Turn a meal plan into a grocery list
How to merge ingredient lines from several recipes, check the pantry, and shop once without buying the same item twice.
Collect recipes before you list food
Finish the week's meals first. A grocery list written while you are still browsing will miss ingredients and duplicate others. On this site, the planner builds a combined list from the recipes you select.
Add quantities by hand
The planner removes a leading number so similar lines can sit together, but it does not add cups of broth from one recipe to cups of broth from another. Read the checked recipes and write a single line such as 'chicken broth, 6 cups' when two soups both need it.
Keep spices, oil, and salt in a pantry section. Buy them only when you are actually out.
Shop in the order of the store
Rewrite the copied list into produce, dairy, meat, bakery, and dry goods before you walk in. That takes a few minutes at the kitchen table and saves backtracking.
Buy fragile herbs and salad greens for the early part of the week, or plan those recipes for the day you shop.
Check the list against what you already opened
Open the refrigerator and the grain shelf before you leave. Half-used tortillas, cooked rice, and an open can of tomatoes are how weeknight plans stay cheap. Cross those lines off.