Online, Anything and Everything Can Be a Museum Piece
"The age of MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art, is over. The age of MoOM, the Museum of Online Museums, is upon us. [And] the Grocery List Collection (www.grocerylists.org) is compulsive reading." Check out the New York Times story by Sarah Boxer. Posted at 8:24 AM Central Time

Online, Anything and Everything Can Be a Museum Piece
Hello again, NYT readers! "The age of MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art, is over. The age of MoOM, the Museum of Online Museums, is upon us. In the 1960's, deep in the age of MoMA, Andy Warhol painted a stack of plywood cubes to look like Brillo boxes. That was the end of art, the philosopher and art critic Arthur Danto proclaimed. He didn't mean that after Warhol there would be no more art, but rather that anything could be art... The Grocery List Collection (www.grocerylists.org) is compulsive reading. Among the 700 shopping lists is one that includes 'potoes, chese, pease, smokes.' My favorite is a short list scrawled on the back of an envelope with a return address of Christ's Gospel Fellowship, Spokane, Wash. Under the words 'Urgent - Needed' are 'knife sheath,' written in red ink, then scratched out and replaced with 'hatchet sheath.'" (Here's the link to the New York Times story by Sarah Boxer.) Posted at 8:21 AM Central Time

We're a people they like!
Over at The Morning News: "A 'collector, maker, and breaker of things,' since 1997 Bill Keaggy has amassed a collection of over 700 grocery lists. Francis Raven talks with him about his collecting habits and why it is that nobody can spell 'bannana' 'bananna' 'banana.'" Posted at 8:30 AM Central Time

Food blogs give something more
The Washington Post didn't fix the URL, but the good folks at the San Jose Mercury News got us linked up right. Posted at 8:24 AM Central Time

Get rid of those leftover eggs
EPICURIOUS' BEST-EVER EGG SALAD SANDWICHES: "Chopped pimiento-stuffed olives, bacon, and Dijon mustard take a standard to new heights. Offer potato chips, cherry tomatoes, and sliced deli-style pickles alongside." Posted at 8:27 AM Central Time

Tips for Reducing Cholestrol
"Most people can lower their cholesterol by eating a diet low in fats. They can also be lowered by not smoking losing weight and exercise. Try to stay away from fatty foods. Read labels when you go shopping for food. If you buy meat , buy the less fatty meats. Most grocery stores have the meats labeled as to how much fat is in the meat. Buy two percent milk. Try to eat no more than two eggs a week. If you like eggs a lot save your two eggs for Sunday breakfast. Instead of butter use a vegetable margarine. Eat a lot of fruits and vegetables..." Posted at 8:15 AM Central Time

Farm Alliance provides palatable plants
"A touch of peppery nasturtium, a dash of spicy dianthus and a hint of rose geraniums. Those are some of the unusual ingredients Pittsburgh's finer restaurants use to add zest to their dishes." Posted at 9:20 PM Central Time

Planning ahead can save time and money
"You could save $26 per month by shopping once a week instead of four times a week, assuming the grocery store is 10 miles away and you have a car that gets 20 miles per gallon of gas. That's more than $300 a year! The best way to cut down on the number of trips you make to the grocery store is to plan your meals ahead of time. To get started, you'll need a sheet of paper and a pencil." Posted at 8:19 AM Central Time

Veggie tips
"Some things to consider when buying fresh veggies... To store fresh asparagus, trim ends and place upright in a container in water in the refrigerator until ready to prepare." Posted at 7:48 PM Central Time

centrs - nowhere near the center: grocery list
grocery list: "c. is about to run out to the store. i try to crack him up sometimes by adding strange items to his list. tonight..." Hee-hee. Posted at 2:55 PM Central Time

Your brain: Use it, don't lose it
Among the many tips kntimes.com suggests: "Keep the grocery list hidden. Write the list, pack it away in your purse or pocket and head for the store. As you stroll the aisles, think about what's for dinner, who you are entertaining, whether or not you're providing scout snacks. Visualize your refrigerator and pantry to see what's in stock. Just before checking out, check your list to see if you've remembered it all." Posted at 10:56 AM Central Time

