A Grocery List That Updates Itself
Lyfify's grocery list now builds itself from your meal plan, subtracts what you have already bought, and covers anywhere from 1 to 14 days of shopping.
Written by Simon Gravgaard · 4 min read
The list used to wait for a button
The grocery list used to wait for you. You planned your meals, went over to Groceries, and had to press a button to make the list catch up. Change the plan, press it again.
That button is gone, and so is most of the bookkeeping that grew around it.
It updates itself from your meal plan
Open Groceries and the list is already right. It reads your active meal plan instantly, so swapping Thursday's dinner is enough on its own.
It counts what you have already bought
This is the part that used to go wrong. Say your plan needs 5 onions. You are at the shop, you put 5 in the trolley, you tick them off. Then you change Friday's dinner to something that wants 2 more.
| | Before | Now | | --- | --- | --- | | Plan asked for | 5 onions | 5 onions | | You bought and ticked off | 5 | 5 | | Plan changes to | 7 onions | 7 onions | | Back on your To Buy list | 7 | 2 |
The old list handed you the whole line again and left you to work out what was left. The new one knows you already have 5, and asks for the 2 you are missing.
It does the same in whatever unit your recipe uses, and does the maths for you:
| Your plan needs | Already ticked off | Still on your list | | --- | --- | --- | | 1 kg flour | 300 g | 700 g | | 3 cups of rice | 1 cup | 2 cups | | 8 eggs | 8 | nothing |
Nothing you have already ticked off gets asked for twice.
Choose how far ahead you shop, from 1 to 14 days
The list used to cover exactly one week, no more, no less. There is now a slider in List Settings, letting you set your shopping window to anywhere from 1 to 14 days.
So whether you're shopping daily, every few days, or every 2 weeks, your grocery list follows you.
The list you finish stays finished
Got It has no Clear button any more, and that is deliberate. What is in Got It is what is already in your trolley and cupboard, and it is what the list subtracts from before asking for more. Wiping it would just put everything straight back on your To Buy list.
Instead, it clears itself when your shopping window ends and the next list begins.
Leave the pinches and "to taste" off your list
Recipes ask for a pinch of this and a grind of that. How do you buy a pinch of paprika? I don't know... and it clutters the list.
Two new switches in List Settings now optionally excludes "pinch" and "to taste" from your grocery list, and they're precise about it. Excluding a pinch does not throw away a spice you genuinely need to buy:
| Your recipes ask for | Both switches off | "A pinch" left out | | --- | --- | --- | | 1 tsp paprika | 1 tsp | 1 tsp | | a pinch of paprika | a pinch | dropped | | Paprika on your list | 1 tsp + a pinch | 1 tsp |
Both switches are off to begin with. Smart Sort still sees the hidden lines too, so turning a switch back off later does not leave you with a pile of unsorted items.
Grocery categories in your order, and your colours
Everyone takes a different route around the shop, and until now the list didn't recognize that. You can now drag your categories into whatever order you want, and the list follows. Put produce first if that is where you start, push frozen to the bottom so nothing melts while you finish the rest, and the order sticks for every list after that.
Every category now also carries an icon, and every category can be edited. That includes the built in ones: rename Produce to whatever you want, give it a different colour, and give it a different icon. You cannot delete the built ins, but you can switch them off, and there is a reset button if you change your mind.
Custom categories get the same treatment. There are 70+ icons to pick from, categorized and searchable. Have fun customizing!
Give it a try
Open Groceries and it should already match your meal plan. Have a look in List Settings, set your shopping window to however far ahead you really shop, and drag your categories into your own order.
Then go shopping and change your plan halfway through. That is the bit worth testing. If something looks wrong, email me at [email protected].