The ultimate grocery shopping list to organise your weekly meals

When you’ve got a full schedule and plenty on your mind, making a weekly shopping list isn’t always top of your priorities. Getting to the shops and realising you haven’t planned what you need to buy means that you might be more tempted by enticing store deals and forget some of your essentials!

To make things easier, we’ve put together a healthy grocery list guide that’ll make your weekly shop that little bit easier. We've categorised our shopping list based on the different sections of your kitchen to make it easier to work through everything you need.

When making a weekly shopping list plan, check your cupboards and note down the staples you use most often.

Fridge grocery list

The fridge is likely to be the centre of your kitchen so there are quite a few staples you might want to buy each week:

• Milk

• Cheese

• Eggs

• Yoghurts

• Meat

• Vegetables (tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, peppers, onions, garlic - all that you need for a basic shopping list)

• Any sauces you may need, such as tomato sauce and mayonnaise

Why not take a look in your fridge now and make a list of all the basics you have? if you’re on a budget, such as trying to make a student food shopping list, try and stock up on vegetables rather than meat as it’s much cheaper (and can be healthier too!)

Freezer shopping list

If you’re making a monthly grocery list, your freezer is a great place to stock easy meals and long-lasting food. When you’re a little busy, it’s great to have some back-up food in the freezer. We recommend:

• Vegetables and fruit - buy frozen or wash, prep and freeze fresh fruit and veg instead

• Meat - buying frozen sometimes works out cheaper but you can also buy fresh and freeze yourself 

• Fresh pasta sauces that are easy to freeze

• A couple of "cheat" dinners like cook-from-frozen pizzas or meals

• Frozen herbs and spices - these are great for cooking with if you find you don't use fresh ingredients before they go off

Cupboard grocery shopping list

There are a lot of cupboard essentials you’re going to need when you create a shopping list, and here are a few to give you some ideas:

• Dry goods such as pasta, noodles, rice, and lentils

• Dried herbs and spices - coriander, paprika, salt and pepper are good choices if you regularly make your own biltong

• Tinned goods such as soup and kidney beans

By keeping these basics stocked up, you’ll be able to use your other ingredients to make a lot of different dishes so, even if you haven’t planned any meals, you’ll be fine!

Fruit & snacks food shopping list

When it comes to fruits and snacks, you can’t really go wrong. Just make sure you have enough to last for the week and be sure to get a mixture of ripe and unripe fruit so that they last. For snacks, nuts can make a really great healthy option that’ll keep you full between meals.

Once you use these tips to make your basic weekly shopping list, getting your groceries will be easy! Even if you’re too busy to plan out your meals, this will give you enough to make a dinner for every night of the week.

• Create a list that’s split into the categories of your kitchen.

• Check out our steps for ideas of what you might need.

• Take a look in your cupboards for the staple foods you need to add.