For a long time, I've been keeping track of what meat is in my freezer so I have the information at hand while planning menus and grocery lists. See above for a picture of my grocery planner/inventory lists. Just recently (this week) I decided to make an inventory of everything in my pantry, garage storage, both freezers, and toiletries.
I have one page for each category: roasts/steaks, prepared meats (like hot dogs, hamburger buns), ground meat (hamburger, turkey, vegetarian crumbles), fish/poultry. I list each item individually. For example, on the ground meat page, if I have 8 packages of hamburger in the freezer, I write “hamburger” 8 times, and then cross off one instance of “hamburger” every time I use a package. When I buy more hamburger, I add to the bottom of the list.
I've now added some new pages: toiletries, pantry/garge (nonfood), pantry /garage (food), cereal (has its own page), extra freezer, etc. I find that as I am stockpiling and having to store my stocks in a variety of places in the house and the garage, that I am losing track of what I have, and consequently, what I might need when things go on sale.
By having lists of everything I have, I can look very quickly to see that I already have 18 cans of chicken broth, and that I might want to pass on the sale that is coming up. Or that I seem to have way more Golden Grahams and Cinnamon Toast Crunch than anything else, so not to buy those flavors for a while. Equally important is I can now more easily make sure we use things before they go out of date. When I was doing the inventory on my “spare” freezer (part of my refrigerator in the garage), I had to toss FIVE packages of Van De Kamps fish portions that were more than a year past date.
I hope this makes sense and that you aren't all laughing yourself silly. What can I say, I'm definitely Type A! But, I think this will help me keep tabs on what I have on hand, so that I can shop even smarter.
