Printable Grocery List

I really hate grocery shopping because I can think of so many other things I'd rather be doing on my weekend.  It's also such a repetitive task.  So I'm willing to try anything I can to make it less of a chore.  When I saw this idea for a customizable and printable grocery list on Pinterest, I thought this was the answer to my problem.

 

Here's how I go grocery shopping.  I have a blank scrap of paper on the refrigerator.  When  we run out of something I write it on the list.  If someone uses up the last of something, they are responsible for writing it on the list.  (They're not always very good about this)  If they tell me we're out of something instead of writing down, I usually forget to buy it. 

On the weekend, before I do my shopping, I go through the kitchen to see what we have in order to plan some meals for the week.  I also look through the grocery store flier and plan on buying things that are on sale and what I have coupons for.  I usually don't use very many coupons, because I buy generic store brands.  I also buy fresh items rather than a lot of prepacked foods and snacks.  Then I take my list and go shopping.

Besides being a repetitive task, I don't like grocery shopping because of all the planning that has to be done before I even go to the store.  If I don't do that planning, I'll be out of some ingredient while I'm halfway into making dinner.  I thought I would really like using this list because it would make the whole planning part of grocery shopping easier, but it was just the opposite.  I like that you can customize the list, but it took a long time to do that.  I printed a few lists, but when I ran out, I guess I was kind of lazy and just didn't print any more.  I've always been bad at just writing down whatever was in my head on whatever scrap of paper was laying around.  Finally, since I'm always trying new recipes, my grocery list doesn't stay the same from week to week.  I found that I was always adding new ingredients to the pre-made list. 

While I'm on the subject of meal planning, there are some really beautiful and elaborate ways to plan weekly menus out there.  Just search "menu board" on Pinterest and you'll see what I mean.  I'm a type A, neat freak myself, but even this is too much for me.

I'm someone who cooks almost every day.  Here's what my menu board and grocery list look like.  It works for me.

Do you dislike grocery shopping as well?  Do you have a system that works?  I'd love to hear about it!