Turning your menu into a shopping list

Build a shopping list from the week's menu and log the shop as a food expense in one tap.

Written byDaniel Broadhurst (Founder)|Published: 18 June 2026|
Ofsted Aligned

ℹ️Who this is for

Childminders who plan the week's meals and buy the food. Needs the Standard plan or a free trial. It takes about three minutes.

Video Walkthrough

KinderStart builds a shopping list from every meal on your weekly menu. When you've done the shop, log it as a food expense in one tap.

1. Plan meals with costs

Plan the week in the Menu Planner as usual. Meals from your library that have a cost per portion give the week an estimated food budget, shown at the top of the planner.

2. Open the shopping list

Tap Shopping List. Every ingredient from the week's menu is listed by category, with the meal and day it's for.

3. Tick things off

Tap an item to tick it off as you shop. If you already have something, tap + Cupboard to move it to In Cupboard. Switch between To Buy, In Cupboard and All Items at the top.

Tap Export / Share List to send the list to your phone's notes or messages.

4. Log the shop as an expense

Tap Log this shop as an expense. A new expense opens with the category (Food & Consumables), description and estimated amount filled in. Change the amount to what you actually spent, set the date, add a photo of your receipt, and save.

The shopping list then shows Already logged for this week with a link to the expense, so the same week's shop isn't logged twice.

ℹ️No button?

The button only appears when the week has an estimated cost, so add a cost per portion to your recipes. If a food expense is already dated in that week, you'll see the link to it instead.

Why KinderStart does it this way

Food for the children you mind is a business cost. Logging it straight from the menu means it reaches your expenses and tax figures without you remembering to do it later.

What to do next

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Track Your Progress
Don't get lost in the paperwork. Use our free interactive checklist to tick off each step as you complete it.

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KinderStart strives for accuracy. Competitor features and pricing comparisons are based on publicly available information as of May 2026. Details are subject to change by respective providers.

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