Grocery Shopping Step 1

Grocery shopping trip to be planned for one day this weekend. So I need to prepare now to figure out what I will be needing to buy.
First thing we do is go through the cupboards, fridge, freezers and pantry to see what we have. After a while you will be able to have a general idea, but I still like to double check to make sure that I have not missed anything that will spoil soon. I record what I need to be using this month in my meal planner. I do NOT like wasting food.
When we are going through things we take note of how much of our 'always on hand' items we still have. This month/6 weeks(See I plan for a month but normally end up having enough food for 6-8 weeks even)
This month we are starting to run low on whole grain pasta, frozen peas, canned and dried beans, cereal and sugar. So I put those things into my grocery list app(pen and paper works just as well).
Now that I have a good idea as to what I have on hand I start to make the menu out for the month. This is the part that takes some time, but after one or two tries it is simple and quick. One way to simplify things is to make breakfast the same for each matching day of the week. Mondays are always cereal with fruit. Ect. Here is an example of my monthly menu. Note I personally found it more simple if I work all the breakfasts for the month and then go back and do lunch and dinners for each day. Lastly, I do snacks. Also, because of my husbands work schedule we eat a larger meal at lunch and a lighter one at dinner.

Mondays-Cereal with Banana
Tuesdays-Scrambled eggs sprinkled with cheese and a piece of whole grain toast
Wednesdays-Oatmeal with raisins
Thursdays-Poached eggs on English Muffin
Fridays-Special pancakes with dad! They varies from week to week, but are always pancakes. We have had blue, red, green, sprinkles, chocolate chips(which we learned the boys actually do NOT like), fruit..ect. Whatever the great dad of the house feels like cooking up!
Saturdays-Egg scramble with whole grain toast. Scrambles are made to order with your choice or tomatoes, spinach, onions, ham, cheese, mushrooms and whatever else we may have on hand.
Sundays-Whole grain toast with peanut butter and fruit

Stop back by tomorrow to see my completed menu and time saving shortcuts that I use for meal ideas.