I was so proud of myself for planning ahead for my meals this week. With my recipes all laid out and my grocery list ready, I headed out to our local store and got everything I needed. No last minute stops at a convenience store, no pizza delivery, and no fast food. Good for me!



Then I opened my pantry to put my groceries away. Oops. I was staring at items of food that I purchased while they were on sale a couple weeks ago... items I just bought today at full price. I had completely forgotten them when I made out my grocery list. I guess if I would have dug around a little I might have seen them, but it was too late now. I really hate to waste money in such a foolish way.

It is time to make a plan so this never happens to me again. For this plan to make sense, I'm dividing it into 4 steps. Let's give this a try.

Step 1: Remove Everything From The Pantry. This will take a little time, so pick a day when you can dig in. Have a strong cup of tea or coffee, and begin. Pull all the food items, canned and dry, and check each one to see if they are damaged or expired. Throw out anything questionable. Now's your chance to wipe out the pantry and shelves.

Step 2: Mapping Your Pantry. This will take some organization, but it isn't difficult. You'll actually be sorting your food items into categories so that you can make an inventory of what you have. The basic items could be sorted into baking goods, soups, broth, canned diced tomatoes, canned tomato sauce, oils, barbeque sauces, crackers, dry snacks, canned snacks, rice, and so on. Then you'll need to do the same with your spices. This can be tedious, but start arranging your spices in alphabetical order so that you can check for duplicates. You'll be amazed how many duplicates you have. Again, check the expiration dates and throw out any spices that you know, or suspect, are old.

Step 3: List The Contents Of Your Pantry. This is somewhat involved work, but it pays off. Make a "basics" list; a list of all the items that you use routinely, and tack it to the inside of your pantry or cupboard door. If you use an accounting type columnar pad, you can make tick marks in the columns to indicate how many of each item you have in the cupboard and draw a line through one when you use it. That way you can keep a running tally of how much of any one item you have. This seems more labor intense than it really is. Your ongoing list of items will get easier as time goes on.

Step 4: Grocery Shop Using Your List. If you already have a supply of the basics that you bought when they were are a special price, you're all set. Why would you want to accidentally buy the same items at full price because you forgot you had some? That's why referring to your new list will save you money. Stock up on your staples, like pasta, rice, canned tomatoes, and soup, when the price is right and eliminate that duplicate purchase at full price.

I love looking in my pantry and knowing that all my basic items were purchased at a special sale price. That doesn't happen if I keep buying something at full price because I forgot I already had some on hand. Now that I have all my pantry items identified and accounted for, I can check my basic list before I go to the store and eliminate all those extra full price purchases.