Shopping lists

[Aunt Bea]

My mom used to do that, with the list on the envelope and the coupins inside.

I use a notepad app on my phone, typing in items as DW tells them to me. I try to add them to the list in the order by which the store I'm going to is laid out. Then I add the things I want to buy, and do a final rearranging by store layout again.

Twice last year the store I visit the most moved everything around after being bought out by another company. It's taken me a while to memorize where everything is again. I guess old habits die hard.

I sure hope they don't do it again.

That happened to me too!

Prolly some brat with a PHD figured I would spend more money if I had to wander around the store looking for the things I need!

 

[msmofet]

My mom used to do that, with the list on the envelope and the coupins inside.

I use a notepad app on my phone, typing in items as DW tells them to me. I try to add them to the list in the order by which the store I'm going to is laid out. Then I add the things I want to buy, and do a final rearranging by store layout again.

Twice last year the store I visit the most moved everything around after being bought out by another company. It's taken me a while to memorize where everything is again. I guess old habits die hard.

I sure hope they don't do it again.

ShopRite in Parsippany did a reset also. That’s why I use the shop from home app and it tells me the aisles.

 

[Andy M.]

Our store hasn't changed hands but does rearrange some items from time to time to keep you on your toes and having to go up and down every aisle to find stuff.

When I started using my phone app to keep the list, I snapped photos of the directory above each aisle as a reference so I could easily arrange my list. As I don't erase the list every week (just the checkmarks) I only had to do it once with minor adjustments for odd items.

 

[RPCookin]

That happened to me too!

Prolly some brat with a PHD figured I would spend more money if I had to wander around the store looking for the things I need!

This is a common and very deliberate sales strategy - stores have been doing this for years. If you have to search, you might just come across and pick up something that you wouldn't have bought otherwise. I mostly find it frustrating.

I also find it frustrating when they put an item in an aisle where the rest of the things there ore not related to it. It's like the stock clerk saw an empty space and just decided this must be the spot, regardless of any organizational logic.

Since the only "full service" grocery store we have closer than 50 miles is a Walmart, that's where 90% of our shopping is done. About once every couple of months we do the longer drive (50+ miles) to Safeway, ether in Ft. Morgan CO or Sidney NE. Safeway stocks better produce and they have a good butcher/meat department, so if they were closer, we would only shop Walmart for non food stuff.

 

[Katie H]

Both my phone and Glenn's phone are only about one step above 2 tin cans and some string, so no apps of any kind.

I just keep my list on a piece of tear-off note paper. Use one side one week. The other side the next week. If I don't get an item on the list, I circle it to make sure it goes on the next list.

We don't get any weekly/daily papers and also don't get any mailings, so I usually go to our Kroger website to see what the weekly flyer looks like. I have my list next to me and add anything that interests me or is a particularly good sale.

Our shopping is done weekly on Tuesday (old farts day) because those of us "of a certain age" receive a 5% discount on our entire purchase amount. Not bad when you also add in things like the few coupons I use, along with the "buy 5" program they have. This program is especially useful because shoppers can mix and match items as long as they are items in the buy 5 groups. I've made out quite handsomely doing this.

 

[buckytom]

That happened to me too!

Prolly some brat with a PHD figured I would spend more money if I had to wander around the store looking for the things I need!

PHD? Lol. I'm a doctor, Jim. Not a green grocer...

Actually, the first time they changed things around was when the store changed hands to become an Acme supermarket. But I asked a customer service person why they changed things around a second time just a few months later, and she said it was because the new regional manager came by and ordered the changes. So yeah, some smart guy who knows better.

Hmm, maybe the new GM will finally let me in the back room with the rocket skates, dynamite, and trebuches.

But RP's right, that stores move stuff around to get you to look at and maybe buy new stuff.

 

[Steve Kroll]

I posted this on DC several years back. It's a smartphone app called OurGroceries...

http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f163/grocery-list-smartphone-app-77185.html

I still use it, and they've made several enhancements since it first came out. It now even integrates with Amazon Echo, so if I'm in the middle of cooking and run out of something, or if I happen to think of an item I need while laying in bed at night, I can just tell Alexa to add it to my list, without having to fumble around on the phone.

I actually use this app for more than just groceries. For example, right now I have a list called "spring cleanup," with all my to-do items on it. As I finish things, I can just check them off on the list.

 

[roadfix]

I guess we're way behind here. I still use a piece of paper to jot down what we need (rarely over a dozen items).
My wife, OTH, does not use a list of any sort, does the bulk of our shopping, and buys impulsively, often duplicating what we already have and in some instances, running out of refrigerator and freezer space when she brings home the groceries. That's when I get pissed off.

 

[Lauraalice]

I first pin recipes for dinners then i start there. I write down all the ingredients needed. But when i make the actual shopping list its by Aisle.