How we write our shopping lists.

We all have our personal way of writing a shopping list, some will literally be on the back of a fag packet although for the rest of us it will take on a more organised approach. When we are armed with our list we feel it will fend of our impulse buying, that packet of strange sounding beans we could make something with, if only we had a recipe.

Some of us take the graffiti writing approach . This involves   post its on the fridge, which we scribble on when we ‘ve run out of something.

Some visual learners will make a plan of the shop and jot down what they need working through the plan or by a mental journey through the shop aisle by aisle.

A print out of all the things we usually buy may be useful.  Any extras we buy can be added on and if after six weeks they are still on the list they become regulars.

It might be that we plan our menu for the week, this plus our staples will give us a list of things we will really need.

We can make our lists work for us by giving them a column where we record the different prices of the most expensive things we buy.

 Keeping a, ‘waste diary,’ as advocated by the U.K. Hate Waste Campaign can also save money. We simply write down what we throw away and why.  Reading this before we write our list may stop that impulse buy.

  We could really go for it and make two lists, one for monthly staples and a weekly one for fresh produce. If we did this we could highlight those fruit and veg. that are in season and so avoid those that have travelled further than we have.