You might have gone to the grocer many times to buy a few items but you ended up filling your shopping trolly with groceries. It often happens to many people who go shopping without a preplanned list. Impulse buying happens when you buy things that you hadn’t planned for. You might feel at the moment that you need them but realize later you didn’t have an immediate need for them. To avoid hurting your monthly budget, disrupting your savings plan, or ending up in debt, it is best to have a shopping list.
Shopping List Templates
What is a grocery shopping list template?
It is an editable shopping list template obtained online for use every time you plan to go grocery shopping. The grocery list template comes in different formats. You can download an MS word grocery list template, PDF, or excel. This is the template you can always edit and insert new items anytime you want to add your groceries stock.
Grocery Shopping List Templates
Reasons why you should have a printable shopping list template
Anytime you go shopping for groceries without a list, it is easy for you to spend beyond your budget due to impulse buying. The printable shopping list template helps you prepare a list within your budget and to include only the items that you need at any given time. Having a grocery list with you gives you a lot of benefits.
You avoid impulse buying
Without a shopping list, you might end up buying things that you don’t need. During shopping, buyers are usually convinced they need the items but once they get to their homes, they realize they cannot use them.
To be certain that you need specific items, it is best to have a template for a shopping list on your computer or phone and use it to prepare what you really need for your shopping.
You develop a budget discipline
To be able to stay within your budget each month, having a budget discipline is important. Before you insert items in your template for a shopping list, you should first check the balance you have for the month. You must buy items that fit within the budget to avoid overspending.
You avoid wasting
Groceries are best consumed when they are fresh because most of them have short expiry dates. For example, if you buy fruits that you cannot consume within one week, they will end up as trash.
Other items like floor, eggs and dairy products cannot last for long even if they are refrigerated. You might find yourself wasting too much food each month. This can be avoided by having a grocery list template.
You save money
Your shopping should be guided by priorities. Buy the items that you currently need most. Some other items can wait for a few months so that you adjust your budget. If you end up with so many items that you don’t need or items that only end up in the trash, you will be counting huge losses each month.
Printable Shopping List Templates
How do I make my own shopping list?
Having a shopping list when you visit the store can save you a lot of money and time. Without the list, you might spend a lot of time at the store going around to check what you might require.
By the time you get home, you might have a long list of missing items or items that you never needed. You need a grocery shopping list template to help you prepare an organized grocery shopping list so that you will never miss an item next time you go shopping. To prepare an organized grocery shopping list, follow these steps.
Create a running list
A running list is a list that contains items that are used often in your home. It is a list that you can keep referring to every time you plan to go grocery shopping. The list is used as a guide when you insert items in the printable shopping list template. If you don’t have a running list yet, this should be your starting point.
Plan your weekly meals
Some people plan their meals daily. They decide on what they are cooking in the evening or morning as they plan for the day. This kind of planning has a lot of challenges because you will be forced to visit the grocery store daily.
Instead of planning your meals daily, create a weekly schedule for the meals you will prepare each day. It helps you know all the items that will be required that week so that you buy them once. It helps reduce your daily trips to the grocery and saves you costs of fuel and time.
Check your stocks
You must be sure the items you are inserting in your printable shopping list template are items that are required at the moment. Check through your fridge and pantry and prepare a rough list of all the items that require replenishment. It could be you need more milk, butter, canned food, baked food, cereals, etc. Make sure you list all of them and then check which ones are priorities.
Check if there are any offers
The grocery stores might be giving offers on specific items or conducting sales/promotions. It is always best to take advantage of such items and buy more if they are not highly perishable. It will help you save money on the items.
Download a printable shopping list template
To help you organize your grocery shopping, go online and download a printable shopping list template. You may buy a detailed grocery shopping template or use a free version. Get a template that contains as many details as possible.
Have in mind how the store aisles are arranged
The store aisles are well arranged, with each category of items displayed in a specific place. You will find cleaning items in one area, refrigerated dairy products in another, beauty products, and confectionery in another.
You will save a lot of shopping time if you arrange your products this way. On every aisle you visit, you will buy all the products you need from that aisle and then move to the next. It’s not easy to forget a single item during your shopping.
List the quantities
For each item type, indicate how many pieces will be required. It will help you not to buy too many items that might end up in the trash. Only buy the quantities you require for the week or month.
It is better to return to the store sooner to replenish the stock than to trash your groceries. You may also have an approximate quantity that you use each month and buy. Let it guide you on determining the quantities to buy.
