Frequently Asked Questions About
Now You're Cooking! 
Stores/Shopping/Prices/Costing
Can I turn off the cost of shopping list feature, since I don’t use that?
Yes. Use Tools… Options… Shopping tab…, then uncheck the box “enable cost features”.
How does the Shopping List By Aisle feature work?
NYC was designed for this general workflow:
1. Build up the number of items in your prices/aisles list (Shopping… Aisles…).
2. Identify the generic aisle name for each item in the aisle list (select generic aisle name in droplist, click grid cells in table to add the aisle designation).
3. Build a shopping list (save a Menu).
4. Use List By Aisle to see the shopping list by aisle, for those items in your shopping list that match items in your aisle list.
The cost feature sounds good, but won’t it depend on where I shop? Where do you get the information from?
The cost feature relies on price information that you provided for various stores. It is only useful if you are willing and able to maintain a reliable price database for store items. This price information would have to come from the grocery stores and be entered into NYC by you - NYC does not provide it.
Is it possible to have a default shopping list? One that you can edit just before you go to the store?
Yes. From the shopping list edit window (press S toolbar button), use File... Save Shopping List As..., and save a shopping list as a new file, say "default.shp". Then edit that shopping list as your default by adding or deleting items in it. Keep this shopping list and open it as needed later for editing when needed from the shopping list edit window (use File... Open Shopping List... and select "default.shp"). Print your edited shopping list before you go to the store.
The normal way to get a shopping list is to create and meal plan and save it - this creates a shopping list for the meal plan automatically, and saves it under the same name as the meal plan (i.e., "myplan.shp" if the meal plan is "myplan.mnu"). But you need not save a meal plan to get a shopping list - just open the shopping list edit window and use File... New Shopping List... then save it when done editing.
How do I add two shopping lists together?
To merge two shopping lists, open the first shopping list and use File... Merge Shopping List(s)... from the main menu with the shopping list window open. This will let you select the second shopping list to be added to the open shopping list. You can then save or print the merged shopping list.
I am trying to view the Shopping List By Aisle on a shopping list other than the default list. How do I do this?
The Shopping List By Aisle routine works on the “last used” shopping list, where “last used” means a) the last opened shopping list, or b) the shopping list associated with the last saved menu, whichever was more recent.
To open a different shopping list, you must have the edit shopping list window open. Press “S” toolbar button to open the edit shopping list window, then you will see File… Open Shopping List… from the main window menu. Open your shopping list.
Now when you press the Shopping List By Aisle button, it should display your shopping list because you had it open last.
Can I export the shopping list as a text file?
If you want a plain vanilla text file, print the shopping list to a file by selecting the "print to file" checkbox in the File.. Print... window.
Or if you are looking for a file to read easily into another program, you can use the *.shp files (shopping lists) in your NYC \user folder directly - they are comma-delimited text files with quotes around character strings.
According to NYC Help, I can make a new shopping list by selecting "File" then "Open Shopping List", but I don’t see that menu option.
You won't see the "Open Shopping List..." menu item unless you have the shopping list window open. Press the S button on the toolbar, THEN you will see File... Open Shopping List...?
How do I get the cost of a single recipe using the price list info that I have entered?
The way to cost out an individual recipe is to create a meal plan with that one recipe in it, save the meal plan (which creates its shopping list), then use the List Cost toolbar button to cost out that shopping list. Your price list is used to cost out items in the shopping list.
I want to keep a running shopping list of miscellaneous
items that I need everytime I go to the store, and then add this list to the
shopping list created when I save my menu. Is there a way to do this?
Yes. Create a running shopping list of miscellaneous items (call it
misc.shp). Then create your menu shopping list by saving your menu, then
go edit the shopping list ('S' toolbar button) and use File... Merge Shopping
List(s) to merge your running list (misc.shp) into your open shopping list.
Is there any way to update prices/aisles list using selected recipes without
using the Update button in the price list edit window, which scans them all?
The price/aisle list and droplists are also updated when you edit a shopping list or individual recipe and add new items. So the easiest way to use selected recipes for the update is to create a meal plan (Menu...Plan...) using the recipes you want to use for the update, save it so a shopping list is created, then edit the shopping list (Shopping...List...), make any minor change, then Save the shopping list. This will cause the list to be scanned for new items to be added to the price/aisle list.
What is the easiest way to merge 2 different price lists? Can NYC do that?
Yes. There is a feature in NYC that allows price list management (New, Open, Save, Save As, Merge, Delete). You must enable price list management by checking this option in Tools... Options... Then with the edit prices window open, use File... Merge Price List(s)... to multi-select various price lists and combine them.
How do I change the names of the stores?
Use Shopping... Stores... to add stores and delete stores as necessary.
How do I change store names and recreate a new price list, to replace the ones shipped with NYC?
To change store names, use Shopping... Stores..., then add or delete names in the list of stores. This will change the store names in your price list as well. Delete all items in your price list using the Delete button, or replace the prices by selecting the grid cell and overtyping a price.
How do I get the cost of just a recipe (i.e., not a whole meal plan)?
NYC thinks in terms of costing out menus. For just one recipe, create a new menu plan with that one recipe, save it, close the menu window, and press the toolbar button for Shopping List Cost. Select the shopping list you just created (its name will match that of the menu you saved), then press OK.
How do I add just a single item to the shopping list without adding a whole recipe?
Add an individual item to your shopping list by dbl-clicking it in your
price list. Or, you can create a recipe with just that ingredient and add the
recipe to your meal plan. Or just edit the shopping list (Shopping...
List...) and add it there.
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