Google Search: "grocery lists"
After five years -- and out of nearly 1.4 million results -- we are finally #1 when you Google the simple phrase "grocery lists." Excellent. Posted at 4:02 PM Central Time

Food safety tips for eggs
"Eggs are good for you, but like other foods, they must be handled with care! Although Salmonella is rarely found in eggs in Canada, it pays to take care... Follow the simple tips in Food Safety Tips for Eggs to avoid foodborne illness and make Easter holidays 'food safe.'" Posted at 10:57 AM Central Time

Shopping for health
"Calvin Brown, 8, recently asked for a box of Kashi Heart to Heart cereal even though it's not loaded with sugar." Posted at 9:50 AM Central Time

Now at 800!
I just plowed through a bunch of recent (and old) contributions and posted them, bringing the count to 800 lists. If you've submitted a list in the last six months, it's now up (probably). Enjoy! Posted at 11:36 PM Central Time

County to see bumper crop of spreading farm markets
"Seattle-area residents apparently eat their veggies. A record number of farmers markets -- at least two dozen - are expected to open in Seattle and King County this spring, some earlier than in previous years, prompting local agriculture experts to say the area is in the early stage of a farmers-market boom." Posted at 12:16 PM Central Time

Village of Darien tries to bring back a grocery store after nearly 10 years
"Village of Darien residents have phones, lights, and motorcars, but they're without one single luxury: a grocery store." Posted at 12:15 PM Central Time

Dollar-Bill Doodles on Display
"...[Johnny] Bitter has an eye for self-expression. About seven years ago, he started noticing that people doodle, draw and scribble on money... He kept Georges with pirate-eye patches, hipster glasses and silly hats. His collection chronicled political dissent -- 'Give inspectors more time,' one bill cried out before the U.S. invaded Iraq -- and rebelliousness -- 'I am defacing American property! So what?' But not everyone looks to make a big statement. One person, who obviously was not on a diet, used a $10 bill for a grocery list: 'Cheetos, Almond Joy, Oreos.'" Posted at 7:46 AM Central Time

The aisles have it!
"You can shop for organic linens, grind your own flour or savor fried-to-order oysters with a glass of wine at Whole Foods' new market-meets-theme-park in Austin." Posted at 7:39 AM Central Time

Customers Say A Tulsa ' No Frills' Grocery Store Saves Them Money
"Mark Bersted is an Aldi vice president, he says they use what he called a limited assortment concept. They sell produce without a produce department, meat without a meat department. They do have about 1,100 basic items that supply 85 to 90 percent of the average weekly shopping list." Posted at 7:26 AM Central Time

Big grocers under stress
"As the low-cost grocer Winn-Dixie filed for bankruptcy [in February 2005], the news sent a shudder -- and a sense of tragedy -- through the world of stockholder-owned grocery stores. The bankruptcy -- one of the larger corporate collapses in retail food history -- is the latest in some 26 recent supermarket chain bankruptcies, a parable of a trip to the grocery store gone awry amid changes in the very concept of dinner." Posted at 7:59 AM Central Time

Home-grown meats available, thanks to rolling abattoir
"Strict governmental regulations make the selling of meats without a middleman virtually impossible these days. But some visionary ranchers from Northwestern Washington have found a way to deliver the goods, cut and wrapped, and still meet the standards set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture." Posted at 7:55 AM Central Time

Check out the excellent Inspector Collector!
"Who is Inspector Collector? I'm just a guy who loves to collect stuff, all kinds of stuff. My great grandpa, grandpa and dad came from Russia and loved to have shelves full of knickknacks and doodads, so they gave me some of their stuff and now I display it on my shelves! I live in a tiny NYC apartment that's full of cool things from all over the world." Posted at 7:50 AM Central Time

Food and forethought
"...But that wasn't Kevin Carroll's supermarket experience, at least not until recently. His habit was to go grocery shopping with his wife, Lisa, with nary a thought about nutritious choices. "I would grab what I thought tasted good. I wouldn't look and see if it's necessarily good for me. Fruits and vegetables were secondary to me. I didn't care. I'd let my wife pick out what she wanted. Me? Maybe a little lettuce. I could go weeks without eating a vegetable and it wouldn't bother me." Posted at 7:48 AM Central Time

