Systems and methods for managing product purchase information over a network

1. A method for managing product purchase information, comprising:

receiving a list of a plurality of products to purchase at a personal computing device, wherein the list includes an indication representing whether the plurality of products have been selected for purchase;

electronically reading product information of one of the plurality of products that is selected for purchase;

updating the list at the personal computing device with an indication that at least one of the plurality of products has been selected for purchase when the personal computing device electronically reads the product information of the product selected for purchase;

updating the list by adding at least one new product, representing ingredients of a recipe, to the list when the personal computing device receives input that the recipe has been selected; and

displaying at the personal computing device the updated list.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the list is provided based on a user's past shopping experience.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the list is received from a server over the Internet.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selected recipe is transmitted to a remote personal computing device over the Internet.

5. The method of claim 1 , further including receiving input at the personal computing device and removing at least one item from the list based on the input.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting at least one of a plurality of recipes based on more than one of the products included in the list and displaying the selected at least one recipes on a display.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving input at the personal computing device including parameters for selecting one of a plurality of recipes and selecting at least one of the plurality of recipes based on the received input.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the parameters are at least one of cost of ingredients per serving, calories per serving, amount of carbohydrates per serving, amount of fat per serving, and amount of sodium per serving.

9. An apparatus for managing product purchase information, comprising:

memory storing a set of instructions; and

a processor executing the stored set of instructions for performing a method for managing product purchase information, the method comprising:

receiving a list of a plurality of products to purchase at a personal computing device, wherein the list includes an indication representing whether the plurality of products have been selected for purchase;

electronically reading product information of one of the plurality of products that is selected for purchase;

updating the list at the personal computing device with an indication that at least one of the plurality of products has been selected for purchase when the personal computing device electronically reads the product information of the product selected for purchase;

updating the list by adding at least one new product, representing ingredients of a recipe, to the list when the personal computing device receives input that the recipe has been selected; and

displaying at the personal computing device the updated list.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the list is provided based on a user's past shopping experience.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the list is received from a server over the Internet.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the selected recipe is transmitted to a remote personal computing device over the Internet.

13. The apparatus of claim 9 , further including receiving input at the personal computing device and removing at least one item from the list based on the input.

14. The apparatus of claim 9 , further comprising selecting at least one of a plurality of recipes based on more than one of the products included in the list and displaying the selected at least one recipes on a display.

15. The apparatus of claim 9 , further comprising receiving input at the personal computing device including parameters for selecting one of a plurality of recipes and selecting at least one of the plurality of recipes based on the received input.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the parameters are at least one of cost of ingredients per serving, calories per serving, amount of carbohydrates per serving, amount of fat per serving, and amount of sodium per serving.

17. The method of claim 1 , further including identifying at least one recipe from a plurality of recipes based on at least one of the products that are included in the list of products for purchase.

18. The method of claim 1 , further including:

generating a request for a plurality of recipes based on at least one of the products that are included in the list of products for purchase;

transmitting the request for the plurality of recipes to a server;

receiving a list of the plurality of recipes from the server;

displaying the list of the plurality of recipes from the server;

receiving input representing selection of one of the recipes from the list of the plurality of recipes, wherein the list is updated with at least one new product included in a recipe ingredient list of the recipe; and

transmitting the selected recipe to an external storage device.

19. The method of claim 18 , further including:

receiving input representing at least one of a request for a low-fat version of the recipe and a request for an adjustment on an amount of the ingredients based on a number of servings; and

obtaining the low-fat version of the recipe based on the request or the recipe adjusted based number of servings based on the input.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein

the method is implemented in a system including a plurality of shopping carts located within a brick and mortar retail shopping store,

wherein each of the plurality of shopping carts has a personal computing device mounted thereon, each of the plurality of personal computing devices being communicably linked to a server;

wherein each of the personal computing devices receives the list of the plurality of products from a server,

wherein the list of the plurality of products is generated at a user's home personal computing device and transmitted from the user's home personal computing device to the server prior to the personal computing device at the shopping cart receiving the list of products to be purchased.

21. A method for managing product purchase information, comprising:

receiving a list of a plurality of products to purchase at a personal computing device, wherein the list includes an indication representing whether the plurality of products have been selected for purchase;

updating the list with an indication that at least one of the plurality of products has been selected for purchase when the personal computing device receives information that the one of the plurality of products has been scanned by a bar code reader at the personal computing device;

updating the list by adding at least one new product, representing ingredients of a recipe, to the list when the personal computing device receives input that the recipe has been selected; and

displaying the updated list.

22. A method for managing product purchase information, comprising:

receiving a list of a plurality of products to purchase at a personal computing device, wherein the list includes an indication representing whether the plurality of products have been selected for purchase;

updating the list with an indication that at least one of the plurality of products has been selected for purchase when the personal computing device receives information that the one of the plurality of products has been scanned by a bar code reader at the personal computing device; and

displaying at the personal computing device the updated list.

23. A computer-readable medium, storing a set of instructions, executed by a processor, for performing a method for managing product purchase information, the method comprising:

receiving a list of a plurality of products to purchase at a personal computing device, wherein the list includes an indication representing whether the plurality of products have been selected for purchase;

electronically reading product information of one of the plurality of products that is selected for purchase;

updating the list at the personal computing device with an indication that at least one of the plurality of products has been selected for purchase when the personal computing device electronically reads the product information of the product selected for purchase;

updating the list by adding at least one new product, representing ingredients of a recipe, to the list when the personal computing device receives input that the recipe has been selected; and

displaying at the personal computing device the updated list.

24. A computer-readable medium, storing a set of instructions, executed by a processor, for performing a method for managing product purchase information, the method comprising:

receiving a list of a plurality of products to purchase at a personal computing device, wherein the list includes an indication representing whether the plurality of products have been selected for purchase;

updating the list with an indication that at least one of the plurality of products has been selected for purchase when the personal computing device receives information that the one of the plurality of products has been scanned by a bar code reader at the personal computing device;

updating the list by adding at least one new product, representing ingredients of a recipe, to the list when the personal computing device receives input that the recipe has been selected; and

displaying the updated list.

25. A computer-readable medium, storing a set of instructions, executed by a processor, for performing a method for managing product purchase information, the method comprising:

receiving a list of a plurality of products to purchase at a personal computing device, wherein the list includes an indication representing whether the plurality of products have been selected for purchase;

updating the list with an indication that at least one of the plurality of products has been selected for purchase when the personal computing device receives information that the one of the plurality of products has been scanned by a bar code reader at the personal computing device; and

displaying at the personal computing device the updated list.