Shopping list wish list

Tired of keeping up with a grocery list? Frustrated when you forget to pick up the cleaning? Here's something that can make shopping a more memorable experience: SmartShopper.

The gizmo uses voice recognition software to make note of what you need, stores it in its memory and prints up a categorized grocery list when you're ready to go to the store.

Once you're shopping, you can rely on the "flag" feature to remind you which coupons you have. There's also an errand feature to nag you about picking up your dry cleaning or making a bank run.

The SmartShopper can recognize 2,500 of the most common foods and errands. And you can use the voice-recognition feature to add unusual or exotic stuff, like squid ink and zatar, to the memory.

When it's not in use, the SmartShopper can be mounted magnetically on the refrigerator door or hung on a wall.

It costs $149.99 (paper refills cost $7.95) and is available at www.smartshopperusa.com, www.target.com or www.frontgate.com. Retail outlets that carry it, according to the website, include Sur La Table and the Sharper Image.

TERESA FARNEY, Colorado Springs Gazette

If simpler is better in your book, the List Caddy is about as simple and cheap as it gets -- short of scratch paper and a refrigerator magnet. The caddy is designed to hold a list, coupons and pencil. It's magnetized so you can keep it on the side of the refrigerator. Then take it to the store and snap it onto a shopping cart handle to guide your shopping trip. It also stands on a counter to put a recipe in front of you. Visit www.listcaddy.com to buy one online; the site says a list of retailers that sell the product will be posted soon. $5.99; available in six colors.

At the store and want to know what's in your freezer, pantry or wine cellar?

Condense big lists into a device about the size of a car keyfob with IntelliScanner's mini home organization scanner.

The battery-powered scanner comes with six programs to organize collections or other home assets, from CDs to comic books. Scan the bar codes of grocery items as you put them away, and the Kitchen Companion software keeps track of what's on hand. You can generate grocery lists to print out or send to your i-Pod, Palm device or cell phone. It also can manage your recipe files so you know if you have the ingredients for Moroccan Chicken.

For wine wonks, the Wine Collector software calculates bottle maturity and cellar location. Media Collector software can help you keep track of DVDs, so you'll remember which ones you lent to friends, even if they don't.

The mini Intelliscanner is available for $299 at www.intelliscanner.com. You can order a 100-pack of pre-printed asset tags ($24) to stick on items that don't have a bar code already.

If you have a home computer, chances are you already have a simple list-maker available without spending more money. Word processing programs such as Microsoft Word contain a simple grocery list you can modify to suit your needs (use Project Gallery and select among the Planners options). You can rearrange the basic list to coincide with store layouts, or keep more than one version if you shop at different stores.

MARTHA BUNS