Is there an app for keeping track of what's in fridge?

[Squishedpickle]

Hello,

I'm wondering if anyone knows any apps which enable you to keep track of the food that's in your cupboards and fridge? I'm always loosing track and it would be great for when I go shopping!

Thank you

Goodness knows why you are getting abuse. It sounds like a good idea to me! Especially if you could add in best before dates. Between work and taxi-ing kids around, I funnily enough have limited time to play memory games with my fridge contents.

I don't know what's wrong with people. I think this is a great idea and a good question. I would use it if there was one. People like to think they're better than others.

Since my brain injury I'm lucky to remember I started a list, be able to find it and the remember to take it shopping 🤣

An app would be so helpful! I often don't remember that I've bought something the week before that's an infrequent purchase these days.

I do like a nice freezer list on the side of the freezer. Then meal plan to use stuff up. I suppose I could update it and then photograph it before I go shopping?

I am the only person who takes thing out at the moment as DH's disabilities mean he is not able and DD is still too little for fridge and cupboard raids at the moment. So while I understand it might not be useful or feasible for everyone it would be helpful in my circumstances

Buy this fridge. It has cameras inside which you can view from your phone!

www.samsung.com/uk/refrigerators/french-door/rf9000jc-637l-black-rf65a977fb1-eu/

For everyone saying they wonder how we survived before the Internet and apps - presumably you survived before the Internet without trolling people asking simple questions. Times move forward, thank goodness, and I don't see that it's wrong to use technology to make the bits of life we struggle with easier. I'm pretty sure the people who would have found it useful before the Internet would use it now if they had the possibility

@Squishedpickle

Wow! I really wasn't expecting quite such a battering just for asking if there is an app for something.

As pp has said, there are many different reasons why people may find something difficult and I don't really see why a request for specific information has led to such snark and condescension. I'm pleased for you that you are able to manage. Others, evidently, are not and should not be bashed for seeking help to make improvements to their life.

Ignore them - they're being daft!

I always make my shopping list when I'm in the kitchen. That way I can see what we have and what we don't.

I also add something to the list when it's about to run out.

I use a shopping list app called shopping UK.

I think the difficulty with an app saying what's in the fridge would be you'd have to update it whenever you used anything- bit annoying!

I see what you mean - a list of Use by dates would be really handy.

Would be good if you could put them in order, so you can clearly see the ham is about to go off and have it in a sandwich the following day.

I use Freezly where you can make lists to share with other members of the household. You can make separate lists not just for fridge and freezer, but cupboards, loft, garage, shed and so on. I like it because I can keep track of exactly where in the freezer certain items are - it saves me rummaging about in the cold!

@Squishedpickle

For everyone saying they wonder how we survived before the Internet and apps - presumably you survived before the Internet without trolling people asking simple questions. Times move forward, thank goodness, and I don't see that it's wrong to use technology to make the bits of life we struggle with easier. I'm pretty sure the people who would have found it useful before the Internet would use it now if they had the possibility

Just because I don't need an app to see what's in my fridge because believe it or not I can look for myself does not make me a troll - seriously rude!!

This isn't a silly question at all.
I have ADHD. It wasn't diagnosed until I was an adult, but it explains so much regarding how my brain operates.
If something is in the recesses of the fridge or freezer, I just don't see it. I get hungry (probably ADHD related, again, because I was hyper-focused on something and just didn't process that it was nearly time to eat), then stare at the fridge and cannot think of anything I could possibly eat.
Days later, I find rotten food, fruit and vegetables particularly, that I really had wanted to eat, but somehow hadn't managed to remember because I couldn't see them.
It drives my very organized husband mad. But it's just the way my brain works. I wish I was one of those easily organized people - I really have tried - but I am just not.

No, it doesn't make you a troll. What makes someone a troll is giving a snarky response to a question which is totally unnecessary.

I don't like fashion, when I see a thread saying which handbag should I buy to go with these shoes, I just ignore it, I don't go on and berate people for buying something completely unnecessary. If it makes them happy/makes their life easier then why not.

