portions per week
Protein	3	21
Dairy	3	21
Carbohydrates	11	77
Produce	Minimum of 5	Minimum of 35
Oil and fat	Use as little as possible	Use as little as possible

Be aware that these are only guidelines. Depending on how active you are, you may want to increase the number or size of portions you have.

For this, we’ll be using recommended portion sizes for adults only, as defined by various dieticians and government agencies. Children under the age of 12 need smaller portions, which can be up to 60% of adult sizes, especially for toddlers and babies.

Protein

Meat

1 portion = 60-90g/3-4oz

This is about the size of a deck of cards. Using this portion size a 300g pack of chicken breasts (which is about 2 whole breasts) should provide 3-4 portions, and a 500g of ground beef should provide 5-6 portions.

Fish

1 portion = 140g

It is recommended that we eat at least two portions of fish a week, one of which should be oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, or sardines. 1 pack of 2 salmon fillets should provide 2 portions, whilst a 160g can of tuna should provide 1-2 portions.

Eggs

1 portion = 2 medium eggs

A half dozen (6) eggs contain 3 portions.

Plant protein (legumes etc)

1 portion = 150g

A 220g (drained weight) can of beans should provide up to 2 portions.

Carbohydrates

Pasta and grains

1 portion = 75g

A 500g bag of pasta or rice should provide 6-7 portions.

Bread

1 portion - 1 medium slice

This means that 1 sandwich actually contains 2 portions of carbohydrates.

Cereal

1 portion = 30g

A 750g box should provide 25 portions.

Dairy

Milk

1 portion = 250 ml

1 liter of milk should provide 5 portions. However, the recommended amount you should put on your cereal is 125ml. This means 1 liter of milk should provide 8 breakfast portions.

Yogurt

1 portion = 125ml

A 500ml tub of yogurt should provide 4 servings.

Cheese (hard)

1 portion = 30g

A 350g block of hard cheese contains 11-12 portions. A portion is also approximately 1 slice of sliced cheese.

Produce

Fruit & Veg

1 portion = 80g

80g is equivalent to 1 carrot, 1 apple, 1 pear, 10-12 grapes, or ½ bell pepper. It’s also around 3 heaped tablespoons of peas or sweetcorn.

Dried fruit

1 portion = 30g

This is the equivalent of 1 heaped tablespoon.

Weekly Shopping List Template and Calculator

As everyone’s shopping is different, and as families create their own unique meal plans, it’s not possible to come up with a definite weekly shopping list. However, what we can do is provide you with information about how to better figure out what you need, and the means to work out the amount you need to put on your .

This  will also help you calculate how many portions of each food group you require and help you keep to your portion goals when shopping for your weekly meals. You can even use it as a basis to help build your own.

If you live by yourself, don’t worry, you’re not alone! If you’re in the USA, you’re one of 35 million single-person households. In the UK, the figure is 7.7 million. But, if you’re all by yourself, how should you go about your grocery shopping? Having a good healthy grocery list for one will not only keep you fit and fed, but also has some other surprising benefits.

All Buy Myself

There’s nothing quite like independence: having no one else to rely on but yourself. Unfortunately, this means that you have to look after your grocery shopping, too. But where do you even start with doing the groceries? Well, making sure you’re keeping yourself healthy is a very good start.

There are plenty of  online that can give you plenty of tips and ideas. But how do you actually translate it into a basic grocery list for 1? The trick here is to try and work out precisely how much you’ll need. Having items like chicken, carrots, avocados, milk, and bread on your list are all well and good, but how do you know how much of each you should buy?

We’ll take you through some questions you might have about a weekly healthy grocery list, then break down how many meals and portions a standard pack of your usual food provides. Then,  according to general healthy eating guidelines, we’ll provide you with a household shopping list template. However, you can skip straight to the free printable template if you wish.

Weekly Healthy Grocery List for One FAQs

Do I really need to use a shopping list?

Yes.

There’s a temptation to think that, because you’re living alone, that shopping is easy. This is because you feel you don’t need to buy as much and therefore don’t need to plan as meticulously. But if anything, living by yourself means you probably should be planning more! But why is this?

