Tell me something, has this ever happened to you?
You come across this fabulous recipe on the internet and decide to try it out. So, you go out to the grocery store to get the required ingredients and come back, only to realize that you’ve missed some while making your list!
Aargh!!! …. Frustrating, right?
That’s why shopping lists should be prepared carefully and correctly. A grocery list doesn’t only help you remember what you need, it also keeps you from impulse-buying and therefore helps you make healthy choices. But this can only happen, if your list is prepared accurately!.
If well-planned, a grocery list can make shopping fun, save you time and money and help you eat healthy. And one way of making a well planned grocery shopping list is to plan your meals.
My quest to plan my meals and grocery shopping, led to the creation of GLAMPS – An Excel based Menu Planner with an inbuilt grocery shopping list generator. Although I have always practiced menu planning, I always struggled with the grocery shopping. But all that ended after I started using my GLAMPS planner.
And now, after having shared it with friends and family, I have decided to share with you!
Here’s all you need to know about this amazing Menu planner and grocery shopping list generator
What is GLAMPS?
Simply put, GLAMPS is an Excel Based Menu Planner to help you plan ahead. It features a grocery shopping List Generator to ensure you don’t ever forget to buy those special ingredients for a special dish!! What’s more is, it’s super flexible and very easy to use.
GLAMPS consists of 5 sheets within one workbook
- Instructions
- Weekly Meal Planner
- Recipe Ingredients – Calculator
- Shopping List
- Printable Shopping List
Why should I use GLAMPS?
GLAMPS is a very helpful tool for busy homemakers, who multi-task so much, that they are bound to be living chaotic lives. GLAMPS will help minimize the chaos by helping you keep track of your Menu Plan and Grocery Shopping and ensuring that you do not forget to add important items to your shopping cart.
Other than regular meal planning, GLAMPS is extremely useful when you are planning elaborate meals for a small party or feast. For example: It’s your kids birthday and you are planning a small party at home. Plug the recipes you plan to cook into the GLAMPS planner and you don’t have to worry about forgetting to buy any key ingredients.
Honestly speaking, if you are already doing a great job with your meal planning and Grocery Shopping, GLAMPS might not be for you. GLAMPS is ideal for people like me – who would like to bring some sense of organization and control in planning thier meals.
How do I use GLAMPS?
Follow the Instructions in the Instruction sheet carefully to get the best out of your GLAMPS Planner. You could even check out the video above if that suits you better.
- Plan your Weekly Menu by entering the Items for each day under each category in the Weekly Meal Planner. I have put in a sample menu as an example.
- Next, calculate your recipe ingredients using the Recipe Ingredients – Calculator. Follow the Instructions carefully while doing so. Again, I have provided an example to guide you.
- After you have filled in this data, your shopping list is automatically generated in the Shopping List Sheet. This gives you a list of the groceries you need, along with the quantities. Now you can check out which items you already have, which you need to buy and how much.
- Next, select this shopping list and paste it into the Printable Shopping List. This is where you can make any changes in the list as required. For example, you can remove ingredients that you already have in stock or adjust quantities that don’t make sense (I mean, 0.25 tsp of pepper?!! – you either buy some pepper or you don’t)
- NOTE:When pasting remember to use right click, and in the dialog box that opens up select “values” from under “paste options”. DO NOT use ctrl+v, or you will get invalid text.
- NOTE:When pasting remember to use right click, and in the dialog box that opens up select “values” from under “paste options”. DO NOT use ctrl+v, or you will get invalid text.
- Once you are done editing the Printable Shopping List, print out your shopping list and you are ready to go!
TIP: I suggest making a collection of all your favourite recipes in the form of an Excel sheet. This has many advantages . Your recipes remain safe and organized and in one place making them easy to find and refer to. You can even print out these recipes, in the form of a recipe card, for easy reference while cooking.
PRO TIP: If you create an excel file with fields like I have done in my Recipe File Template (Image bleow), it will be easier for you to copy and paste the data into GLAMPS.
And because I’m as nice as people say I am, I will be giving you my personal Recipe File Template for FREE when you purchase the GLAMPS Planner. In addition I have put in the data for 3 Free sample recipes for you, as an example!
- Healthy Spinach Egg Dosa
- Peas Pulao
- Chocolate Brownies
grocery shopping list
Where can I find GLAMPS?
GLAMPS was launched on the 6th of August 2015 and is available for purchase at here.
What’s in the Package?
- GLAMPS Planner: This contains 5 sheets
- Instructions
- Weekly Meal Planner
- Recipe Ingredients – Calculator
- Shopping List
- Printable Shopping List
- Recipe File: This is a template where you can store all your recipes in a format that makes it easy to pull data into GLAMPS. Also, I have already put in three recipes for you- for FREE!
- Healthy Spinach Egg Dosa
- Peas Pulao
- Chocolate Brownies
Now, over to you
Here’s what I’d like you to do next…
Rush to get your GLAMPS planner now!!! 
But seriously, do check it out and let me know your thoughts. If it doesn’t fit into your budget, feel free to reach out and let me know and we can work something out! (Didn’t I tell you I’m nice?)
And don’t forget to share this post with your friends, so they too can check it out.