@Ruthietuthie
Me too. ADHD and fridges are nearly as bad a combination as ADHD and: the bathroom cupboard; the back seat of the car and, worst of all - my desk at work. And I’m in a shared office!

Thank you very much to those who have posted kind, understanding and helpful replies. Some really useful ideas and app suggestions.

Sorry, i'm no luddite but the workload involved in updating an app every time i use something in the kitchen seems a whole lot more of a pain the arse than simply checking it once before you go shopping.

You sound like someone who 'freestyles' in the supermarket, and this will be a problem. You're best off actually planning and making a list of what you're going to buy while you're in the house, so that you can check whether you need more soy sauce or whatever. In the meantime, you can also plan meals that will use up some of the surplus and reduce the spend for that week.

If that's too much work, you could maybe take photos of your fridge and cupboards to check as you go round the supermarket.

I am already imagining how this brilliant app would work.
Yes, you scan things in and out (the hard part). But then it tells you what you should cook that night, based on which ingredients are nearest to going off... I would definitely use that.

@parrotonmyshoulder - yes to ALL the things you mentioned. I just don't understand how my desk goes from tidy to disaster, and the car-seat... Finding out there was a reason my brain worked this way (and that I wasn't just lazy - which didn't really make sense as I hold down a demanding job and have a small child) made such a difference.

One last thing, @Squishedpickle. I saw a tiktok video (I know... what a complete waste of time... if I wasn't watching tiktok videos perhaps I could keep track of what was in my fridge) on fridge organization for ADHD. Basically, EVERYTHING was different. Sauces, jams, all that stuff were in the salad drawers. Then there was a clear plastic container for each day of the week, with the ingredients in it.
My husband is skeptical (plus it is such a big change, and I have questions such as doesn't salad go in the drawers for a reason? Something to do with humidity??) but I may well try it as I am sick and tired of throwing out so much good food that we have wastefully left to rot. I know your need for an app wasn't ADHD driven, but it seemed to me a completely different way of thinking about fridge space that might just work.

I used to love the Ocado app for this when we lived in an area they delivered too, I would just add things to the shopping basket as we ran out and then it would transfer them to the next shop. Is there another supermarket with an app that's comparably good?

I used to have a colleague who had a complete list on their phone of everything they ever bought at the supermarket, which could be ticked or unticked for that week's shop. It was also listed in the order they would pass the products as they went round their local supermarket. I could never decide whether it was dreadfully impressive or impressively dreadful, but I did know with stone-cold certainty that I will never be that person...

@Ruthietuthie thank you so much for your posts! That is such an interesting idea. I will definitely have a think about that.

@parrotonmyshoulder

God there’s some unimaginative people on this thread. We don’t all have the same capacity for memory, organising, prioritising etc. It’s so unhelpful to assume that we do.

I’m going to look at some of these apps. My wasteful fridge has a tendency to make me feel guilty and inadequate!

You will never acquire any capacity for memory, organising and prioritising etc, by using apps and Alex Slobbing on the sofa watching other people run marathons, has zero benefit to muscles and heart/lung capacity.

Just like bodies, brains need regular activity and excercise to stay fit. If you use your phone in place of brain, sooner or later both will run out of power and stop working.

@2bazookas your post is incredibly insensitive and offensive. I'm not sure why you've returned to this thread, but disability is not laziness, neither is people's brain functioning on different ways.

For everyone saying they wonder how we survived before the Internet and apps - presumably you survived before the Internet without trolling people asking simple questions.

    Back then,  we just told them face to face.

So you adapted the way you function based on the technology available... Shocker!

Read this whole thread as I thought this was a great question and would be really useful suggestions…no it’s just full of narrow minded people who can’t envision people who operate differently.

People who excel at organisation and admin, good for you. Is there nothing you’re less good at that you value help and support with? Driving? Cooking? Sports? Crafts? Basic politeness?