Firstly, to keep costs down. Supermarkets are quite unscrupulous when it comes to finding to make you buy things you didn’t plan to or simply don’t need. Making a list and doing your darndest to stick to it will help you fight those bedazzling offers and temptations. This is important went it comes to pricier items on your list. You don't want to be spending unnecessary pennies on the olive oil that's on offer when your normal brand is still cheaper.

Using a good shopping list means that you’ll only buy what you need. This means you’ll be less likely to end up with products that you’ll never use, or worse, have to throw away. After all, overheads are much higher when living in a single-person household, so making sure you have a good cheap grocery list for one person is actually quite essential.

Secondly, it will help reduce food waste. Environmental issues are becoming more and more prevalent these days. Food waste is a large contributor to greenhouses gasses and climate change. It’s also costly, as every unused food item you throw out is actually something you’ve spent money on. Having a good shopping list will help you buy only what you need for that week, and reduce your food waste.

Thirdly, a good shopping list can help you maintain a healthy living lifestyle. It’s easy to plump for ready-made meals for one when living alone. They’re convenient, but they’re certainly not as healthy as preparing your own food. Having a good weekly meal plan and shopping list can help you prepare your own meals and keep your intake of unhealthy saturated fat, sodium, and refined sugar down.

So, I should create a meal plan?

It’s definitely advised.

Figuring out exactly what you’ll be eating and cooking for the week will really help ensure your grocery list for one reduces waste and spending. Be honest when you create your meal plan. Are there some nights where you’re simply not going to have the time or the energy to cook a meal? Are you likely to go for takeout at the weekend? If so, don’t worry! It’s far better to included and incorporate these into your meal plans and shop around these.

But isn’t buying in bulk cheaper?

Generally, yes. But it isn’t if you just end up throwing stuff away because you haven’t used things before they go bad, it really isn’t.

There’s no point buying 10 onions for $5 at 50¢ each, rather than $3 for the 4 onions at 75¢ if you end up throwing 6 onions away. If this happens, you actually ended up paying $5 for just 4 onions: that’s $2.5 per onion! But you can make buying in bulk work for you as long as you have the knowledge and the means to preserve things for longer.

For example, if you have extra onions, you can take time to chop up the ones you’re unlikely to use straight away and store them in the freezer. Check out our section for guides and tips about how to get the maximum shelf-life from your food.

Should I cook for one?

No.

Cooking for one doesn’t take much less time than cooking for 4 or more. Therefore, you might want to consider cooking a meal that serves 4+ and storing the remaining portions to have later in the week.

Of course, this is totally dependent on your storage situation, particularly freezer space. It also means your weekly menu will have a narrower variety of meals for you to enjoy. But doing this really helps keep costs down as you’re simply buying a lot less. It also saves time for some meals as all you need to do is defrost then reheat a portion.

Are there any general money-saving tips for shopping for one?

Absolutely.

The best tip is to make a shopping list and stick to it, which we’ve mentioned above. The next best tip is that frozen and canned food are godsends! Both are  in weight compared to their fresh counterparts. They are also . If you’re choosing time-saving prepare food, such as frozen mixed chopped vegetables, then they might be pricier.

However, the convenience of these might be worth the extra pennies. What’s also great about these is that they keep for a long time. So, if your meal plan for the week diverges for whatever reason, at least you don’t need to worry about having to throw unused food items out because you didn’t get round to using them as planned. As well as reducing your food waste, as they can be used at a later date you won’t be putting your hard-earned bucks straight into the garbage.

Healthy Food Portion Breakdown

As mentioned, the biggest issue with creating a weekly healthy grocery list for one is knowing how much to actually buy. But how much does your average pack of food at the grocery store provide you with, according to healthy eating guidelines?

