Mobile Apptitude

I’m generally well-organized and have something of a penchant for planning ahead – with one glaring exception: grocery shopping.  I don’t know why, but I still tend to rely on scraps of paper with hastily scrawled lists.  Even when I’m preparing to entertain and have a complete and thorough list, I neglect to check things off as I buy them and invariably forget to purchase some critical component of that evening’s meal…

Enter OurGroceries.  It’s a site that allows you to create and update a variety of shopping lists in the cloud.  Once you’ve loaded the app onto your BlackBerry or Android phone, any entries you make either online or on your phone are synced in all locations.  As a single guy, I find this app really useful, since I tend to remember I need to replenish my pasta supply at inopportune moments – now I can just quickly update my list using my phone.

I imagine it’s a huge boon to those of you who do the shopping for the whole family.  For example, the next time your spouse/significant other/roommate/child greedily devours the last of the chocolate ice cream while you’re on your way to the market, he or she can at least update the shopping list on OurGroceries.  Since syncing is instantaneous, you’ll know you need more once you get to the store.

As you shop, tick off what you’ve loaded into the cart using your phone, ensuring you get everything you need.  No more arriving home and realizing you’re going to have a hard time making brownies since you forgot to buy the eggs on your list.

Multiple lists are also supported, so you can maintain separate lists for the supermarket, the discount warehouse and the drugstore.

I’m using the Android version of the app and it’s great – easy to set up and the syncing is seamless and immediate.  Both the app and the online site are models of simplicity.  OurGroceries has already helped ensure that I’ll never run out of peanut butter again…