Scrolling Is Evil / Tomato Potato / Recipes

Five dinners with the fewest items to buy

A shorter grocery list means fewer things to find and buy. This plan picks five of the twelve dinner recipes on the recipes page that need the fewest lines on the list. We built the Shop list for all 792 ways to choose five of those twelve, on a new install, and counted the lines to buy. They range from 19 to 29, with a middle of 24. Two sets tie at 19; this one has a beef dinner where the other has a fourth chicken dinner.

The recipes list 47 ingredient lines. Added together they are 26 lines, and a new install already covers 7 of those, which leaves 19 to buy. This page counts lines. It does not estimate what the list costs, which depends on your store.

The plan

Roast Chicken and Carrots · serves 4 · 45 min
Chicken and Rice · serves 4 · 40 min
Chicken Noodle Soup · serves 6 · 40 min
Beef Chili · serves 6 · 45 min
Lentil Soup · serves 6 · 40 min

One grocery list

Grouped by aisle in the order you walk a store: Produce, Bakery, Meat, Seafood, Dairy, Frozen, then Grains, Pantry, Oils, Condiments, Spices, Household and Other.

Produce

4 + 1 1/2 lb carrots
4 celery stalks
10 cloves garlic (in your kitchen, shown with Add)
1 green bell pepper
5 yellow onion (in your kitchen, shown with Add)

Meat

8 bone-in chicken thighs
1 1/2 lb boneless chicken breasts
1 1/2 lb boneless chicken thighs
1 1/2 lb ground beef

Dairy

2 tbsp butter (in your kitchen, shown with Add)

Frozen

1 cup frozen peas

Grains

8 oz egg noodles
1 cup long-grain white rice

Pantry

1 cup beef broth
1 1/2 cups brown lentils
10 cups chicken broth
2 cans kidney beans
2 cans tomatoes
6 cups vegetable broth

Oils

7 tbsp olive oil (in your kitchen, shown with Add)

Spices

1 1/2 tsp black pepper (in your kitchen, shown with Add)
2 tbsp chili powder (staple, shown with Add)
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp ground cumin
1 3/4 tbsp salt (in your kitchen, shown with Add)

This is the list as Shop shows it, with the amount written before the name. The app puts the name on top and the amount underneath. Items a new install already has in Kitchen as Have it, and items the app treats as staples, show inside their aisle with an Add button and stay off the list you share or send to a cart. Tap Add on a row and it joins the list.

Carrots stay on one line with both amounts, because two recipes count them and one weighs them. Chicken broth adds up across Chicken and Rice and Chicken Noodle Soup to 10 cups, and the diced tomatoes from Beef Chili and Lentil Soup show as 2 cans.

Do it in the app

Open Plan, tap Add under a day's dinner, and pick one of the recipes. Do the same on four more days.
In Plan, tap Shop these days. Shop builds the list, grouped by aisle.
Check items off in the store, share the list as text, or send it to a Kroger or King Soopers cart.

Tomato Potato is free to download. Free includes three saved imports and one Kroger or King Soopers cart. The plan, the list and store searches stay free. A subscription removes both limits for $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year in the US, and the yearly plan starts with a 7-day free trial for new subscribers. Recipes stay on your phone.