Meat, fish, & eggs

1lb / 500g pack of chicken breasts = 4 meals

1lb / 500g pack of lean ground beef = 4 meals

1 ½ lb / 300g pack of ham = 10 sandwiches

1 can of tuna (5oz / 160g) = 1 meal

1 can of sardines (50os / 160g) = 1 meal

Pack of 2 salmon fillets = 2 meals

6 medium eggs = 3 egg breakfasts

Dairy

2 cups / 500ml carton of milk (or milk alternative) = 8 bowls of breakfast

1 lb / 500g tub of Greek yogurt = 3 bowls

½ lb / 250g stick/block of butter or healthy oil-infused spread = 50 slices of bread

¾ lb / 350g block of cheese = 12 sandwiches

Grains

1 loaf of wholemeal/wholegrain bread = 10 sandwiches

1 lb / 500g bag of wholegrain pasta = 6 meals

½ lb / 250g bag of brown rice = 5 meals

1lb / 500g box of healthy breakfast cereal = 10 breakfast bowls

1lb / 500g box of oatmeal = 10 breakfasts

Vegetables

1 can of chopped tomatoes = 4 servings of pasta sauce

1 onion = ingredient for 2-4 portions (depending on recipe)

1 avocado = 2 meals

1 medium eggplant / aubergine = 2-3 sides

1 medium zucchini / courgette = 2-3 sides

1 can of peas = 2 sides

1 can of beans (any) = 2 meals/sides

1 sweet potato = 2 sides

2 carrots = 1 side

Fruit & Nuts

1 apple = 1 snack

1 large banana = 1 snack

1 orange = 1 snack

2-3 satsumas/clementines/mandarins = 1 snack

2 plums = 1 snack

1 cup of (approx 8) strawberries = 1 snack

1 cup of (approx 32) grapes = 1 snack

1 handful of nuts (approx. 1oz / 30g) = 1 snack

1 handful of dried mix fruit (approx 1oz / 30g) = 1 snack

Weekly Healthy Grocery List Template

Taking into account all the approximate portion sizes above, we will now present to you your free printable weekly healthy grocery list for one person. What’s included here follows general healthy eating guidelines which include:

• 2 portions of fish (preferably oily) per week
• No starchy vegetables (such as potatoes)
• Meat portion control
• White meat and lean red meat
• 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day, snacking on about 2-3 portions of fruit a day and having 2 portions of vegetables with a main meal

We’ve also included items like healthy condiments that you should only need to buy when you run out or low on them. Some of the other ingredients on this list may last you more than a week too, such as grains, but they should keep for a long time in a cool dry place. You’re more than welcome to make additions and subtractions to this list to make it your own.

Basic Grocery List for 1

When you think about time travel, diets are not something that spring to mind. But that’s exactly what the paleo diet does! It takes dieters back to the distant past to help them lose weight and lead a healthier lifestyle. But how does this epoch-spanning diet do this, and what should a paleo diet shopping list look like?

The Diet That Time Almost Forgot

The paleo, or Paleolithic Diet to give it it’s full name, has been around for a while. But it is based on eating habits that are a lot older than you think. The idea of such a diet can actually be traced back to the 1880s where Dr. Emmet Densmore proclaimed that “bread is the staff of death” and said that a more primitive diet was healthier. However, the diet, as we know it today, was developed and popularized by Dr. Loren Cordain in 2002.

But what is the paleo diet?

The idea behind it is that we eat like our early ancestors. The food selected is supposed to mimic what was available to prehistoric humans who followed a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. For this reason, the diet is also sometimes referred to as the “Stone Age Diet” or even the “Caveman Diet”.

So, what are the benefits of going paleo eating like this?

Weight loss and healthier living.

If more than just your historical interest has been piqued, let us answer a few questions you may have about the diet. Then we’ll provide you with a paleo shopping list template for you to use in your very modern grocery store. However, you can time-warp forward straight to list if you want.

Paleo Diet FAQs

Do people lose weight on the diet?

They certainly seem to.

There have been many short-term studies into the diet and they all tend to conclude that it does aid weight loss.

However, concluded that this is because of a general calorie deficit created by the diet rather than the specific properties of any of the food or food combination eaten.

Therefore, to be sure to lose weight, you should look into making sure you’re maintaining a calorie deficit whilst you are on the diet, despite the fact that this may well happen naturally.

Is the diet healthy?

Quite possibly.

Because there’s still an emphasis on eating a good amount of fruit and vegetables, it’s not unhealthy. But there are concerns some dieticians have.

