A little of both. As a mom you get used to doing a mental inventory of what you have and what you need to create meals for everyone while trying to reduce waste
this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2026
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Yes
Finally an answer I can relate to.
There’s a store like half a block from my apartment, so I just treat it like an external pantry.
Yeah, it's like a 10 minute walk to the next store. Less than 5 mins if you catch the tram. Going shopping is just a 20-30mins round-trip.
I’m an hour rounder to the store so I definitely don’t want to forget anything.
I make a list, forget the list, and end up winging it.
this is the way. write a list, put it on the table while youre getting ready, get to the store, check your pockets, say FUCK in the store. do your best from there.
I make my list on my phone for exactly this reason.
I forget my phone, which had the list. Or worse:
I have my phone, so I have my list, go to pay: Forgot wallet. 😩
I have my wallet when I have my phone. I use contactless payment 95% of the time with my phone.
Oof, that's rough. For me, for whatever reason, I'm very consistent any time I leave my house: Phone, wallet, keys.
Grocery list and I take a pen along and mark everything off when it goes into the cart.
Yeah, I'm old.
I'd love to have a database with all my recipes with ingredients and add them at a click of the button. The problem is I have a fairly well stocked kitchen and I still need to go through the list anyway to make sure I'm not buying anything I already have. So having a computerized system really doesn't save me any time.
I keep a list that is shared/synced with my s/o via a self-hosted KitchenOwl instance. I've been slowly porting my recipes over to it as well. Overall very satisfied and it works well.
We use a blackboard and chalk in the kitchen and take a photo of it before we go shopping.
I'm ashamed to admit this but we have a whatsapp group with just me and SO, we list the items there
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Wing it
I did worse than wing it actually... half of the groceries I got over the past few weeks were from Too Good To Go, so near-expired food that the grocery store winged-it for me💀
Depending on the store TGTT bags can be amazing or... not so much. One store near me will always include fresh fruit, veg, meats, rolls, cans... another will just hand over a bag with like ten kilos of sliced ham in it.
TGTT with a freezer is a game-changer, though.
Maybe I should check out their grocery options. I've mostly been using Too Good to Go for like a pizza @ $4.
I usually do our food shop online, however I plan the meals and write down everything we need for the week. If I'm going to the shop then I'll write the list down in the order I'll move through the shop so that i can just work my way down through the list.
Same.
I have a spreadsheet of every meal I've cooked for the last three years, with a meals look-up tab that allows me to filter by cuisine, protein, carb, and then also pulls in the date from the planning sheet so I can see how long it is since I last cooked that meal. Makes weekly meal planning a lot easier, eg: I want a chicken and rice dish that I haven't cooked for at least two months, then a vegetarian pasta dish for next day. No problem!
My family always made a very careful list which was followed when grocery shopping.
Now that I do my own shopping I also make a list, on my phone though. I note down only the very essentials and leave most things open to what I can find whenever I get to shop. For example, I really need eggs and deodorant so I write that, but if I need veg I don't list the type of veg, I just note "veg on special" and make my choice on the spot.
Plan meals for a week. Make list of what’s needed. Shop once a week. Rarely eat out. Never delivery.
List
I start with the "buy again" list on the grocery website.
like 80% of what I need is repetitive. if I make a list, it's because I'm making a recipe.
I don't understand how that would work, everything runs out at different rates. Something like eggs, sure, just get a dozen every week. But things like mayo, laundry detergent, tofu, cheese, etc., these all need to be re-bought at very different random times.
It works because I'm only one person. Not buying for a full family. I'm definitely not going through giant packs of cheese and laundry detergent at random times.
I'm also one person but if I don't keep a list I'll end up with no milk and 10 boxes of cereal (real example)
Yeah I would just never do that. Like I just remember that I have 2 boxes at home but need milk.
There's the rub, I straight up can't trust my memory like that, I might remember needing to do something but then forget that I already did it.
With that milk example, I'll remember that I need more milk, get the milk, go home, open the fridge, see milk already there, remember that I already got more milk a couple days ago, put new-new milk next to old-new milk, and legit fucking do it again a couple days from now leaving me with three jugs of milk. Memory is borked I guess.
Fun fact: I have so, so much tooth floss and white rice rn due to this fun phenomenon
I have 3 bottles of shampoo under my sink, so I can relate.
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For me it worked with a family as well, given that I do all the cooking.
A big part of it is I buy in bulk when possible. Not only do I have a large stock of laundry detergent but I have a chest freezer with large stock of meat.
- I don’t need a list for Costco runs because it’s every few months and the things I’m low on are top of mind. Also, I try to buy ahead and keep them in stock so no big deal if I miss something and have to go back a couple months later.
- what I buy at the grocery is much smaller and dominated by things I buy every week
Eggs, milk, bread, produce every week. Meat if it’s not in the chest freezer. Double it if a kid is home from college
Mayo is from Costco. Normal size, Believe it or not, they’re the only ones I know who carry kewpie mayo. So I’ll get it and an extra to keep in stock, and worry about it next Costco run. If I forget, no big deal, we can go without mayo or I can get something on next grocery run
I do use a recipe manager, which can import recipes from any URL, and can generate a categorized grocery list. If I want a recipe, it’s probably there, so I’ll look at that list
I have a spouse and child. Winging it simply would not fly.
Anything less than strict adherence to a list would be another fight... and there are already too many of those.
I make a menu that includes two breakfasts (6 and 9 am) a lunch (11) and six dinners. I account for what i have and list the rest of the needs. Then i go shopping and add two treats(for snacking or dessert) and two beverages (oj, pop, prebrewed coffee, rtc) and a freezer pizza.
If i have to go back that week for anything, i fucked up.
two breakfasts
I'm shocked nobody has mentioned Aisleron (https://aisleron.com/), I use it for my semi-monthly shopping. It lets you organize items, and then you swipe it if you're out of it/need to buy more. You can have different stores set up, and each item will go to the corresponding location in that store.
It basically functions like a database for grocery items with an intuitive interface.
Oh, did I mention it's FOSS?
I stopped winging it after all too often ending up with both a fridge full of rotting produce and yet also nothing to eat. Turns out grocery shopping needs some strategy that I can’t do without help.
AnyList has been an awesome tool for me. It’s got all my recipes, a meal plan building to sketch out the next week, and builds a shopping list so I can only buy the things I will for sure cook with.
It’s also made me realize I’m not about to buy fresh herbs or green onions when they’re only going to be used as a bit of garnish for one dish.
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I make a dinner plan for a day or two then walk to the grocery store for ingredients
I've been eating the same things every day for over a decade. I can manage without list.
I don't make lists for anything. My life is pretty much winging it... Which does explain a lot when I type it out like that :P
It’s a bit of both. We do have a list with the staple items and foods we buy and we check it to see if our pantry needs refilling but other than than we just take what we think would be good and/or useful
Both!
Always go a list nowadays as I have ADHD and if I go for three things I will forget one of them. The list is what I must get, but once there, I get what is on the list and then maybe get a few more things that I forgot to put on the list.
So I never really make a full and complete list, just a list of necessities and wing the rest.
I take a list, and I grab everything on the list, but I also follow my whims
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