Why your grocery list should be grouped by aisle

A flat grocery list makes you cross the store five times. Grouping by department — produce, meat, dairy, pantry — turns shopping into a single lap.

How to group without the busywork

Doing this manually is tedious, which is why nobody does it. A good meal planner categorizes ingredients automatically when they come from your weekly plan, and lets you check items off from your phone as you shop — with changes syncing to everyone instantly, so two people can split the store.