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I was so proud of myself for planning ahead for my meals this week. With my recipes all laid out and my grocery list ready, I headed out to our local store and got everything I needed. No last minute stops at a convenience store, no pizza delivery, and no fast food. Good for me!

I was so proud of myself for planning ahead for my meals this week. With my recipes all laid out and my grocery list ready, I headed out to our local store and got everything I needed. No last minute stops at a convenience store, no pizza delivery, and no fast food. Good for me!

My bubble was burst, however, when I got home and started putting my groceries away. Lo and behold, I had purchased several items that I already had in my pantry. Now that wouldn't be a big problem except that I bought those items earlier at a great sale price and now have paid full price simply because I didn't remember I had them. Unnecessary pantry items purchased at full price. Ugh! Talk about wasting money.

It is time to make a plan so this never happens to me again. For this plan to make sense, I'm dividing it into 4 steps. Let's give this a try.

Step 1: Remove Everything From The Pantry. This will take a little time, so pick a day when you can dig in. Have a strong cup of tea or coffee, and begin. Pull all the food items, canned and dry, and check each one to see if they are damaged or expired. Throw out anything questionable. Now's your chance to wipe out the pantry and shelves.

Step 2: Sort Items From Your Pantry. Take time to examine your pantry items and sort them by type. You can use categories like tomato products, broth, crackers, sauces, noodles, salad dressings, baking goods, or whatever you think. Same with the spices, but I think it's easiest to arrange them alphabetically so you can sort through all the duplicate spices and throw out the old ones. Be sure to, once again, examine the packages and throw out anything that is beyond an expiration date.

Step 3: List The Contents Of Your Pantry. This is somewhat involved work, but it pays off. Make a "basics" list; a list of all the items that you use routinely, and tack it to the inside of your pantry or cupboard door. If you use an accounting type columnar pad, you can make tick marks in the columns to indicate how many of each item you have in the cupboard and draw a line through one when you use it. That way you can keep a running tally of how much of any one item you have. This seems more labor intense than it really is. Your ongoing list of items will get easier as time goes on.

Step 4: Grocery Shop Using Your List. If you already have a supply of the basics that you bought when they were are a special price, you're all set. Why would you want to accidentally buy the same items at full price because you forgot you had some? That's why referring to your new list will save you money. Stock up on your staples, like pasta, rice, canned tomatoes, and soup, when the price is right and eliminate that duplicate purchase at full price.

In a perfect world we know what we have in our pantry and only buy food when we need it and it's always at a sale price. Since we don't live in that dream world, we all end up with food lost in the far recesses of the cupboard or pantry shelves. Once your pantry items are inventoried, categorized, and listed, your grocery shopping trips should never again yield a gross of unneeded, duplicated, and overpriced surprises.