Confirm your list
Once you are through with inserting items on your grocery list template, go through the list to confirm if those are the items that you really need. You might also recheck your stocks just to be certain you didn’t leave anything out. If everything is in order, get ready to go shopping.
Bring your list back home
After you have shopped for everything on your grocery shopping list, don’t trash it yet but keep it until you get home. It is important to confirm the items you bought against the list to be sure you didn’t skip any items.
What is on a normal shopping list?
Every grocery shopping list is unique because every individual has unique needs. One person might have a large family, while another might be a student living in a university dorm.
These two people will have entirely different shopping lists and their grocery shopping list template might have entirely different items. Despite these unique differences, some items will be found in almost every individual shopping list.
Dairy products
Unless someone is on a special diet or they are vegetarian, almost everyone will at some point consume dairy products. This section could have items like whole milk, long-life milk, or semi-skimmed milk.
There could also be butter, eggs, yogurt, ice cream, and cheese. If it’s yogurt, be specific on the brand/flavor required. Be specific about the type of cheese you need, such as cottage, soft, cream, or hard cheese.
Farm produce
These are items that are grown on the farm. Be specific whether you want genetically modified farm produce or traditional. The costs might be different but your health should come as a priority.
Your list for farm produce might have these or more items.
- Bananas
- Garlic
- Carrots
- Grapes
- Potatoes
- Apples
- Watermelon
- Spinach
- Nightshades
- Avocado etc.
Meat products
In this list, decide if you want to buy meat from free-range animals or organic. List the types of meat you want, whether it should be refrigerated or not, and the quantity. Your list might have these items or more.
- Chicken – decide if you want a piece of chicken or whole
- Beef – be specific if you want boneless beef, cuts, minced beef, sausages, etc.
- Pork – you might want to buy processed bacon or pork slices.
- Aquatic meat – these are various types of fish and fish products.
Wheat products and rice
This list can be very long but you must make it simple by including items that you really need. It could have items such as bread, buns, biscuits, cakes, etc. List whether you want a whole meal or a sifted meal. Rice products and other wheat products could also be many such as basmati, macaroni, bulgar wheat, tacos, spaghetti, etc.
Frozen products
These are products that stay frozen unless you are planning to use them. Your list could have items such as Ice cream, sausages, prawns, smoothies, frozen vegetables, etc.
Cereals
Cereal’s list could have items such as crackers, whole-grain bars, multigrain bars, and other types of cereals.
Canned foods or soups
Canned foods could either be canned in syrup or juice but the best is a product packed in juice. Also, consider the amount of sodium in each container. Your list could have canned tomato products, lentils, soy, chilies, etc.
Snacks
A snack is always good for a quick bite immediately after you arrive home or when you just want to relax. You may list crackers, nuts, berries, and seeds.
Drinks
This list will depend on the type of drinks you consume. You might have soda, hard drinks, water, juice, energy drinks, or any other products that will keep you energized as you work or socialize.
Grocery List Templates
How do you create a shopping list in Word?
MS Word is the easiest format you can use to create a grocery shopping list template.
- Open MS Word and on the File tab, click new to create a new document.
- Name your document something like the February grocery shopping list and save. The name should appear as the title of your list. To create a title, highlight the title, go to the Home tab, and on the styles section, click on Title.
- Insert a date
- Your first item should be indicated as Heading 1. For example, if dairy products are your first item, type dairy products, highlight them, and then on the Home tab, click on Heading 1 on the Styles section. If next time you want to replace this item, just highlight it and type the new item.
- You can change the next subheading and give it a different heading style. For example, if it is a fruits subheading, you can give it Heading 2 and list the items under it.
- Add another item such as vegetables below this and give it heading 3, then list all the different types of vegetables you want.
- To make your list look beautiful and well organized, name the next item as Heading 1. Let’s say you are listing the next items under bread and bakery. Type bread and bakery, highlight it and select Heading 1 on the styes section on the Home tab. List all your items under this section.
- Repeat the process and list the next main item as Heading, then the next as Heading 3.
- You can even add photos of the items to make your list look beautiful. Go to the Insert tab.
Under the illustrations section, click on pictures. Select this device if you have saved the photos on your device. Open the file where your photos are saved. Click on the photo you want to add and then click add. If you are adding photos from the web, click on online pictures. Go online and browse for the photos you want and click add.