Shopping addiction is no laughing matter
"Apparently, many Americans think chronic overspending is humorous, with such bumper-sticker catchphrases as 'Born to shop' and 'Shop till you drop.' But for some, the lighthearted banter stops when out-of-control spending rips apart relationships and plunges consumers into overwhelming debt and bankruptcy." Posted at 3:06 PM Central Time

Wal-Mart and Consonance Shocks in the Grocery Industry
"Put simply, wherever Wal-Mart has competed head-to-head with traditional landed grocers -- e.g. Safeway (Safeway, Dominick's, Vons, Pavilion's); Albertson's; Kroger (Kroger, Ralph's) , Jewel-Osco, the Piggly Wiggly -- it has dominated them. Wal-Mart's success versus this competition can be attributed to five factors..." (And here's Part 2 -- just be sure to ignore all the comment spam on these pages.) Posted at 6:52 AM Central Time

On top of the food list
"Tired of navigating your way through the grocery store aisles and buffet lines of life trying to avoid foods you know you should eat less of? 'Try instead to focus on foods you should eat more of,' suggests registered dietician Nicole Enzminger. By switching your focus to what you should be taking in throughout the day, like plenty of fruits and vegetables, you may be less interested in what the dessert tray has to offer. At least not at every meal." Posted at 6:38 AM Central Time

A Food Blog for Every Taste
We get mentioned in the Washington Post: "A few years ago, specialty food magazines, celebrity cooking shows and coffee-table cookbooks began to proliferate. But it wasn't enough. Internet-savvy food enthusiasts sought something more quirky or writerly or lavish or esoteric or weeknight-friendly or fill-in-the-blank. Enter the food blog, a form of online journal... The Grocery List Collection (www.grocerylists.com) showcases images of 700 discarded grocery lists..." Um, duh. Too bad they listed THE WRONG URL! We obviously live at www.grocerylists.org, not .com. Posted at 7:55 AM Central Time

A Nutritionist's Shopping List
"Foods to buy, foods to avoid, and how to get the most nutrients on every trip to the grocery store." Posted at 9:54 AM Central Time

To buy: Cauli, fro yo, and g onions
"Standing in the supermarket checkout line, we've all glanced into the cart of the customer in front of us, marvelling at that two-kilo jar of pickled eggplant or wondering what she plans to do with all those kumquats. Taking grocery gawking one step further, I began obsessively collecting shopping lists more than a year ago after reading a list I found on the floor of the supermarket where I work." Posted at 7:17 AM Central Time

Balance your diet on $2 a day
"Among her tips is to comparison shop by taking the grocery list and going to different stores to see where the item is cheapest. She said she and a friend saved more than $20 by preparing a list and checking prices at two different stores." Posted at 7:55 AM Central Time

Add this Supermarket to your list
"They call it Supermarket because, like Jamie Kennedy and Susur Lee, Bottrell and Eklove have joined the tapas-style trend. Hence a large menu of small dishes with friendly prices. The restaurant's moniker also refers to the grocery-style check-off list used to order dinner; it's like ordering dim sum. The choices here, not coincidentally, are pan-Asian (what else is new?). They read clever, but then many menus do nowadays." Posted at 7:53 AM Central Time

Try A New Fruit Or Veggie
"There is a host of intriguing foods out there, and the nutrients they contain make them worth looking at the next time you visit the supermarket. During National Nutrition Month and beyond, be adventurous the next time you make out your shopping list and add a new food to your list once a week." Posted at 10:16 PM Central Time

Tales from the refrigerator chronicles
"The refrigerator is one of those inventions that has metamorphosed far beyond its original intended function... who would have dreamed fifty years ago that the big metal box in the kitchen would also become a giant scrap book/photo album/bulletin board/message center? Maybe in some kitchen in a parallel universe far, far away, there's an unadorned refrigerator, humming silently along with not one magnet, photo or note clinging to its sides, but here on Earth, everyone I know has a fridge that looks like something like mine -- a box with every available surface covered with a jumbled collection of photos, notes, grocery lists." Posted at 7:17 AM Central Time