Step 1: Take Inventory

The first step to spending less on healthy groceries is to take inventory. You need to figure out what you already have to work with.

Get a piece of scrap paper or a plain old notebook and a pencil or pen. Go into your kitchen and open your cupboards. List EVERY food product you have in there. If you have half a box of salt, list “Salt – 1/2 box”. Then move to your fridge and do the same thing. Don’t forget to open those drawers and look in the door. If you have storage containers with mystery contents, now is the time to open them up! Be brave! Next, move on to your freezer (don’t forget this door either) and, if you own one, your deep freeze. If you store food anywhere else in the house, be sure to check there, too.

This list is going to be your starting point. It will become a foundation, or a building block upon which you will base all your meal plans and grocery lists for the next few days, weeks or months (depending on what you’ve got in stock).

Below is a copy of my very own personal inventory, as of today. Items marked with ** indicate that I will run out very quickly, so should put that item on my next grocery list, if possible. Items labeled (HM) are things I made from scratch.

GroceryInventory

If this seems like a lot of work to you, be comforted in knowing that I don't do this to such a degree anymore. I have learned to take inventory as I go along over the course of a week and I naturally plan my menus according to what I have on hand. I encourage you to make this list just as you are beginning and learning. It will be a surprising picture to you of what you already have to work with, and how little you actually need to buy at the store in order to come up with a few new meals!