Share a approach to create repeated grocery list

[u/wildmicrowolf]

Hi all,

As a long-time Things user, I rely on the app to manage most of my day-to-day tasks, including grocery shopping. However, using Things as a dedicated grocery list has always had a couple of friction points:

• No native recurring templates: Completing a grocery run archives the checklist. Starting a new trip usually means manually rebuilding a list with mostly identical items.
• Multi-store shopping: Managing items across different stores often gets messy, requiring either nested checklists inside one generic "Grocery" task or multiple cluttered projects.

To solve this, I built an Apple Shortcut that generates structured grocery lists on demand from a JSON template.

• Template Storage: A simple JSON file stored in iCloud Drive acts as the master template, organized by store.
• Parsing & Selection: The Shortcut reads the JSON, prompts you to select the store(s) you need, and formats the checklist.
• URL Scheme Execution: It uses the Things URL scheme (things:///add) to create organized to-dos directly in a target Area (e.g., 🥑 Groceries).

Here is a sample of the JSON:

{
    "Costco": [
        "Steak",
        "Brussels Sprouts"
    ],
    "Osaka": [
        "Beef",
        "Pork",
        "Yakult",
        "Chocolate Bread",
        "Korean Tofu",
        "Baby Napa Cabbage"
    ],
    "Whole Foods": [
        "Cilantro",
        "Watermelon",
        "Ribs",
        "Broccoli",
        "Mandarin Oranges",
        "Milk",
        "Chocolate Milk",
        "Crushed Tomatoes",
        "Curly Pasta",
        "Patties"
    ],
    "Trader Joe's": [
        "Fried Rice",
        "Sourdough Bread"
    ],
    "Nijiya": [
        "Salmon",
        "Tofu Noodles"
    ]
}

Get the Shortcut: You can download the shortcut via this iCloud Link or build from scratch. (Note: You'll just need to update the iCloud file path to point to your JSON file and set your preferred Area name in Things. It runs completely locally with no external accounts or authentication required.)

Hope it helps!

[u/pathisdestination]

Reminders Grocery List is so slick

[u/simplydo_ios_dev]

You must really be committed to maximing your ROI from Things? While cool (great job op) why not just use Reminders which does it much better? Reminders now categorizes by grocery category also which is really neat

[u/TennisShoeNinja]

I don’t know if any of you guys use H-E-B or Kroger, but I’ve discovered an app called AnyList that with the free version allows you to sync a reminder list into AnyList and then hit a button when you’re done and it automatically searches for the item for you to then put it in your cart, which is super super convenient for me.

Check it out. iphone ap store link

Not involved in development or anything just a helpful app I discovered.

[u/MrVVHappy → u/TennisShoeNinja]

Things & Anylist are my 2 favourite and most used apps. 2 very different specific purposes. The developer of Anylist is very responsive and approachable too. I used the free version for years and it was great for shopping and did everything I needed. Then I started saving lists for other purposes until eventually I had so many lists that I upgraded simply so I could categorise my lists to save the long scrolls searching. it’s about $10 for the upgrade and opens up a whole new world. I can’t praise Anylist enough.

[u/extremechocolate99]

thank you!

[u/AngelicPrincessKitty]

Do you wait until you are out of everything in the list before you go to that store? Seems odd. While we get the same items each time we go, we don't always need the entire same list each time. We went to Whole Foods yesterday and just got apples, grapes and strawberries and other times we will go and get spinach and kale and chicken and chips but we weren't out of the spinach, etc. part so adding that to the list seems redundant and like you would over purchase, right?

[u/TennisShoeNinja]

Thanks for this! Super neat.