Cutting out dairy, legumes, and grains means that there are nutrients specific to those groups that you won’t be getting. Some also have concerns about reduced fiber intake, which could cause bowel-cancer. But as you’re still eating a good range of vegetables this isn’t as risky as on the or carnivore diets.

There are concerns about people unwittingly raising their saturated fat intake whilst on the diet. The diet very clearly promotes the eating of lean meat with low saturated fat content. But, if you’re not being meticulous about this point, you could see your saturated fat intake increase dramatically, leading to an increased risk of heart disease.

However, if you do stick to lean meat, especially grass-fed meat, and fish, you’ll find you will increase your “healthy fat” intake, such as monounsaturated fat and Omega-3 fatty acids.

The diet is very good for those looking for a diet that helps with type-2 diabetes prevention and control. This is because of the very low starch and sugar intake inherent in the food allowed on the diet. It’s also great for those who are gluten intolerant because the complete eradication of grains makes the diet gluten-free.

But, there hasn’t been any study yet into the long-term effects of the diet. Because of this, the diet actually ranks a low #33 out of 41 on  of 2019’s best diets.

Is it expensive?

Unfortunately, yes.

Remember, you’re supposed to be buying lean meat and fish. Fish is generally quite an expensive food item, and lean meat, particularly the grass-fed varieties that the diet champions, even more so. Even something as humdrum as ground beef can suddenly become quite pricey. Even things like healthier free range eggs add extra pennies to your bill.

When you consider that you’ll be eating more of these that you usually would, you can see how the costs ramp up. Add to that some health food products that you might have to buy, and your groceries become quite costly.

Fresh fruit and veg can also be quite pricey. But savings can be made here by buying frozen and canned varieties, especially as research shows that they can be  as those bought fresh.

Is the diet easy to follow?

It’s not too difficult.

There are plenty of websites with comprehensive beginner's guides, definite paleo diet food list, paleo recipes, and paleo diet meal plans that can help you transition into leading a paleo lifestyle without having to think too much about what you should and shouldn’t be eating.

However, cutting major food groups such as dairy, grains, refined sugar, and legumes out of your diet can be a bit shocking at first. This can make the diet difficult to stick to if you start craving food from these categories.

But there’s plenty of support and information out there on the internet, due to the diets huge popularity, that can really assist.

What does a day on the diet look like?

A paleo meal plan might look a little like the following:

Breakfast: eggs with vegetables, fried in coconut oil

Lunch: chicken salad with nuts, dressed with olive oil

Dinner: steak and mixed vegetables with sweet potato

What should I drink?

A lot of water.

However, many versions of the diet allow tea and coffee. Green tea is certainly a good option due to its high amount of antioxidants. But you should definitely not be using any refined sugar, sweeteners, or milk with these.

You should also completely avoid soft drinks/soda and fruit juice because of their high sugar content.

What to Eat and What Not to Eat

So what does a prehistoric hunter-gather diet involve?

The main thing about the diet is that you will be eating a lot of meat. Founder Dr. Cordain states that a paleo diet meal should consist of up to 35% protein. Then, up to another 45% should be made up of fresh vegetables allowed on the diet. Given that the average modern-day person’s diet consists of only 15% protein, it’s actually quite a leap.

But because the diet does stress eating a lot of fresh vegetables, it’s not a total meat-fest. But these can’t be any old veg. The idea is that they’re specifically things that could be easily picked and eaten back in prehistoric times, and do not require farming or processing techniques. It may not be an extensive paleo diet food list, but it's a great departure point on your paleo journey:

Food to Eat	Food to Avoid
Above-ground vegetables Berries Eggs Fruit Healthy oil Lean meat and fish Leafy greens Non-starchy tubers (root vegetables) Nuts (excluding peanuts)	Dairy Fatty meat Fruit juice Grains Legumes (excluding nuts) Processed food Processed meat (eg bacon and sausages) Refined sugar Starchy vegetables

Paleo Diet Shopping List

Now that we’ve covered an entire era of information, you can now uncover our free downloadable paleo food shopping list to use as you wish. Add and delete items on this list to make it as unique as you are.

