[Cassandra]

One thing that was a trouble for me was figuring out what days to eat what. If I don't write down a dinner for each day of the week, chances are I won't eat all of what I bought for the week.

So every Sunday (I do grocery shopping on Mondays) I it down and look at my schedule for the next week: homework load (I'm in college), my work schedule, and anything I planned with friends or family. And then I plan what I'm eating each night. More complicated dinners (or recipes I haven't tried) I plan for days when I have very little going on. Recipes I could do in my sleep I plan for the days when I know I'm busy.

And then I make sure I eat what I planned. Often I'll change the side dishes at the last minute, but unless I have a very good reason, I won't change the dinner plan.

As for grocery shopping, I go to one store. I could probably lower my grocery bill if I went to a few stores and bought what was on sale at each one, but that takes too much time and effort (for me at least). So I stick to one store. It also helps when I'm making my grocery list. I write down all the ingredients I need for the recipes, compare that list with the contents of the pantry and fridge, and take off everything I already have.

Then I organize what's left by section in the grocery store. I know the layout of my grocery store really well and where everything is. Fresh fruit/veggies is at the front of the store, so fruit/veggies are on the top of my list, whereas milk and eggs are at the very back, so those items are last on my list. I like to organize my list by item location in the store because I don't have to keep back tracking and looking at my list every aisle to make sure I didn't miss anything.