Grocist
Grocist may be one of those hacks that is more trouble than it’s worth. Or it may be the best thing since sliced bread. Here’s how it works:
- Buy a barcode scanner. Plug it into your computer.
- Sign up at Grocist.
- Scan the barcodes of any packages before you discard them.
- Grocist looks up the product information in the UPC database.
- This information is used to construct a grocery list.
Whether or not this will save you time and money, it’ll certainly make you the geekiest shopper in the produce deparment! (And how much disposable income must a person have in order to justify the purchase of a barcode scanner?)
[Grocist, via Matt Haughey]
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Lazy Man and Money said,
January 30, 2007 @ 3:30 pm
Barcode scanners are about $8 on Ebay. Just look up “cue cat.”
Plus you’d really look geeky at home when you make your list. You could just print the list to bring with you.
jdroth said,
January 30, 2007 @ 3:34 pm
True, true. But the site says that cue-cats aren’t supported yet.
I had a subscription to Wired when they mailed cue-cats to all their readers. I thought it was lame, so I gave mine to a friend. In the past decade, I’ve wanted that cue-cat several times…
k34h2qf9vy2 said,
February 1, 2007 @ 4:05 pm
“it’ll certainly make you the geekiest shopper in the produce deparment”
No Way! I’m the geekiest!
I have a spread sheet for my hand held pc (like a palm pilot). It has a list of the groceries I buy, it programed with how much of each item I like to have on hand in the house, where to I keep them at home, and where they are in the store. Before going to the store I sort the list by where things are located in my home. Then I make a pass through my house and enter the quantity of each item I have on hand. Then I sort the list by which items I need to buy and where they are located in the store. I make one pass through the aisles of the grocery store getting only what is on my list.
It saves time and cuts my grocery bill by reducing impulse shopping.