3-P Method: How I Shop for Two Months’ Worth of Groceries at a Time

3-P Method

Prepare, Plan, & Proceed

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**I am not claiming that this is a one-size-fits-all solution to planning out your grocery shopping.  This is simply what works best for me, not only when I shop for two-months of groceries at a time, but also smaller time-frames as well.  I hope that you can find some helpful tips as you scroll through!

⇩⇩ Scroll to bottom for free, budget/grocery-planning sheets! ⇩⇩

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> > Step 1 > >

During this stage, I like to make sure I have all of the "tools" that I need to plan for my shopping trip. I like to prepare for steps 2&3. Below are the things that I need before beginning to plan. 

➤Notebook 

➤Pen/Pencil/Highlighter

➤Dave Ramsey App - I check this app before planning for my grocery shopping trip to make sure I know the tentative grocery budget. My husband and I use this app to keep up with our monthly budget and spending. Every time we purchase anything (from gas for our cars...to grocery shopping) we enter it in this app. 

> > Step 2 > >

During this stage, I like to use the above tools mentioned to "plan" or put all of my "ducks in a row".  I ask myself a series of questions and use my notebook to write down the answers.

A. How many weeks/months worth of groceries am I shopping for?

➤ Normally, the answer is 2 months worth.
➤ I then label the top of my notebook paper something similar to this, depending on the time-period I am shopping for: Grocery Shopping List For March & April.

B. What meals/snacks do I want to cook during this time period?

➤ On a piece of paper I make a list of the meals I plan to cook and  put a letter next to each one (a,b,c..etc.). 
➤ I leave a few lines between each meal to save room for when I write the ingredients under them later.

C. How many times will I cook each meal?

➤Normally, I put a multiplication sign next to the meal followed by the number of times I plan to cook it. 

>>>

>At this point my notebook paper might look something like this:
Grocery Shopping List for March & April 

a. Spaghetti x 4

b. Red beans and rice x 4

c. Tacos x 6

>>>

D. What ingredients will I need to make the meals and how many of each?
➤I write down the specific ingredients I need for each meal in the space I left under them. 
➤I then add a multiplication sign next to each ingredient followed by the quantity needed. 

E. What store(s) sell these items for the most reasonable prices?

➤I always shop at Sam's and Wal-Mart-> they are the two stores that I have found sell the grocery(and household) items I need for the cheapest prices (+ they have grocery pickup!). 

➤I'm sure you know that I am not suggesting you go to 10 different stores just because of a lower price. As my husband always says, "Don't spend $10 in gas trying to save a penny's difference."

➤I always try and stick with two stores, normally one I can buy in bulk from and the other that offers smaller quantities of items, but still at reasonable prices.

F. {Next step} Make an Itemized Grocery List:
➤I turn to the next blank page and put at the top: Grocery Shopping List.

➤I make two columns one labeled Sam's & the other Wal-Mart, and then fill them in with the items I will get from each store.

> > Step 3 > >

A. This step is the most obvious of all, haha!
➤You put into action{proceed with} your work from the first two  steps(Prep. & Plan)and buy your groceries!

> > > Additional Notes > > >

➩ The 3-P Method can be used no matter how many weeks/months in advance you are shopping for. It can work for a wide-array of time-ranges. 

➩Just in case you don't like using plain notebook paper like I do, I am linking a set of free budgeting/meal planning printable pages  HERE that I found on Pinterest that would definitely suffice!

➩I typically shop bi-monthly for all of my non-perishables(frozen fruit, rice, noodles, beans, canned goods...etc.) and things that I can freeze(my husband's sandwich bread, almond milk, cheese, meat...etc.). 

➩I  do shop weekly for produce( apples, bananas that we don't eat in our smoothies, salad mixes..etc.) that I know I won't freeze and would go bad before I could eat two-months worth.

> > >

I hope that you enjoyed reading about how I use the 3-P Method to grocery shop for my family. Thank you so much for taking the time to scroll through this post and read it. Please feel free to comment any tips you may have for planning your grocery shopping trips! I'd love to hear them!

> > > Happy Shopping > > >

~Adele~