When I started my meal plan service the hardest thing I had to do was generate the shopping list.  In the early days I spent 50+ hours a week on the meal plans and wondered what I had done to myself?!!!!  I’ve shaved off 30 hours a week from my hands on time by , figuring out some more efficient ways to do things. (If you don’t have time to plan for yourself, it’s really affordable to let me do it for you. Try it guilt free.  It helps both our families at the same time.)

In the GSP meal plans, subscribers notice my recipes are written backwards.  Traditionally the amount is first and then the ingredient i.e. 1/2 cup Butter.  I write the ingredient first, and then the amount i.e. Butter 1/2 cup.  It allows me to offer 4 recipes sizes AND use excel to organize a shopping list.  If you are planning just for your family you will only need 1 serving size, but the same principle works.

After I have compiled all my recipes into a document, I quickly copy and paste all the ingredients into an excel file.  I add a column for categories, and then sort.  Excel will place all my identical ingredients right beside each other so I can count up how many cans of tomato sauce for the week.

PLUS excel is already formatted to talk to the Out of Milk app if I save the list as a csv file.  Once I upload the shopping list to Out of Milk, my husband can access the list from his phone as well.  If I have already purchased some things and marked them off the list, they will be crossed off on his device too.

Here’s a short video to show you how easy it is.