I shared how we budget for food in the first installment of the Real Food, Frugal Food series.  In our case, what works best for us is to take the monthly allotment out all at once, so that we have the means to stock up.  I also shared how real food compromises save money while still keeping us aligned with our food values, and then asked for your input to help a reader out with her shopping.

The advice I gave was to live and die by a grocery list.

The most effective thing you can do to eat real food without breaking the bank happens before you ever hit the store.  It’s a foundational frugal principle: what’s in your hand?

What do you already have, and what do you need?

Before I even start my list I take a look in my pantry.  A recent week’s shopping started with a quick glance, where I saw this:

I have 20# of short grain brown rice, but I’m low on navy beans.  I have a tiny bit of barley, but it’s not even enough for soup.

My potato basket is empty.

I need to buy some ready to eat meat or protein, to add to our emergency supplies.  Right now I have nothing but dried beans, and I want to have enough food for 3 days that doesn’t *have* to be cooked.  I’m out of red wine vinegar completely.

You can also see some money savers.  Popcorn kernels, not bags of chemical coated microwave stuff.  Dried beans.  Recycled containers.  I got the 20# bag of short grain rice (hubs prefers the short grain) for $9 or so at the Asian store, quite a savings.

Then it’s off to the freezer, and a quick glance in the fridge.  I have plenty of bacon, but we always need cheese or milk.  The sour cream should last another week, no need to put that on the list.  Oops, almost out of onions.  The carrots aren’t looking hairy, they’re good for a while.  Fruit bin is empty, though.

Now that I know what I have, and what I need I can move to the fun step.  What recipe do I want to try?  Write down the ingredients.  We’re on the list for Boy Scout snacks next meeting, better add that.  What will I pack for Mr. R’s lunch, if he’s taking this week?  I like bookmark Bento sites and then use that as inspiration to fill out my grocery list.

I write my menu plan right on my grocery list, too.  That way I know what’s coming up which helpful because I’ll often just write down “salad” on my list, and then it’s good to know that we’re having Mexican chicken so a salad with avocado would be nice or that spaghetti’s on the menu so a red onion will be a great fit.

I also might just find room on my list for some chocolate covered banana chips, my newest vice.

Why do I spend so much time on my list?  Because my list (and my menu plan) are the single most important thing I do to keep our budget on track.  It’s my food plan that works with my spending plan.

Without my list I’d pick up all kinds of things, but without a plan to use it we’d have a hodgepodge of meals, I might end up making several store trips through the week, or worse, throwing half of the food out because it spoiled and I forgot it was there.

How do you approach list making?