Does anyone like shopping for groceries? Even when I lived in large cities where some grocery stores were more like an attraction to which you needed a ticket, I still loathed grocery shopping. I think it’s because I could never remember where anything is. I’m much better at it now, since I do it every week, but I list grocery shopping as one of a myriad of skills that seem instinctual to a mother and counter-intuitive for a father. Call me sexist, but that’s my observation and opinion. Women just seem naturally better and more at home in the grocery store than men. Most men need help getting in and out of the grocery store quickly. Nonetheless, I hope what follows is useful to veteran grocery-shoppers, whether men or women.

    If you’ve read my columns, you know I’m a fan of lists, and a list is critical for the grocery store. Budgeting experts recommend never going to a grocery store with an appetite or without a list. Never shop hungry, you’ll buy all sorts of food you don’t need, and that won’t look good on you later. Those same experts recommend keeping a memo pad on the refrigerator. Sounds good, but I usually forget that pad on the refrigerator and go grocery shopping without the list I made. And since I didn’t go to the refrigerator first, I’m shopping hungry.

    One very elegant solution to the needed, but forgotten list is an app called GroceryIQ. Being the list person I am, I love it. GroceryIQ is available on your desktop or laptop computer using your web browser, or as an iPhone/iPad application, and as an Android application (sorry no BlackBerry or Windows Mobile yet). First step is to create an account. It’s free, which likely means there selling your buying habits and information to anyone with money, but you save a dollar or two and that’s what we’re all about.

    GroceryIQ synchronizes its lists to all your devices, which means that if you’re home and you add ten items to the list using your desktop computer, when you make an unplanned stop to the grocery store, you automatically have the same list of ten items available to you on your phone. If you check off an item on your phone, it’s checked off on your desktop and iPad, too. You no longer have to worry about tearing off the memo pad from the fridge before you go to the grocery store.

    GroceryIQ has a number of compelling features, too. Of primary importance to me, after the synchronization feature, is organizing by aisle. I want out of the grocery store as fast as possible, and never visiting the same aisle twice helps. For those wanting to budget their money, you can assign prices to each item and have a pretty good idea of your checkout cost BEFORE you even make it to the store. This is especially helpful if you use the cash envelope budgeting system.

    Most moms I know shop at multiple stores for key items such as meat and produce and GroceryIQ enables you to specify certain stores for certain items or view all items together. Lists can also be shared, though I don’t use that feature. I suppose the idea is that a husband (or wife) can add something to the “family list.” I like that idea.

    So whether you’re a veteran grocerite or a lost husband sent on a quest by your wife, check out GroceryIQ to get you out of there quickly and efficiently.    Technically yours.