Is there any online program that I can put my shopping list in that will organize them according to how I want them organized?
I’ve done an excel program, but its eeeehhhh.
I’ve seen splashshopper but it seems a bit pricey considering I do not own a handheld or need to subscribe to one more thingie.
Sorry…I use the Kalhoun Method.
Not an online program, but I’ve been using a Firefox extension for the past few months. It works ehh, ok, though I think I like the *idea *of it a little more than the actual program. Most of the time it’s easier for me to type up my list in my livejournal.
You can enter your own recipe ingredients, so if you want to cook ‘Green Bean Casserole’ this weekend and you know you need the items for it, just add the recipe to your list, and it adds the ingredients.
You can move the item categories up and down to generate your list in a way that resembles your shopping routine.
It comes with some pre-loaded recipes and items, and you can add and remove as needed.
If there were a way for the items I add on my home and work browsers to sync up, I’d probably use it more often.
Since it doesn’t, I usually use my livejournal on a private setting that only my husband and I can see, (or he does the same in his LJ) and we add items in comments as needed before our shopping trip. Print and go.
Like Kalhoun, I don’t carry a list. Most of the staple items that I buy don’t vary from week to week. Before going to the shops I note what one-off items I need to buy. There usually aren’t more than 4 or 5. Then when I’m at the supermarket I work my way up and down the aisles, buying the staples and the one-offs. Just before going to the checkout I always pause to see that I’ve got all of the one-off items.
Well, I write out my menu for the week. Then I write the list of ingredients needed for each day. That’s pretty much my shopping list. Anything non-food or extra gets placed at the bottom of the list. This way I know what I need to buy first and what I can wait to purchase if freshness is an issue.
I never realized just how organized that sounds until I read it just now. Huh.
I do the excel spreadsheet thingy. One column represents one supermarket aisle. It makes life easier to be able to have the list on the 'fridge and just highlight the required items as they run out.
My method:
Plan out a menu for the week using overlapping ingredients, factoring in specials and coupons.
Rewrite the list, sorting the ingredients by category/aisle.
Get to the store, realize I’ve forgotten the list at home, decide that tuna casserole didn’t really sound like a good idea anyway, and drop 70 bucks on ingredients to make a night’s worth of spaghetti sauce.
Eat spaghetti while planning out the next week’s menu.
I write out my menu for the week first, too. Then I arrange things in roughly the order I’ll come to them in the store. For instance, the entrance to the store where I usually shop is through the produce department, so fresh fruits and vegetables get listed first. The last thing I come to is the health and beauty aids stuff, so toothpaste and shampoo are listed last.
Anything I don’t have to buy regularly I write down on a wet-erase board on my refrigerator. Then, when it’s time to make a list, I scribble everyone on whatever piece of paper my hands find, possibly reordering later based on location within the store.
I have a PDA, and I use freeware called HandyShopper. I love this application!
I’ve forgotten to grab spray hair gel the last four times I’ve gone to the store. Good thing I work at home, because my hair really looks like shit this week.
I make a list more or less according to the order things are in the supermarket.
My grandmother did this as well, as we found out when she became housebound and we started to do her shopping for her. As time went by, the supermarket changed their layout, but her list stuck stubbornly to the order things used to be in the days when she used to do her own shopping.
I basically do the same thing Martha does - I write it out based on store layout.
The thing is, those lists tend to be very very small - we don’t make a weekly list, we pretty much go to the store almost every day - it’s right on the way home so it’s no bother, and we really don’t plan ahead our meals - we decide what we all want each day sort of. It’s hard to explain and I know I’m not doing a good job of it… 
I feel a little sheepish posting this here, but what the heck…
I write down what we need on the shopping list.
I go to the store. (here’s the sheepish part, as I am a male of the species) There are three major grocery stores in my area. I am intimately familiar with their layouts. I mentally figure what aisles I need to go thru based on the list and the store layout.
Wife loves me, and she HATES grocery shopping.
Am I weird?