We have been building Grocery List Plus for a long time, and today it is on Google Play. If you have an Android phone, you can install it now and start your first list in a couple of minutes.

We are excited about this one. Not because a grocery list app is a new idea, but because most of them stop at the list. Ours keeps going: into the store, through the register, and back into your pantry.

What a grocery list app should actually do

A list on paper tells you what to buy. It does not tell you what it costs at the stores you shop, what is already in the cupboard, or that the spinach you bought last week was recalled. Those three questions are the reason we built this app.

Grocery List Plus is free. You pick your preferred stores, build a list, and see current prices at those stores as you add items. When you shop, the list goes with you aisle by aisle. When you finish, what you bought becomes your pantry inventory, so next week starts from what is actually at home.

The five features we think you will use most

1. Prices at the stores you already shop. Choose your stores and view prices as you build the list. You know roughly what the trip will cost before you leave the house, and you can see which items are on sale this week.

2. A list that works inside the store. Pick a list and a store and shop aisle by aisle. Move items into your cart, record the price you actually saw, swap for a similar item, or mark something out of stock. Scan a barcode to add an item, and finish with your receipt's final total and tax so you know what the trip really cost.

3. Never running out. Mark the things you always buy as recurring and they are added to every new list. The app also learns how fast your household goes through things, so Suggested Items reminds you that the coffee is running low before it runs out.

4. A pantry that keeps itself. What you buy builds your inventory automatically. Before you shop, check what is already at home and stop buying a third jar of the same spice. Everyone in your household sees the same inventory.

5. Food recall alerts that know your pantry. Every active USDA and FDA food recall, refreshed daily and matched against the items you actually bought, with the urgent ones first.

Also in the app

• Meal Maker plans dinners around what is already in your pantry and adds the few missing items to your list.
• A meal planner for the days ahead that turns the whole plan into one grocery list.
• Recipes you can save or write yourself, many with a healthier version.
• Shared lists for your household and your friends, so you can see who is shopping right now.
• Loyalty cards you can scan once and show at the register.
• English and Spanish throughout, and you can switch any time.

Where to get it

Search for Grocery List Plus on Google Play, or use the same account on the web at grocerylistplus.com. Your lists, stores and pantry are the same everywhere you sign in.

If the app saves you a trip or a few dollars, a rating on Google Play helps other households find it. And if something does not work the way you expect, tell us. We read every message.