Power Mom: Delegate meal planning with alexa and anylist.com

“Alexa, add eggs to Harris Teeter,” we shout in the kitchen about twice a week. Alexa is in high use for lots of things in my house, including turning lights on and off, playing music during dinner and often a game of Jeopardy in the afternoon. But the most useful thing Alexa does for me, as a busy mom with two teens, is maintain grocery lists to multiple stores that everyone contributes to. My husband likes particular brands of veggie burgers from Wegman’s, my daughter wants to remind me to look for peaches at Whole Foods, and I just want to remember the eggs, milk, and granola the next time I’m at Harris Teeter. 

I’m always looking for simple ways to share the emotional labor of planning for the everyday routine that goes on in my house. Sharing responsibility for meal planning is one of my best life hacks.

Alexa interfaces with an app on my iPhone called AnyList. Within AnyList, we have multiple lists named after each of our high use grocery stores. We give everyone in my house access to the grocery lists, so we can all add to these lists from our phones or from Alexa on our kitchen counter. The lists update as soon as the items are entered so no one needs to call me while I’m out shopping! They can simply add to the list and it will appear in the app in real time. I check the items off on my lists as I put them in my cart at the stores, and then I delete checked off items in bulk. What’s your best use of tech in your daily routine?