Shopping can be stressful and tiring. For some people, the fewer trips they make to the grocery store or supermarket the better. Some people might also simply not have the time to shop every few days, or even make weekly trips. Whatever your reason for wanting to avoid the grocery store, or whether you’re not able to make it to the supermarket often, making a good monthly grocery list will save you a lot of hassle, and more.

Living From Month to Month

Time is a commodity many of us feel we simply do not have enough of. Therefore, when we do have some of it spare, is the grocery store or supermarket where we really want to be spending it?

Of course not!

Though, for many, doing the grocery week by week is the best way to get all the fresh and healthy food that you want and need.

But what if we told you there was a way to make a monthly grocery shopping list that will keep you healthy and fed? What if we also told you that it could save you money as well as time?

We’ll take you through some questions you might have about a monthly shopping list, and then give you a free printable shopping list template you can use to get started. If you’d rather skip straight to the template, you’re more than welcome.

Monthly Grocery List FAQs

✅What sort of food should be on my monthly shopping list?

Basically, anything that will keep for a long time. This is can be put into four main categories:

• Dried food
• Canned food
• Jarred food & cartons
• Frozen food

Dried food and jarred food & cartons are straightforward and obvious enough. We’re talking items such as pasta, flour, rice, sauces, condiments, herbs and spices, juice, UHT milk, and preserved food (e.g. pickles) etc.

Food from the canned and frozen food categories are what most people are apprehensive about buying. Many consider these food items to be less healthy than their fresh alternatives. But for canned food and frozen food, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Research has shown that frozen produce compared to fresh. The same can be said with . In some cases, such as with tomatoes, the canned variety is even healthier!

So, if this is the case, there’s little reason to stop you from stocking up on these long-lasting foodstuffs. Doing so will certainly see you through the next 30 or so days.

Should I avoid buying fresh food?

No, actually.

Most fresh fruit and vegetables will last around 1-2 weeks if stored well. Some items, like apples, can last even longer.

This means that for the first half of the month you’re going to be able to use and eat fresh fruit and vegetables before needing to grab the tin opener or creak open the freezer door. You can check out our section to find handy guides about how to get the most out of your produce’s shelf life.

But even then, you can prepare and freeze your own fresh ingredients. You can freeze prepared vegetables, like chopped onions, and put them straight into your cooking when needed. You may even have your own canning facilities at home to help preserve produce for even longer.

Even bread can be frozen and thawed with little difference in how it looks and tastes. Fresh meat can be kept for a whole month if put straight into the freezer. Milk can be frozen too if you don’t mind the alternation to the texture (although, we’d suggest buying UHT milk instead).

Shopping once a month doesn’t mean shunning fresh groceries at all. It just means that you have to rely on more canned and frozen varieties the closer it gets to your next shopping trip. But even then, depending on how you shop, prepare, and store your food, this might not even need to be the case.

Will I really save money with a monthly grocery list?

Generally, yes.

Canned and frozen goods tend to cost less than fresh. There are some exceptions when it comes to prepared items, such as chopped mixed vegetables, but it’s generally a good rule of thumb.

Another general rule of thumb is that the more you buy in one go, the lower the cost. A 5kg bag of rice will cost less per kilo than a 500g one.

However, one of the biggest money-savers is the fact that you will be in the supermarket fewer times a month.

But how does that work?

Well, supermarkets have an arsenal of  to make us part with our hard earned cash. These come in the guise of offers and temptations that, no matter how hard you try, are very hard to resist.

So, if you’re in the supermarket less often, you won’t be tempted as much. Therefore you won’t be buying as many unnecessary purchases or impulse buys as you usually would if you went every week or every few days.

How much should I be putting on my monthly grocery shopping list?

It depends.

There’s a temptation to say that you need “X amount for each person”. But the truth is that the amount of people you’re shopping for really isn’t the most important factor when making a monthly shopping list. As all of these food items store for a long time. This means buying “too much” isn’t an issue as it’s unlikely to go off.

The main thing that should determine the amount of groceries you should shop for is storage space.

