Recipes and Shopping

I'd like to be more deliberate in my menu planning.  I like to cook but I just don't like to plan.  I admit it:  I'm not good at it.  I'm terrible at it!  I am hoping that a new tool I stumbled upon is going to be of help.  Have you ever heard of ZipList? 

It is sort of an online file cabinet for recipes and will even help you to create a shopping list using the ingredients listed in your selected recipes.  Sort of like the pinning tool for Pinterest, there is a ZipList Recipe Clipper button that you can drag to your toolbar which makes it super easy to use. 

For example, I found a recipe on The Pioneer Woman called The Marlboro Man Sandwich.  With the recipe page staring at you from your computer screen, click on the button of your ZipList Recipe Clipper and it will cause a pop-up screen to appear. 

You can choose to add it to your recipes or to your shopping list.  I add to my recipes.  Then, I peruse my recipes and click to add to my list.  The list can be edited.  It can be sorted by area of the store such as Dairy, Meat, Produce, etc.  You can put the store areas in your preferred shopping order.  You can add stores where you frequently shop and look for grocery deals.  You can add odd items that are not listed in the recipes you have tagged.  It will generate the list for you.  I simply emailed my list to myself and pulled it up when I got to the store!

HERE is a tutorial by the ZipList folks that explains how it works.  I'm thinking this is a handy dandy little tool and it might help me to plan my menus and conquer my shopping headaches a wee bit!