Grocery shopping for the Hectic Clan is big business. We can easily spend several hundred dollars a week feeding our bunch. That’s just for the food, then there are all household items that we have to buy. I knew I should have bought stock in toilet paper and feminine hygiene products years ago. Those investments would’ve paid off handsomely based on our usage.
We’ve always had a problem with the creation of our shopping lists. For years, I tried to get everybody to use a checkbox list. Everything that we bought on a regular basis was on the list. All my kids or wife had to do was make a mark next to the item that we needed. There were spots for additional items that didn’t appear on the lists. Unfortunately, we have a stainless steel fridge, so we couldn’t put the list right there in everybody’s face. No matter where I put the list, it seldom was used by anybody other than me. I’d grab the list, thinking that everybody had their wants and needs included on it, only to find out that nobody else had put a darned thing on there.
Then I would get home and the griping from the Hectic Clan would commence. “Did you buy crunchy peanut butter?”, “Did you buy whole wheat bread?”, “Did you buy vanilla ice cream?”. No, no, and heck no would be my answer. I’d admonish them that “if it’s not on the list, I’m not buying it”. This worked fine with the kids. They would grumble and sulk away. No so, Hectic Mom. She would be irritated that I couldn’t read her mind. Not the first time it happened, and not the last…but irritating to both of us. I just don’t know how I’m supposed to buy stuff that I don’t know we want or need.
Prior to the checklist shopping list, I had a pad of paper that we wrote things on. It was available to everyone. There were no restrictions. It wasn’t used all that much, so I don’t really know why I thought the checklist would work. Sometimes you get enamored of a solution and just know how right it is. I figured my progeny would figure it out too. They didn’t.
I started to explore apps and websites as a solution. We tried several, but nobody would use them. The idea was that the request could be made from smartphones, tablets, or computers…and everybody in the Hectic Clan had access to all of those. I’d say, “Take ten seconds and add crunchy peanut butter to the list”. They wouldn’t. Too much work, apparently. And they wouldn’t get to gripe when I arrived home without the un-asked-for crunchy peanut butter.
It got to the point that I was the only one using any of the apps. I dumped them all and went back to our checklist. I kept it at the table at dinner time and would ask if anybody needed anything. If anyone piped up, I’d add it to the list. I kept the checklist at my side as I planned our weekly meals. As I reviewed the recipes I would add needed items to the list.
Then one day I got to the store and had left my five page checklist at home. No one was at home, so I had to drive the 20 minutes back to the house to get the stupid list. That’s when I decided that I was going to find a better way. A solution that used the tech that has invaded our lives. A solution that would allow me to see the list on my iPad (where I could read it) or on my iPhone (in a pinch). Something that would available to everybody. And hopefully something that would let me put our most common recipes in with the ingredients that they needed. Then with a single click I could add all the ingredients for a recipe.
I dreamed of Nirvana, where grocery shopping would be a breeze!
We had used the Bread and Milk app on our iOS devices previously, so I took another look, but it didn’t do what I wanted. There were lots of features, but most of them weren’t what I needed. So I continued my search. I decided that I would use each app for one week, including any shopping trips that we did. I would then assess whether the app was a keeper or not. The only thing that I really cared about was the ability to use the app well while shopping and that entry of items into the app was easy.
I didn’t expect anybody in the family to use any of the apps during the test period, but I did let them know what I was doing. My youngest daughter, Hectic-12, became very interested in the process, so she joined me on the test-team. I’m really glad she did, because she didn’t hesitate to tell me when an app was crap. The first three apps we tried barely made it the entire week. Each time we had found a killer issue that made them a no-go for future use. But we stuck with my test for a week plan. She pointed out that I was a stubborn old coot and was sticking to the plan because I said I was going to. She was right, but I’m a stubborn old coot and we stuck to the plan anyway. Who says you can teach an old dog new tricks?!?!
I was exasperated, so I told her to find the next app. She already knew what we were looking for, so she took a couple hours and searched the app store. That’s when she discovered Our Groceries Shopping List. She was really excited when she brought it to me. She showed me all the things it could do, and even found a guy who’d configured it with a built-in list, much like our checklist. We then jointly discovered that you could import a list. So we strategized the rest of that day as to how to modify the checklist to make it work a bit better in Our Groceries, and developed a plan to do the import the next day.
We setup a master account and then attached her e-mail address. We now had access to all the lists that were created on any account in our family. We imported our categories that had been developed over years of using the checklist and it’s predecessors. We then imported the items into a standard list. One that we wouldn’t use for actual shopping, but would hold all the things that we bought at the store on a regular basis.
Then we created a list for the two grocery chains that we shopped at, as well as one for Target.
We began adding items to the list…and it was slick. I could see when she added items. She could see when I added items. We got a bit giddy as our first shopping trip approached.
The first trip went off without a hitch. We had a normal list, for us. That means there were about 50 items on the list, scattered throughout the store. This trip happened to be at Wal-Mart, so we ranged from lightbulbs, to clothing, to cat litter, to food. We had to stop frequently to consult Our Groceries on my iPad, but we were learning. Quite honestly, the app didn’t get in our way and the shopping trip was–dare I say it–fun!
After stowing all our purchased items at home, Hectic-12 and I discussed our trip and how to use the app even better. We re-arranged some of the categories so they flowed better with our journey through Wal-Mart. We set up a similar categorical list for Dillons, the local Kroger affiliated store near our home. We discovered that the categories didn’t have to match between the two stores, and the order of the categories didn’t even have to be the same. That’s especially useful, since we shop in a different way at Wal-Mart, trying to buy all the non-food items first.
At present, we have 695 items in our Weekly Groceries Template organized into 45 categories. I’ve managed to get several of the kids to add the app to their phones. A couple more will occasionally get onto Ourgroceries.com in their browser. From their they can see our lists, and add items to their heart’s delight. I’ve been a pretty tough one about “if it’s not on the list, I’m not buying it”. That’s been a catalyst to get a couple of them to use the list more frequently. The griping is still there, but each time they complain I explain exactly, in painful detail how to use Our Groceries as an app as well as through the website. It’s pretty hard for them to play the “it’s too hard” card when I can show them how to add an item in a few seconds.
We’re very please with Our Groceries. It’s doing everything that I can think of at the store. We’ve just started using the Recipes portion that allows us to enter all the ingredients required for a recipe and then add them with a couple quick touches. That feature is paying off for regular recipes that we have on our meal plan.
If you have another shopping solution that you’re using, I’d love to hear about it. If you don’t have one, or are looking for something different, I think Our Groceries is a great solution!
This looks great! We don’t have anything NEAR this sophisticated. Our system comprises of:
him: Can you email/text me with a list
me: *Cut and pasting the list from last time and missing loads of things that we really DO need!!*
May be I’ll gave a closer look at this!! We could do with a bit of organisation in our lives! 🙂 Thanks so much for linking up with #TwinklyTuesday — hope to see you again next week! x
Caro | http://www.thetwinklediaries.co.uk