There’s no point buying so much frozen food that you can’t fit it all in your freezer. Likewise, constantly tripping over stacks of cans because you don’t have the space to store them in your kitchen or pantry is going to make living in your home inconvenient. So, shop for the space you have, rather than the amount of food you think you’ll eat. This might mean you won’t be able to go once a month. But even then, if you’re making fewer trips than usual, you’ll still reap the benefits.

Your Monthly Grocery Shopping List

Now that you’re stocked up on some knowledge, we present to you our free printable shopping list template. Feel free to make any alterations to it to suit your shopping needs better.

Have you ever wondered how your shopping would turn out if you were better prepared? It’ll probably have fewer missing items and not as many unnecessary additions. But that’s what master grocery list is for. It will give you better control over your grocery shopping, helping you spend less and save more. But is there anything super special or secret about a master grocery list? Not really. It’s nothing more than a premade grocery list in which products are arranged by category. You can make one yourself, or use our free printable template.

What are the categories for?

Shopping gets much easier when you know the shop. You know directly where to go and in what order pick up products. To help you do this, you should have all the products on your grocery list grouped in thematic order. By doing this, you won’t find yourself running around the shop because your items are in an unsorted jumble.

If you’re a bit worried about how to categorize your list, don’t worry. It is simply arranging your shopping items into the supermarket aisles you would expect to find them in. Bagels will be under “bakery”, chickpeas will be found in the  “canned food” aisles, and ice cream in the “freezer” section. Yes, it’s as straightforward as that! It’s worth trying because using categories will make your time at the grocery store much more effective. If you know where to go, and everything in each category can be picked up at once, you’ll get things done faster and you will be able to get home quicker.

How does a master grocery list template affect meal planning?

Some people like having everything under control. Feeling in control is a lovely little side effect of being prepared. Making and using a master grocery list is part of that preparedness. Did you know that being prepared can even have ? As if you needed any more reasons to make that master grocery list!

Being prepared and in control is important, especially for people on specific diets. Here, there’s no place for improvisation. Every meal must be planned meticulously. If not, you just won’t have the products necessary to prepare you super specific meal.

Even if you’re not on a specific diet, you can use a master grocery list to help you stay healthy. Try this 

How do you make one?

Sit down for a little bit and think. What do you really need? Then start to write out all these items. If you find your list a bit too long and unwieldy, here are some you might find useful.

Next, think about how you’re going to make and keep this master grocery list. If you are a tech-savvy person, consider using a grocery list app. Some of the apps available let you dictate entire lists. Other available functions include the ability to share your lists with your family and friends, choose items from extensive grocery databases, or even offer useful culinary tips, information about special offers in supermarkets, and tasty recipes.

Using pen and paper to create your master grocery lists is just as good, especially if you use these great tips about how to .

If you are struggling for ideas about what to put onto your list and how to format it, you can use our free premade master grocery list template below.

Your premade master grocery list template

Dairy Butter Cottage cheese Cheese Milk Yogurt Grains Bagels Bread Bread rolls Buns Doughnuts Tortilla wraps Cereal Pasta Rice Fruit Apples Apricots Avocados Bananas Blackberries Cherries Grapes Grapefruit Kiwi Lemons Limes Mangos Oranges Peaches Pears Plums Pineapples Raspberries Strawberries Watermelons Meat Bacon Beef Chicken Duck Fish Goose Ham Lamb Oysters Pork Turkey Snacks: Crisps Dried fruit Gum Nuts Salsa Pets Feed Litter Shampoo

Vegetables Aubergines Beans Beetroot Broccoli Brussel's sprouts Cabbage Carrots Garlic Ginger Lettuce Onions Peppers Potatoes Radishes Spinach Sweetcorn Tomatoes Sweets Biscuits Brownies Chocolate Cake Cookies Honey Jam Maple syrup Sweets Waffles Drinks Alcohol Cocoa Coffee Juice Soda drinks Tea Water Seasoning Basil BBQ seasoning Cinnamon Cumin Curry powder Garlic powder Oregano Paprika Parsley Pepper Poppy seed Rosemary Sage Salt Vanilla Thyme Personal Care Bath/shower gel Feminine products Lotion Shaving cream Shampoo Soap Sunscreen Tissues Toilet tissue