How to Teach Children to Make a Grocery List
Healthy eating and spending habits start long before children go off to college. It's imperative to future success in adulthood that parents teach children how to grocery shop for necessary items and stay on budget. Children as young as toddlers can actively participate in meal planning, preparation and decision making of meals and snacks as well as learn about recipe preparation. Parents should stress the importance of grocery lists to meal planning, healthy food decisions, recipe success and budgeting.
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Instructions
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Peruse the sale ads from the local grocery store. The store ads are not junk mail to experienced shopping planners. Saving the sale ads allows parents and children to know what items are on sale that week and how much desired items, such as meat, fruits and vegetables, will cost.
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Decide on a menu for the entire week. Using both the sale ads and family food preferences, decide what meats, vegetables, side dishes and desserts will be purchased. Ask the child to create at least one meal a day for the family using the basic food groups.
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Write the list of ingredients to make the main dishes, sides and desserts on the menu. For example, if the child decides on spaghetti for Tuesday night, encourage the child to write down spaghetti noodles, pasta sauce, any desired meat and any spices that will be used to season the meal. Then have the child go to the cabinet to see if any of these ingredients are on hand. If you already have an ingredient, that item can be marked off the grocery list.
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Check clipped coupons. Once a list of necessary food items is complete, check the household coupon stash to see if any items correspond to the list. Paper clip these coupons to the grocery list for the shopping trip. Peruse the sale ad once more and check to see if you have any coupons for sale items. Teach children to stock up while a product is on sale and coupons are available to save money on future meals.
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Walk around the house to see if other items, such as toiletries or laundry aids, are needed. Don't stop at the kitchen. Explain to the child that toiletries can also be purchased and need to be added to the list.
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Tips & Warnings
Many grocery stores know what coupons have been printed in the Sunday paper recently and deliberately place those items in sale ads to attract customers. Catching an item on sale with a coupon can be a huge cost-cutting tool.
Do not let young children go to the supermarket alone. Creating a list does not mean the child is ready to navigate the supermarket and pay for the food unsupervised.
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