A free grocery list maker that organizes itself
Type what you need the way you would say it — “2 lb chicken breast, milk, a dozen eggs” — and the Grocery List Maker works out the quantity, the unit and the store aisle for you. Your list is grouped into 16 aisles such as Produce, Dairy & Eggs and Frozen, so you can walk the store once without doubling back. Turn a recipe into a shopping list — or simply pick one of 54 popular dishes and get its ingredients for the number of people you are cooking for — start from a ready-made template, keep track of prices and your grocery budget, then print it, save it as a PDF or send it to someone with a link. It is free, needs no account, and your lists are saved in your own browser.
How to make a grocery list
- Type an item in the box and press Enter or Add. Separate several items with commas: bananas, bread, 2 lb ground beef.
- Or tap 📋 Paste a list or recipe to add many lines at once, 🍳 Ingredients for a dish to get the ingredients of a meal, Add a template… for a complete starter list, or the 🎙️ button to say what you need.
- Items are sorted into store aisles automatically. To fix one, tap ✎, choose another aisle and save — the tool remembers it for next time.
- In the store, turn on 🛒 Shopping mode and tap each item as it goes into your cart. Checked items move to an in cart section at the bottom.
- Use Print / Save as PDF, Copy as text, Share link or Download .txt to take the list with you or send it to someone.
Want the whole method, not just the clicks? Our step-by-step guide How to Make a Grocery List That Saves Time and Money covers meal planning, the pantry check, setting a realistic budget and a 15-minute weekly routine, with real examples built in this tool.
Type it the way you say it
Quantities and units are recognized at the start or at the end of an item, including fractions, ranges and number words from one to twelve.
| You type | It is added as |
|---|---|
| 2 lb chicken breast or chicken breast 2 lb | 2 lb Chicken breast — Meat & Seafood |
| milk x2 or 2x milk | 2 Milk — Dairy & Eggs |
| 1 1/2 cups flour or 1½ cups flour | 1½ cups Flour — Pantry & Canned |
| a dozen eggs | 1 dozen Eggs |
| 500g ground beef | 500 g Ground beef |
| 2 to 3 lbs potatoes | 2-3 lb Potatoes |
| two pounds of chicken | 2 lb Chicken |
| Coke Zero 12 pack | 12 packs Coke Zero — Beverages |
| 2% milk | 2% milk (the percentage is kept as part of the name, not read as a quantity) |
Recognized units include lb, oz, fl oz, g, kg, ml, L, gal, qt, pt, cup, tbsp, tsp, can, jar, bottle, box, bag, pack, carton, bunch, head, clove, loaf, dozen, slice, stick, roll, piece, tin, tub, container, case, sprig, handful, pinch, dash and count. While you type, suggestions appear from the items you have added before and from the built-in list of common groceries.
Duplicates are merged. Singular and plural count as the same item, so adding 1 lb chicken breast to a list that already has 2 lb chicken breasts gives you 3 lb. If the units differ, the extra amount is added as a note (for example “+ 500 g”). Adding an item you have already checked off puts it back on the list.
Sorted by store aisle automatically
A built-in dictionary of more than 1,000 grocery terms places everything into one of 16 aisles: Produce, Bakery, Meat & Seafood, Deli & Prepared, Dairy & Eggs, Frozen, Breakfast & Cereal, Pantry & Canned, Condiments, Oils & Spices, Snacks & Sweets, Beverages, Household & Cleaning, Personal Care & Health, Baby, Pet and Other. It reads the whole name, so peanut butter lands in the pantry rather than with the butter, pepperoni pizza goes to Frozen, and dish soap goes to Household. Anything with the word “frozen” in its name goes to Frozen, and anything “canned” or “tinned” goes to Pantry & Canned.
- It learns from you. Move an item to another aisle once — or choose an aisle in the drop-down next to the input before adding it — and that item always goes there from then on.
- Match your store’s layout. Open Lists, aisle order & backup and use the ↑ ↓ buttons to put the aisles in the order you walk them. The list, the printout and the text export all follow that order.
- Other views. Switch the sort to A–Z or order added; each item then shows its aisle as a small label.
Turn a recipe into a grocery list
Copy the ingredients from any recipe and paste them into Paste a list or recipe. The tool cleans them up for you:
- Bullets, numbering and checkboxes are removed, and headings such as “Ingredients” or “For the sauce:” are ignored.
