Fam · Free printable

Grocery list (free printable)

Two pages: a categorized master list of household essentials (never start from a blank page again) and a blank weekly list with a price column. Print free — no signup, no email gate.

The blank grocery list is where shopping goes wrong: you stand in aisle four trying to remember whether you need oatmeal. A categorized list fixes it two ways. First, a master list of your household's staples gets circled, not rewritten — the 80% of the cart that repeats every week. Second, the weekly list keeps items grouped by store section so you never backtrack, with a price column so the total stops being a surprise.

Page 1 — master list of household essentials

Circle what you're out of, copy circled items to page 2. This is the beginner's cheat sheet too: if you're setting up a first kitchen (new apartment, college student, post-move reset), everything below is the starter set.

Page 2 — weekly list with prices

Grouped the way you walk the store. Estimate the price column as you list; the Running total row is what keeps "just a few extras" honest. Works for one store or split across two.

Using the list on a budget

• Plan meals first, then list. A list made from next week's dinner plan buys exactly what gets eaten; a list made from memory buys duplicates. Pair it with the weekly meal planner for the five-minute version.
• Shop the sales, circle the master list second. Scan the store flyer, note protein and produce deals, and let them pick the week's meals — the master list then fills in around them.
• Price column beats receipt regret. You don't need exact prices — a guess within a dollar is enough to see the $30 impulse before checkout, not after.
• Two-list rule for big shops: anything not on the list waits for next week. The list is the budget; the cart is just its execution.

More from Fam

Starter list: college students & first kitchens

Setting up from zero (dorm, first apartment, post-breakup reset)? Buy this exact set on trip one — roughly $60–80 and it covers two weeks of real meals:

• Base: eggs, bread, rice or pasta, oats, peanut butter, canned beans, canned tomatoes, onions, garlic, potatoes, frozen veg, milk or alternative.
• Flavor kit: salt, pepper, one spice blend you like, oil, soy sauce or hot sauce, cheese. This kit is why home food stops tasting like "sad."
• Skip on trip one: specialty anything, bulk sizes of things you've never cooked, and fresh herbs (they die before you learn them — start dried).

Then copy the weekly list page onto a sticky note each Sunday: dorm fridges are small, so shop half-lists twice a week instead of one big cart.

A worked example: from meal plan to list

Sunday: this week's dinners are stir-fry, tacos, pasta night, soup, and leftovers Friday. Walk the master list and circle — onions, garlic, peppers and rice for the stir-fry; tortillas, ground beef, lettuce and cheese for tacos; pasta and canned tomatoes for pasta night; broth, carrots and celery for the soup. Copy circled items to page 2 grouped by section, guess prices, and you're done in five minutes — the cart on Thursday contains nothing that isn't a plan. That's the whole method: plan once, circle twice, shop without decisions.