Grocery Zen

When I first got my iPhone I immediately started looking at grocery apps. I was looking for something that would do the actual shopping AND pay the bill but it seems no one has perfected that concept yet. Darn.

After doing some research on iTunes I decided to give Grocery Zen a try and I’ve been so happy I haven’t looked for another app – yet. Grocery Zen is easy to use and does a great job helping you keep track of what’s on your shopping list.

You start with a master list that the app developers have created. This pulls up as "Items" when you first start up the app. There’s also an "Items" button at the bottom of the screen that will always take you to this list. To add something to your shopping list simply touch what you want on the master list. This adds one of the item to your cart. You’ll see a little red number one show up next to the cart icon on the bottom of the screen – more about that later. If your finger slipped and you added coriander instead of corn you’ll want to touch coriander again. That will remove it from your list. If you want to add more than one of something click the edit button at the top of the screen. Then click on the item you want to change. You’ll head to a screen that lets you add quantities up to 99. Wow! 99 chocolate bars or pints of Ben & Jerry’s…You can also change whether your quantity is an item, pounds, ounces, pints, etc…you get the idea.

The great thing is you’re not restricted to what’s on the original master list. You can customize it and add whatever you want that they haven’t thought of. To be honest, they didn’t put in a lot of extra "mom items" so you’ll probably want to personalize your list. You’ll have to add pull-ups and greeting cards and candy corn. You know, the staples. To add your own items to the master list you just touch on the "plus" button at the top of the items screen. This pulls up a screen where you can type in your new item, the quantity that you want, and which aisle it’s found on in the store. The item you added is now part of the master list and will always show up. One of my only complaints with Grocery Zen is that there’s no way (or at least no way I’ve found) to delete something from the items list. Once it’s on there it appears to be on for good – so check your spelling! If you want to try and delete an item for yourself, touch it and then touch "edit". A red circle with a line shows up next to all the items. Touch the circle next to the item you’re trying to delete. The line will rotate and then you get a little box next to it that says delete. Click on it. This should delete the item but mine never go away. If someone figures out how to do it please email me!

Grocery Zen sorts your items into aisles like produce, meat, deli, dairy, etc.  When it’s time to shop with your final list everything will be sorted into aisles so it’s easier to find things. The items that come on the master list have already been assigned an aisle, but it’s easy to change. If you add one of your own items to the master list you’ll also want to give it an aisle. It’s easy to do. Touch the "Edit" button again, then touch the item you want to change. The edit screen pops up and now you touch the aisle line. It’ll pull up a long list of possible aisles. If you don’t see the one you want scroll all the way to the bottom to "add an aisle". Then type in what you want. The app will remember the new aisle for next time. A trick I like to use is my "Costco Aisle". I have a number of things (okay, more than a number) that I always buy at Costco. When I first added them to my master list I edited the aisle they’re found on to say "Costco". Now whenever I add them to my shopping list they’re automatically sorted to the Costco aisle. When I pull up my shopping list these items are all grouped together so it’s easy for me to see my Costco items separate from my regular groceries.

When you’re done adding things to your list and ready to go shopping click on "Shop" at the bottom of the screen. Your list shows up already sorted into your aisles. As you’re shopping and put something in your basket, simply tap the item you’ve grabbed. It gets crossed off and moved to the bottom of the screen under a heading "Have". I mentioned the little red numbers by the shopping cart earlier. This is a great feature that shows you the total number of items on your list. As you shop the number will decrease until you’ve finished shopping. I also love that this number shows up on your iPhone home screen above the Grocery Zen icon. When you turn on your phone it’s a great visual reminder that you’d better get shopping. At the end of your trip, if you’ve managed to get everything on your list, all your items will be in the "Have" section. There’s a button at the top of the screen that says "Check Out". Click on this and your shopping list will be deleted and you’re ready to start all over again. Happy thought.

In addition to the "Items" and "Shop" icons at the bottom of the screen there’s also a button that says "Share". Clicking on this will allow you to email out your list. This way if your husband happens to call you and says he’d like to stop at the store and do your weekly shopping you can send your list directly to him. A nifty way to make sure he comes home with what you need instead of four boxes of Captain Crunch and a can of chili.

The last button on the bottom is "Recipes". When you click on this button Grocery Zen pulls up a screen that allows you to enter in your recipes and their ingredients. After you’ve done this you can pull up a recipe and then click on the ingredients to directly add them to your shopping list. The cool thing about this is if you know you’re having meatloaf for dinner you pull up the recipe, click on "add all ingredients" and they go right on your list. No need to add them all separately. I’ve had grand plans to go through my recipes and add them all to Grocery Zen. Don’t ask me if it’s happened yet. Also, when you’re editing items on your master shopping list there’s a spot where you can add the items to your recipe that way.

Pre-iPhone my habit was to write grocery lists on scraps of paper. This worked but when I was done with the lists they always hung out in the bottom of my purse. Now I’ve simplified – one phone=one list and it’s worked out great. Not to say that I won’t be looking at other apps. There are a couple features I’d like to try- something where you can add coupons, or keep track of what things cost so you’ve got some sort of clue before that LARGE total flashes on the register. But for now Grocery Zen is one of my must have apps on my phone.

Seller: gbcb Software, LLP

Price when Reviewed: $1.99

Click here to see the app at the iTunes store