Grocery List: Out of Milk 4+

A Couple Suggestions

I’m a new user...as in, I’m actually still trying to figure out the whole system. So far, I like it. I was a GroceryIQ user for probably 6-8 years, and I believe that app is being discontinued. This is the closest thing I’ve been able to find to that app in terms of store, category and item organization. I have two requests/suggestions, however. The first is that a weight option be added to pricing. I use the price by weight tool for cheeses, meats, and some produce. Being able to price things according to weight will help keep the accuracy of my overall budget when shopping. My second suggestion is a reverse info input on barcode scanning- right now, from what I can tell, the scanner either knows the barcode or doesn’t. The feature to add UPC codes to the item info is helpful, but it would also be neat to be able to scan and, if the barcode is unknown, immediately be able to fill in the necessary information for the product. That way the user doesn’t have to manually add the UPC numbers. So far, this is the most comprehensive shopping list app that I have been able to find, and I appreciate the features it already has- especially the option to add or remove sales tax (we don’t have sales tax on groceries in CA). If the developers are looking for new features to add, I think the price-by-weight and reverse barcode input would be two great ones to add.

Developer Response ,

Thanks for the feedback! We're glad you like our app and we'll forward your suggestions to our developers. Kind regards, Out of Milk Team

Categories appear to be fixed

Love this cleanly designed and easy-to-use grocery list that I can add items to whenever I happen to remember them. After using this app for years, I was getting very frustrated with some category issues mentioned by other reviewers. I started looking for other solutions, but this app still looks nicer and functions better for this purpose than any of the other grocery list or regular list apps I tried. I agonized over what to do, since this really affects my workflow. I finally created a new account on Out of Milk and started fresh. When I started out I had no categories, so I added my own and so far so good. It seems that the developers released an update before they really should have, but that the category issues have finally been fixed. I like having a separate app just for groceries, because I need different functions than on my regular to-do list. The only wish I have is that the to-do list section, which I'm not even using, be turned into some type of menu planning tool, which I would absolutely use. I tried another app that lets you store recipes and make menu plans, but it was cumbersome and ugly. I really don't need to store recipes because it would take too long to constantly add new ones (I like to try new things, so I'm not an "every Tuesday we have tacos" kind of cook). However, it would be nice to have a basic calendar where I could just list what I plan to cook each day.

A Great Concept But…

I like this app a lot in principle but there's one annoyance: other people. It seems to draw its suggestions and categorizations from user input. That means there are tons of typos, items miscategorized, duplicate categories, etc. For example, there's "Baking", "Baking and Cooking", "Baking & Cooking", etc. Which one your items get classified into is random chance based on what the original user decided to do. The biggest advantage of classifying your items is that you can arrange the categories according to the layout of your store and it will arrange your list accordongly. But when you unknowingly select an item in a mew category, it places the category alphabetically instead, messing up your ordering.

If I were the developers, I would create a limited number of pre-set categories and allow users to create their own, but not make them public.

(Does this seem more like a bug/feature request than a review? That's because the "Submit a Request" button in the app leads to a webpage that throws a 403 error)