Grocery Shopping Software

[johnfdeluca]

I always seem to make multiple trips to the supermarket because I forgot an item or two.  So I decided I was going to get organzied and make a list.  So of couse I thought there should be a simple app which allows me to do this.  But as I searched and thought about it, my "simple" requirement grew in complexity.  So here's what it grew to:

Create database of all items I usually buy which allow the capture of:

• Product Info (product, size, brand)
• Supermarket-specific Info (std price, unit price, best sale price, supermarket aisle)
• Ability to create mini-lists (like for a meal or a recipe) which can be used to build a shopping list
• Print list in aisle order to maximize my shopping
• Ability to support multiple supermarkets so if I decide to shop at Kroger vs Shop-Rite, it creates my list sorted with the items in the right ailses.

This way, just once, I could go thru the pain of entering everything I regularly buy, prices, aisles, etc, then I could simply build a shopping list by telling it what I am making (via mini lists I previously set up) and staples like milk, bread (via a staples list) and add any items not in those lists (like ketchup when I am out).  When printing, it would ask me which supermarket I am going to and then print the list by aisle with prices.

I actually found something that does most of this at

http://aislebyaisle.com/.  The software though is a bit funky in that it is very hard (for me) to grasp and has some oddities in how it operates (its sense of what product is currently active is often cludgey).  So I am looking to see if there is something else out there.  Anybody know of anything?

[mouser]

I look forward to hearing the suggestions here as well - I like your ideas.  This could definitely be an area where someone could have fun coding a new program.

By the way seeing your nickname and "Grocery shopping" in the same thread immediately brought to mind the famous Dean & Deluca store in new york city:


http://www.deandeluca.com/

[app103]

This is the only one I know of and it doesn't have all the features you are looking for.

Recipe Keeper Plus

It's primarily a recipe holder that will create shopping lists based on recipe ingredients.

It will also allow you to add to that list from the standard grocery list items that are built in, and allow you to add additional items to the standard list.

Yes, it does allow you to specify product name, size.

I found it a bit clunky to use, and it looked very win95-ish.

It also included a ton of unrelated things like household budget, a few really stupid games, etc.

They also have Recipe's Galore, which just looks like a scaled down version of the other program I just mentioned.

http://www.reg-software.com/Recipe.htm


I use my ToDo list program to make my shopping lists.

I add new items that are not in my master list to the ToDo side and after I am done shopping I move everything to the Done side.

As I run out of things, I move them from Done back to ToDo.

When I am making my full list, I just go down the Done side and move anything I may have forgotten to the ToDo side. Keeps me from forgetting things.  Then I just print it out.

It's kind of a primitive way of doing things, but it works for me and I find it faster than any other method I have tried. (at least it's not as primitive as writing it out by hand)

[tsaint]

Don't suppose you own a pda - palm os in particular, as there are several excellent freeware programs deigned for exactly your requirements.
eg at http://www.freewarep...base/shoplist!.shtml and http://www.freewarep...hopper-english.shtml

[johnfdeluca]

I don't actually own a PDA so while those apps sound like possible matches for my needs, I won't be able to use them.  The recipe program seems similar to many I've seen in that it is primarily a recipie app so falls short of my needs in the grocery list area which is really where the rubber meets the road.

I would love it if someone with programming skills saw this as an opportunity / challenge.

And although no relation, I love Dean & DeLuca (I used to live in NY)!