Ok you can go ahead and add me to the growing list of people singing the praises of a little do-diddy called Ziplist. I first saw it mentioned by a reader over at {lifeingrace} then my friend Katie wrote about it on her blog Dishin and Dishes. (My link tool is not cooperating, so pretty please find these sites over on the right…)

   It. Is. So. Cool.

   Basically a website-slash-phone-app, Ziplist is equal parts menu planner, recipe box, and grocery list, all in one. So efficient! Even for a newly converted electronics girl like myself (I only used my brand new 2013 paper planner for like two weeks before recently going 100% online), Ziplist is a piece of cake. And it will probably even help you bake that cake! Sha-za-amm.

   Basically, you just start by collecting recipes from the internet using either your laptop or your phone (I started with my Pinterest boards). Just follow the website’s instructions, okay? I am no good at explaining these things. I promise you it’s easy, and it’s also free.

   Then the magical internet elves behind your smudgy screen translate the recipes you want to try into shopping lists, broken down by grocery store departments. So neat and tidy! You might want to spend a couple of minutes filtering through the lists based on how well stocked your kitchen is, and perhaps adding some items, but pretty much you can just head straight to the store at this point. PAPERLESSLY.

   As you shop, just tap item after item and it disappears. If you have time to buy it all at once, cool beans. If not, you can actually sort the master list by recipe! I love this, because maybe one day I just have time to drop by a store on the way home from somewhere and fill in the grocery blanks for just that night, versus the entire week. This doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. All I have to do is sort my list to that night’s cooking and run like a crazy woman through the store. And the remainder of the week’s shopping list stays in tact, hidden meekly somewhere in the ether of my technology.

   Oh this reminds me to say that collecting recipes is not necessarily the same as building a shopping list; you can designate either or both as you add recipes to your profile. So your recipe collection can grow leaps and bounds while your shopping list is nicely controlled. Easy! There are still more features on the site I haven’t explored yet. Go for it!!
 
   Since I started using Ziplist almost two weeks ago, I no longer have scraps of paper floating around my purse and denim jacket pockets, urging me to remember three and a half groceries every other day but NEVER on the day I am either wearing that jacket or carrying that purse. It is all on my iPhone, which goes with me everywhere. And I can walk from department to department knowing exactly what I need and then go home fully prepared to tackle new recipes.

   You guys, I had no idea that in one narrow little slice of January I would:
     a) surrender my paper planner to an online Google calendar and
     b) stop writing my menus and shopping lists on paper in favor of Ziplist.

   I feel so modern and grown up, it’s completely ridiculous. Next, I might even stop carrying a boombox around on my shoulder while running.

   You never know.

   You’re jot using Ziplist yet?? You’re on the verge of being pitied like a fool.

What’s for dinner at your house??
xoxoxoxo