- Preparation notes are dropped: “3 cloves garlic, minced” becomes 3 cloves Garlic and “Salt and pepper to taste” becomes Salt and pepper.
- Package sizes in brackets are kept as a note: “1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained” becomes 1 can Black beans with the note “15 oz”.
- Lines that look like cooking instructions (for example “Preheat the oven…”) are skipped, and the notification tells you how many were skipped.
- Ingredients you already have on the list are merged, so cooking several recipes in one week gives you one combined shopping list.
No recipe? Get the ingredients for 54 popular dishes
If you know what you want to cook but not what to buy, tap 🍳 Ingredients for a dish (or open Paste a list or recipe) and choose a dish. Its ingredients appear in the box, ready to edit:
- Scaled to your servings. Change the number of servings and the quantities update instantly. Amounts are rounded the way you shop: onions, avocados, cans, jars and packages are rounded up to whole items, while pounds, cups and spoons are rounded to quarter steps.
- Pantry staples listed separately. Salt, pepper, oil, flour, sugar and spices come after a “Pantry staples” heading, so you can quickly delete what you already have at home.
- Plan the whole week. Choose several dishes one after another — each is added below the previous one, and ingredients they share, such as ground beef or onions, are combined into one line when you tap Add all items.
The lists contain the typical ingredients of a classic home-style version of each dish — a shopping list, not a full recipe with cooking steps — so adjust them to your own recipe and taste.
| Category | Dishes |
|---|---|
| Pasta & Italian | Spaghetti Bolognese, Classic Lasagna, Chicken Alfredo, Spaghetti Carbonara, Chicken Parmesan, Baked Ziti, Pesto Pasta with Chicken, Shrimp Scampi, Homemade Pizza |
| Mexican & Tex-Mex | Beef Tacos, Chicken Fajitas, Chicken Enchiladas, Cheese Quesadillas, Beef Chili, Guacamole & Chips, Chicken Burrito Bowls |
| Asian-inspired | Chicken Stir-Fry, Egg Fried Rice, Shrimp Pad Thai, Chicken Curry, Butter Chicken, Teriyaki Salmon & Rice |
| Weeknight dinners | Cheeseburgers, Meatloaf, Sheet Pan Chicken & Vegetables, Lemon Garlic Salmon & Asparagus, Sloppy Joes, Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup, Baked Mac and Cheese, Chicken Caesar Salad |
| Soups & stews | Chicken Noodle Soup, Beef Stew, Loaded Potato Soup, Vegetable Soup |
| Breakfast & brunch | Buttermilk Pancakes, French Toast, Veggie Omelettes, Overnight Oats, Breakfast Burritos |
| Holiday & Sunday dinners | Roast Turkey, Roast Chicken & Potatoes, Pot Roast, Honey Glazed Ham, Mashed Potatoes, Green Bean Casserole, Classic Stuffing |
| Sides & salads | Greek Salad, Creamy Coleslaw, Potato Salad |
| Baking & desserts | Chocolate Chip Cookies, Fudgy Brownies, Banana Bread, Apple Pie, Pumpkin Pie |
Ready-made grocery list templates
Choose Add a template… to add a complete starter list to the current list in one tap, then remove what you already have at home.
| Template | Good for |
|---|---|
| 🗓️ Weekly essentials | A basic weekly grocery list: milk, eggs, bread, fruit and vegetables, chicken, rice, pasta and household basics |
| 🥗 Healthy week | A healthy grocery list with leafy greens, berries, salmon, Greek yogurt, oats, quinoa and nuts |
| 🍔 BBQ & cookout | Burgers, hot dogs, buns, sides, drinks, charcoal and paper plates |
| 🦃 Thanksgiving dinner | Turkey, stuffing, potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, gravy, rolls and pie |
| 🍪 Holiday baking | Flour, sugars, butter, eggs, chocolate chips, spices and parchment paper |
| 🥫 Pantry restock | Rice, pasta, oils, canned goods, broth and spices |
| 🍼 Baby & toddler | Diapers, wipes, formula, baby food and toddler snacks |
| 🧽 Cleaning & household | Paper towels, detergents, cleaners, trash bags, foil and batteries |
Staples and frequently bought items
Tap ☆ next to anything you buy regularly to save it as a staple. Staples appear under Quick add whenever they are not on your list, and Add all staples puts them all back in one tap — ideal for a weekly grocery list. Quick add also shows the items you add most often, so a new list takes seconds.
