When I’m at the grocery store, I always like to take a look at what others around me are buying. Anybody else do that? I’ve just been fascinated with what people buy and try to determine what they’d make out of the ingredients they have. Maybe part of that is because sometimes I feel like I make the same meals over and over again, and I like to know what other people are making. Given that, you’ll understand why I was so excited when I came across GroceryLists.org.

GroceryLists.org, as you can imagine, is a site filled with other people’s grocery lists. It was started by a guy back in 1997 who found an abandoned grocery list in a parking lot, and it seemed interesting, so he kept it. Every time he came across another list, he kept it. The site now has over 1600 grocery lists due in part to others who have sent in the abandoned grocery lists they’ve found.

I found the best way to get started is by taking a look at their “Top 10” lists. Otherwise, you can browse on your own through the 1600+ lists.  They’re all images that were scanned in, so what you see is the real thing! I must admit, it’s also funny to see all the spelling mistakes people have made. On one list, someone needed “close hangers.” I think they meant “clothes hangers.”