Weekly Tip: The Grocery List

 ”A person buying ordinary products in a supermarket is in touch with his deepest emotions.”  ~ John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian-American Economist

 Help for your Grocery List

The grocery list – that piece of paper where you scribble down the items you need at the store.  Well, that list has come a long way baby. There are now pre- compiled downloadable lists that can be edited in PDF format or in a spreadsheet format.  There are even vegetarian versions. Additionally, there are now apps for your cell phone  that will help you make the best grocery list ever.

So let’s investigate these options a little more. First, why is a grocery list a good thing?

• It will keep you from forgetting a necessary item.
• It will help you avoid buying all those impulse items that you really don’t need.
• It makes it easier to use your coupons.

The Ultimatest grocery list site, which has been touted in the New Yorker and the Wall Street Journal, is a collection of pre-formatted grocery lists as follows:

• The Original
• The Vegetarian Version
• The Spreadsheet Version
• The Editable PDF Version

You can edit any of the lists to suit your needs and put them on your refrigerator to make life easier. If you are into apps, there are some great ones that will help you with the shopping list task.  Jared Peters in his article entitled, Best Android grocery list apps to help you organize shopping trips , covers the following three apps:

• Out of Milk
• Ol Shopping List
• Evernote

I have used the Out of Milk app since my daughter told me about it.  The two things that I like the most about this app are the “real time sharing” and “pantry list” features.  With real time sharing, my husband knows what is on the list and he can pick up those items.  The pantry list keeps track of my pantry items; and if I’m not sure if I need something, I can check my pantry list.

Here’s to more effective shopping lists.