Excel - extracting values from data table for list validation - vba

Question

Background:
I have a workbook/tool that performs exactly as I wish.
The tool includes two main components:
A list of ingredients grouped by category (i.e., dairy, produce, etc.)
a sheet with recipe tables
On the ingredient sheet, all ingredients of a specific category are grouped together as part of a named range (i.e. "dairy_list").
[Named Rage: Dairy_list]
[Ingredient] [Unit] [Price]
Milk, 2% 1 litre $2.50
Milk, Whole 1 litre $3.50
[/Named Rage: Dairy_list]
[Named Rage: Fruit_list]
[Ingredient] [Unit] [Price]
Apples pound $0.99
Bananas pound $1.99
[/Named Rage: Fruit_list]
Recipe tables include a row for each ingredient (note: there may be hundreds of ingredient rows once the model is complete). In each row are two columns, from the first contains a list validated drop down menu containing the names of all categories, the second is a list validated drop down containing all ingredients that reside in the selected category. I do this using the named ranges and the INDIRECT([category cell]&"_list") function for the list validation. So if the category "Dairy" were selected, the validation list would be the range "Dairy_list".
This works; however, some challenges exist from a usability stand point.
Challenges:
The users of this tool are not experienced with Excel. Users must be able to easily add rows to each category and add categories to the model.
Explaining how to define a named range, insert rows within a range and ensuring ranges' naming conventions are valid are all relatively simple tasks for experienced users but not for many of the intended users of the tool.
Users also may wish to sort the ingredient list in different ways (using auto filter), which is not possible when the table is divided into subgroups and categories.
I am rebuilding the model template to allow for this usability and to simplify the user experience.
Objective:
The format of the ingredient data table will be single, sortable table:
[Category] [Ingredient]
Fruit Apple
Fruit Banana
Vegetable Carrot
Fruit Melon
A named range of possible categories will be contained on a separate sheet.
Ideally, the user need only add a category to the category list or add an ingredietn to the ingrdient list, with no further steps required other than to populate recipes.
The user should be able to add (within reason) as many categories as they want. Similarly, on the ingredient sheet, the user may add (within reason) as many ingredients for each category and in any order they wish. This is important because the solutions I have found on this site and others for dynamic validation lists typically involve creating an additional list/named range that groups list items by category then applies a named range to each list.
[Fruit] [Vegetables]
Apple Carrot
Banana
Melon
This approach, while functionally relevant, is essentially a less elegant version (the data must reside in multiple locations) of what my current model uses and one which I am trying to avoid (I want to avoid as many steps as possible for the user).
What I wish the model to do in the recipe tables is, wherever the category cell contains [Fruit] the ingredient cell only lists items from the ingredient list where the [category] is Fruit. But not require the data to be manually extracted or grouped within the ingredient list.
I've experimented with VBA auto-filtering, but I do not want to alter the filter, format or ordering settings on the ingredient list if the user has sorted a certain way for usability.
If I were constructing this in another programming language that referenced a database, the equivalent functionality would be a SQL statement like "SELECT [ingredient] FROM [Ingredient_List] WHERE [Category] = 'Fruit'".
I am open to VBA or non-VBA solutions (preferably ones that are relatively backward compatible as I do not have control over Excel version).
Thank you in advance for any thoughts/direction/resources/solutions.