Save Time at the Grocery Store with a Pre-printed List

In my home growing up, my parents always had pre-printed shopping lists where we could put what we wanted in its appropriate aisle to make shopping easier.  Our local grocery store was recently turned into a small, decently priced mega-mart, and it seemed appropriate to finally make my own shopping list.

Next time you have an extra few minutes at your favorite grocery store, make a record of what is sold in each aisle.  You can zip around with a camera or camera phone and snap photos of the aisle signs as well as items you buy or things you want to remember in each aisle.  You could also go with a pad of paper, but I think taking a few pictures (flash off) in each aisle is fastest.  Remember how many aisles there are and think about the best way to represent them on paper. 

At home, pull up your pictures and start typing.  I used Microsoft Word and made 5 columns with margins of 0.2 inches and 11 pt type.  Concentrate on the things you buy most.  For instance, under vegetables, I wrote tomatoes and cucumbers because we always need them, so now I can just circle them.  Same with dairy.  You may write "dairy" and also write the things you always buy like milk and yogurt.

To get two lists to print on each page, either cut & paste the text from each column a few spaces below (around 5.75 inches down from the top) or just print the top list, then flip the paper upside-down and feed it through the printer to print another list on the bottom.

Before you print too many, take it back to the store to use and make notes of any items you forgot or misplaced.  Email me nonrecipe@gmail.com if you'd like a copy of my list in MS Word.