Track prices and stay on budget
Turn on Prices & budget to see what your trip will cost. Tap ✎ on an item and enter the estimated price for that line — what you expect to pay for the whole quantity. The summary then shows:
- the estimated total — and, if some items have no price yet, how many are priced,
- the amount already in your cart while you shop,
- a budget bar for each list that turns amber at 85% of your budget and red when you go over, with the amount left or the amount over budget.
The tool remembers the last price you entered for each item. When you add the same item again with the same quantity and unit, the price is filled in for you. 21 currencies are available; the default is chosen from your browser’s language settings.
Shopping mode for the store
🛒 Shopping mode turns the page into a simple checklist: bigger rows and checkboxes, no editing buttons, and one tap on an item to put it in the cart. In browsers that support it, your phone’s screen stays on while shopping mode is active, so you do not have to unlock it at every aisle. The box for adding items stays available in case you remember something in the store.
Printable grocery list and PDF
Print / Save as PDF prints only your list — not the website around it — with a checkbox in front of every item, grouped by aisle, with the list name, the date and the number of items at the top. To get a PDF, choose Save as PDF in the print dialog. Under Print & export options you can:
- print in 1, 2 or 3 columns,
- add 5 or 10 blank lines under “Other items” for things you think of later,
- include checked items (they are printed crossed out),
- show prices and the estimated total (when Prices & budget is on),
- turn off grouping to print an alphabetical list.
Need a blank grocery list template to fill in by hand? Print a blank template creates an empty printable grocery list with every aisle heading, writing lines under each one and a space for the date — perfect for the fridge door.
Share your grocery list
- Copy as text copies a clean checklist with ☐ boxes and aisle headings, ready to paste into Notes, WhatsApp, a text message or an email.
- Share opens your device’s share sheet. It appears on most phones and in desktop browsers that support sharing.
- Share link copies a link that contains the whole list — items, quantities, notes, prices and check marks. When someone opens it, they can save a copy to their own lists with one tap. The list travels inside the link itself, so nothing is uploaded and no account is needed. The link is a snapshot: changes made afterwards are not synced, so send a new link if the list changes.
- Download .txt saves the same text as a file.
Several lists, saved in your browser
Keep separate lists for the weekly shop, a warehouse-club run or a party. Use New list, rename a list with ✎, and switch between lists with the selector, which shows how many items are left on each. Under Lists, aisle order & backup you can duplicate a list, uncheck all items, remove checked items or delete the list.
To start over, 🧹 Clear list above your items empties the current list in one click, while your other lists, staples and settings stay as they are. Erase all lists & data (under Lists, aisle order & backup) deletes everything the tool has saved in this browser — every list, staple, frequent item, aisle correction and setting — after you confirm. Removals can be reversed with Undo for a few seconds.
Lists are saved automatically in your browser’s storage, so nothing is lost when you refresh the page, close the tab or come back days later. If the tool is open in two tabs, both stay in sync. Because the data lives in this browser only, use Export backup to save a .json copy, and Import backup to restore it or move your lists to another device or browser — imported lists are added next to the ones you already have.
Privacy
There is no sign-up and your lists are never sent to our server: they are created, sorted, stored, printed and exported entirely in your browser. A share link carries the list inside the link, so anyone you send it to can read it. Voice input uses your browser’s built-in speech recognition; some browsers, such as Chrome, process the audio on the browser maker’s servers. Private or incognito windows usually erase saved data when they are closed, and clearing your browser’s site data deletes your lists — export a backup if you want to keep them. To remove everything yourself, use Erase all lists & data.
Tips for a smarter grocery list
- Plan meals first. Pick the week’s dinners in Ingredients for a dish or paste your own recipes, and let the duplicates merge, so you buy one bag of onions instead of three.
- Check the pantry before you go. Start from your staples or the Pantry restock template and remove what you still have.
- Put the aisles in your store’s order so the list leads you through the shop in one pass.
- Set a budget and add prices for your biggest items — the bar shows early if the trip will cost more than planned.
- Keep one list open on your phone and add things the moment they run out, by typing or by voice.
For ready-to-copy list ideas for holidays, small households and tight-budget weeks, plus the most common grocery list mistakes and how to fix them, read the complete grocery list guide.