Good grocery price book program?
 

More thorough explanation of desired program added, see post 8.

I'm searching for a good app for my TP2 that can track the prices of groceries that I buy so that I can determine whether or not a store has a good deal on a particular item.

I'd also like the app to include a shopping list function.

Any ideas?

Thanks..

Re: Good grocery price book program?
 

I would like that too. I've seen some very old shopping programs, but nothing recent and nothing finger friendly.

Re: Good grocery price book program?
 

Try HandyShopper.

Re: Good grocery price book program?
 

You might also want to look at ListPro from Ilium Software (purchase w/support). I have used it for a variety of 'lists' including grocery. Has a handy feature called 'Hide unchecked items' so you can check items for a shopping trip, hide the unchecked items to get a 'working' list for this trip, and then uncheck the items as you put them in your cart and they disappear from the working list, leaving just the items you haven't picked yet. I've used this for years successfully. FYI.

Re: Good grocery price book program?
 

+1 for HandyShopper, but it will only do the grocery list portion of your request. It's also freeware, which ListPro is not unfortunately. HS supports the hide option too, but you can also place your 'checked off' items at the bottom of the list. I always use that option so I only see what's left to get at the top portion o my list. It supports multiple databases which can be stored internally or on the card. You can categorize your items. It also supports two taxes. Other features:

Setup multiple stores, and then view all items or items defined for a certain store
All | Need | Not Needed views
Sorting
Privacy / password options
Best price tool for calculating the best price of two items based on cost and UOM
Coupons
Calculator
Selectable columns
Different sorts for All versus Need view
Themes
Per-store prices and aisles (optional setting)
Per-item flag to show you if something is cheaper in another store you've recorded it against
Notes

This one has been around for years! It started on the Palm OS platform. There are also tools for importing the database into Excel and vice versa.

Re: Good grocery price book program?
 

I installed HandyShopper on my Palm TX and 755p, but never really got into it. I recently installed it on my TP2. I know there's a huge user base out there and appreciate your post identifying the additional features. Thanks!

Re: Good grocery price book program?
 

I would like a program like this as well. Very good idea.

Re: Good grocery price book program?
 

I'd like to provide some clarification on exactly what I want this program to do. Let's say, hypothetically, that you want to know if the current price for a gallon of milk is decent.

In this program, I could create an entry with a name I recognize (for example, "Milk - Cala, 1%, gallon") and in that entry, I note the day and the current price. Since most stores have the cost per unit right on the shelf tags, if I could enter that too, that would be good. Plus a notes entry for the item so that I could add any pertinent thoughts on it later. For example, "Milk spoiled 2 days before exp date, change brand" or if I had bought a generic item instead of a store brand, I could put a note there reminding myself that I did or did not like the taste, and whether to buy again.

Ideally, over time the database would build up a large amount of data on the foods I buy, when I buy them, at what points of the year they're cheapest, and almost any other statistic you could dream up (avg amt spent on groceries every week/2 weeks/month?), and be able to show it to you in a comprehensible format. (For example, a line graph of the price of an item throughout the year.)

The main screen of the app would be quite simple though - Just an icon bar at the bottom for add entry, delete entry, open/close entry, and options, and the main portion of the screen would be a list with the item name I had chosen, the average (or lowest) price in bold to the right, and a checkbox to show whether I need to buy it on this shopping trip or not.

How difficult would it be for someone to write this type of program? Unfortunately I have almost zero programming experience, or I'd write it myself.

Thanks...