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So I did my Thanksgiving feast shopping list today.

What works for me (& I have been doing this for years when I do big meals and/or multiple dishes) is to sit down with my recipes & put the ingredients on a spreadsheet. The first column is in general, where to find the ingredient - for example, eggs, butter, milk, cheese, sour cream are going to be 'dairy'. Flour, sugar, etc. are 'bake' for baking supplies. The second column is the ingredient & how much is needed. The third column is the recipe name.

Once all are on the spreadsheet, I sort first by location (Col A), then by ingredient (Col B) - both are sorted alphabetically. That should give me an ingredient like butter, eggs, brown sugar etc. all together. I then manually calculate the total of each ingredient & write it in.

Whew! This is what it looks like (a bit messy, not perfect but it's a working document):

The list is a page & a half. For the most part, it takes me to different sections of the store, like the dairy area, just once. This makes for pretty speedy, efficient shopping.

During my working days, I used spreadsheets a lot, both manual ones & on the computer. My old HP is about to kick the bucket so I used mom's Chrome Book - had to figure out the sort function, but it's fairly easy so I was able to end up with my list. :-)

Double Chocolate Ricotta Marble Cake
Rich and decadent dble chocolate marble cake made with creamy ricotta.

Ing: - 1 cup flour - 1/2 cup cocoa powder - 1 tsp b/powder - 1/2 tsp b/soda - 1/4 tsp salt - 1/2 cup unsalted butter, - 1 cup sugar - 2 lge eggs - 1 cup ricotta - 1/2 cup milk - 1 tsp vanilla - 1/2 cup semi/choc/chips

Instructions: 1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a 9-inch round cake pan. 2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 3. In a separate large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 4. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then mix in the ricotta cheese, milk, and vanilla extract. 5. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. 6. Fold in the chocolate chips. 7. Pour half of the batter into the prepared cake pan. 8. Add the cocoa powder to the remaining batter and stir until well combined. 9. Drop spoonfuls of the chocolate batter on top of the plain batter in the cake pan. 10. Use a knife to swirl the batters together to create a marble effect. 11. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 12. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Serve drizzled w/ chocolate ganache.

I don’t see any BACON? You’re going to be in the store, anyway, LOL!

You’re so efficient. I usually just wing it, but it’s usually only the 6 of us. I have started buying ‘parts’ of the meal already and I have potatoes and squash and green beans on hand.

I’m more concerned with jazzing up my table - though I’ve started jotting down some Dollar Tree ideas, already. I can’t believe the number of Thanksgiving Dollar Tree vids there are in my You Tube list, LOL! I guess they know a Cheapskate when they see one. ;)