Shopping Lists and Menu Planning

Menu planning and shopping is one of the challenges the intellectually disabled face when they more out on their own.  This free download from Colette's web site at My Computer is My Canvas helps us all organize our shopping trips.  In this day of expensive fuel, fewer trips to the store are critical to the budget.  And for anyone depending on staff to drive them to the store, organization is key to managing to make a single trip to the store instead of a lot of short and expensive trips. 

One side of this chart lists meals (especially dinners) you can make with the food on hand in the pantry, the other side lists items you need to buy at the store.  The list of items you need can also include items you've run out of (remember that night you used up the last of the mustard on the hot dogs and forgot to buy some at the store, so sandwiches the rest of the week were kind of blah?). Just add the mustard the night you run out of it.  You can then either copy the list to what to buy or use your cell phone camera to take a photo of the list of things to buy! Voila!

You can print this download, laminate it, hang it with ribbon or twine and then just use a dry erase marker on it so you can use it again and again.  Simply wipe it clean each week! Colette has lots of other useful and creative posts that make your life both pretty and easier..and free, well you can't beat that for the budget!

I love Colette's blog, full of pretty and useful things to make yourself.  This download would obviously work for all of us, but I thought it might be a great way for someone who was disabled to keep a running list of food available and food to buy.  Now all it needs is an envelope to attach to the bottom to hold the coupons for the food you are buying.  Hmmm...