How Your Phone Can Help You to Grocery Shop Smarter

My nana loved a good bargain. She’d shop the sales, cut the coupons and dive head first into the clearance bin to get the best deals.

With the evolution of technology, grocery shopping isn’t your grandma’s game anymore; anyone with a smartphone can gain access to apps that find the deals, download the coupons and even help you make lists and meal plans. Here are some of our favorites.

Apps to Save You Money

Favado (Free for iOS and Android)

This app allows users to select their favorite stores and then searches for and compares deals found at each. It’s a great way to find sale items and premium bargains at over 65,000 stores nationwide. The app also automatically uploads the sale items users select into a shopping list, separated by store for convenience.

Flipp (Free for iOS and Android)

Forget running to the store every Sunday morning for a newspaper just to get the circulars. Flipp offers digitized ads featured by over 1000 stores, making it easy to sort through and find the best deals. The app also has a coupon feature which can automatically upload coupons to your store loyalty cards. Shoppers will love discovering new sales near them on desired items and can use the shopping list feature to organize before heading out to the store.

Ibotta (Free for iOS and Android)

Ibotta is one of my favorite money saving apps with an awesome concept: it pays you to shop. Check out the app for featured deals before you go shopping and add them to your list. Then head out and buy your items and snap a picture of the receipt or link your store loyalty card to the app and voila! Money in your pocket that can be redeemed through PayPal, Venmo or various gift cards. It’s like getting a rebate on items you’re already buying!

Krazy Coupon Lady (Free for iOS and Android)

The Krazy Coupon Lady will teach you how to coupon like a pro – she taught me! The app developers research and break down which stores are offering what deals and how to make the most of them, for example, how to combine a coupon with a store sale with an Ibotta offer. If you’ve never couponed before and want to learn the basics, the app also includes video tutorials that will have you clipping and shopping like an expert in no time.

Apps for Meal Planning

Mealime (Free for iOS and Android)

Mealime combines the conveniences of meal planning and shopping list into one app. The app offers recipes, many of which can be prepared in 30 minutes or less and for various diets including paleo, keto, vegetarian and vegan. Many recipes also feature and track nutritional information. When you create your meal plan for the week, a grocery list is accordingly uploaded making shopping quick and easy.

BigOven (Free for iOS and Android)

This recipe organization allows users to upload their own recipes or add them from websites or blogs. The meal plan feature lets users pre-pick their recipes for the week and create a grocery list based on the necessary items. Also cool is the “use up leftovers” feature which finds recipes based on ingredients already in your fridge or pantry.

Yummly (Free for iOS and Android)

Yummly is an awesome recipe app that features over two million guided recipes, many approved by Yummly’s own test kitchen. Users can enter their dietary preferences and the app will present recipes that match. The app organizes shopping lists by category and grocery store aisle to make trips to the grocery store easier and quicker.

Apps for Creating the Best Shopping Lists

Out of Milk (Free for iOS and Android)

Out of Milk is a simple, direct app that allows users to use three major functions: create shopping lists of items they need to purchase, create pantry lists of items they already have and utilize a to-do list for other necessary tasks of the day. Items can be scanned by barcode to enter into lists and grouped by category for convenience.

Bring! (Free for iOS and Android)

What’s cool about this shopping list app is its sharable feature. It allows users to share their shopping lists with friends and family, or maybe a group of people all going to the same picnic. The app also allows users to sync their loyalty cards and offers recipe links from popular food sites and blogs.

AnyList (Free for iOS and Android)

AnyList organizes lists, collects recipes and offers a list sharing feature. Items can be crossed off as you go and organized by category or location within the grocery store. The recipe feature allows users to store their favorite recipes and upload ingredients from the recipes to their shopping list simply. The calendar feature allows for easy meal planning.

Apps That Offer Convenience

KeyRing (Free for iOS and Android)

KeyRing’s main feature is that it allows users to upload their loyalty cards so that they’re all held in one place. No more clunky key rings! The app also features coupons and circulars so users can take advantage of the best possible deals as well as incorporates a shopping list feature.

What are your favorite apps for simplifying your grocery shopping experience? Tell us in the comments!