One thing I plan to do - when? - is put all my holiday recipes into a binder and then I'd be able to realistically figure out what I need to buy.
Grocery list for Christmas 2024
- Thread starter sweetpumkinpye
- Start date
I find it a great benefit to know what I will be preparing over the holidays and be able to buy the ingredients early. It makes spreading the load so much easier.
This is a fabulous idea. I have my recipes written in my book but a master list of ingredients and the amount needed would be very helpful.
I did this a number of years ago and I found it very helpful. I put it into my Christmas spreadsheet that I use for gift giving, tracking online orders, tracking what's been wrapped and holiday menus. It was a bit time consuming at first but the payoff is that each year I can pull up the spreadsheet and see every baking ingredient I use and how much I will need for baking alone. I then can check to see how much of that ingredient I have and make a shopping list from there. I also do this for Thanksgiving.
This is exactly what I talking about. I know that it would take a while to set up but then it would be so easy to refer to.
DH is a whizz at excel so I think he would help set it up for me.
I have index cards with my recipes. I added a Christmas stamp in the top left corner so they are easy to take it when comes the time
The Holiday Grand Plan included this on one of their planing sheets. Menu planning with a block for ingredients that are needed? Baking checklist with a shopping list???? Will have to pull out my big notebook and see if I can find it.
Lori, I don't remember this but would be a great resource to have. I might look through my saved planners and see if I can find it.
Lori
If you go to Facebook you and click on files you will find it in the list. It is listed as
christmas_planner_food_menu_weekly_list_filla It is a PDF.
Let me know if you can't find it. I can send it to you.
If you go to Facebook you and click on files you will find it in the list. It is listed as
christmas_planner_food_menu_weekly_list_filla It is a PDF.
Let me know if you can't find it. I can send it to you.
I just went and pulled my notebook out, since that form didn't look familiar. When I first started following the HGP, I made multiple copies of forms I found helpful and they're all in my old binder. Some of the forms go back to 2006!!!!
It looks like I've used a combination of the Holiday Menu Planner page and the Houseworks Holiday Baking Planner page. From there, at some point, I made a master Shopping List for the holidays and put a note on it that says Holidays Basic Reference. I've got it broken down into various categories -- Baking, and I'd listed how much flour and sugar I'd typically need to buy, how many choc chips, maraschino cherries, raisins, nuts, etc., as well as categories for Canned Goods, including veggies for casseroles, canned pineapple, pumpkin, condensed milk, etc., Boxed Goods (oatmeal, puddings, rice, etc.), Dairy, for butter, margarine, crescent rolls for appetizers, and fresh cranberries, and Frozen (mini phylo shells, puff pastry, hash browns, sausage), plus a Misc. category where I have listed each size of zip-top baggies I use a lot of during the holidays, cling wrap, and parchment paper. I tend to do a Pantry Inventory in mid- to late summer, before canning season gears up (inventories are on Houseworks Holiday Home pantry and freezer inventory forms). Once I've gone thru my pantry, I know what holes need to be filled to insure that I have what I need on hand for the holidays. Behind my Shopping List, I found a couple of old shopping lists for several years prior, and those lists are significantly shorter. Needed to look at my notebook to remember my processes and why I do inventories when I do, and what I do with that info as it relates to holiday prep. Thank goodness for my HGP binder!!!!
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Jody
Do you have to join the group to get the file? I'd appreciate it if you sent it to me.
Lori, that is quite the planning, makes life so much easier when there is a something to refer too.
Jody, thanks for adding the form. I will add it to my forms here.
I think it may be time that I go back over all my forms and add/delete as needed. A project before HGP starts I think.
I wonder if I should make a note in the HGP section reminding people to start updating their forms.
Jody, thanks for adding the form. I will add it to my forms here.
I think it may be time that I go back over all my forms and add/delete as needed. A project before HGP starts I think.
I wonder if I should make a note in the HGP section reminding people to start updating their forms.
Got a few more items bought and stored, ticked off the list. I bought cocoa powder and blocked chocolate this week to try and offset the expected price rises. I will freeze the chocolate and the cocoa will be fine stored in a plastic container.
Also got the frozen Turkey breast that we buy each year. Mum has it stored in her freezer.
The to buy list is getting smaller.
Also got the frozen Turkey breast that we buy each year. Mum has it stored in her freezer.
The to buy list is getting smaller.
I started stocking up on butter. I like to buy the 4 pack (4lbs) from BJS as I like to do a lot of baking. I have an extra 4 pack tucked way now and will pick up another extra one maybe every 2 to 3 months, Last year BJs was out of butter around the holidays so I have to pay more by buying butter from the grocery store.
This was done over time and I just keep updating the forms as I planned my tentative menus. But much of the time, I'm doing the same menu, so just refer back. And, I also started the pantry and freezer inventories after my DH passed -- it let me feel more secure that I'd be OK, both with what I had on hand food-wise and with my shopping on a more limited budget. And I still look back on those forms when I pull them and start my HGP each year. (My binder gets moved to the office in Jan. and pulled again in late Aug., since it's just me now.)
OH, no! I always have extra butter on hand but I guess I should pick up even more now. The supply chain is still crazy.
I would start buying it now and storing it in the freezer. There is something comforting about having the things we need on hand.