Kitchen Inventory?!

[prepared101]

Shamelessly posting here for traffic having just bought 4 tins of baked beans at the supermarket and coming home to find 6 already in my cupboard.

AIBU to ask how you keep track of what's in your kitchen!? Is there a good app!? If it's cheaper than the cost of 4 tins of baked beans it'll be worth it!

[mirrorballer]

I meal plan then check the cupboards to see what we have/need. I usually do an online shop for everything except fruit and veg.

It's really not that hard to check what you have and write a list.

[NeverDropYourMooncup]

@prepared101

I can't often remember what I went upstairs for let alone what I have in a cupboard before I go to the supermarket 25 minutes away!

Take a photo pn your phone, then?

[prepared101]

@Gubu glad to know I'm not alone. Vipers are out in force tonight.

I'm not sure why wanting to use an app is so ridiculous when it's literally the phone version of pen and paper! I always have my phone with me- I don't also carry a notepad or a magnetic shopping list

[mathanxiety]

I have a whiteboard where I compose a shopping list as we run out.

I only get what's on the list, though there are staples like crushed tomatoes or black beans I buy if I'm in Aldi, because I know they'll be used. I usually have about three tins of each in the kitchen.

Maybe take the time to do a kitchen inventory. You might have items that are past their prime which you should throw out.

[IJoinedJustForThisThread]

@Stressofherregard

I have recently audited all my food and store cupboard items. I put them in a spreadsheet so that I can easily check what I have. It was mostly to avoid having multiple jars of herbs and spices but it was easier to just include everything. Next job is to add BB dates so I don't waste anything. BTW I only have a tiny kitchen

Would you like to come and visit me for the day? 😊

[mathanxiety]

Nobody carries the notebook with them, or the magnetic shopping list - they stay in the kitchen where the food is stored, so you can easily jot something down when you run out.

If you use your phone for most of your organizing, then use Notes. But you have to check your cupboards and fridge/ freezer to find out what you already have first. After you've done that you can use apps or whatever else floats your boat for list making.

[WinnieTheWinsomeWitch]

@prepared101

@Gubu glad to know I'm not alone. Vipers are out in force tonight.

I'm not sure why wanting to use an app is so ridiculous when it's literally the phone version of pen and paper! I always have my phone with me- I don't also carry a notepad or a magnetic shopping list

If you haven’t worked out in 20 years of adulting that you can take off the top page of a notebook and just carry that little bit of paper with you, I can’t help you any more.

[IJoinedJustForThisThread]

You’ve all inspired me and I have just made a list of everything in my freezer - what it is, best before/use by date (thank you @Stressofherregard ) and quantity.

Too late to do any more tonight, but tomorrow I plan to start on the cupboards to make a list of what is in there.

I’m going to start using up everything in the cupboards before buying more. I have a tendency to “stock up in case I get snowed in” and I need to start using up tins/packets that I have already bought instead of buying more.

Next project will be learning to make a shopping list before I go to the supermarket.

[HardStareBear]

Have a look at the Whisk app. It lets you meal plan (if you want to), save recipes from almost anywhere online, has 'communities' of people that share recipes, and, the bit that you want, a shopping list that's easy to add to (for things you've thought of yourself and for specific items in recipes that you've stored on the app). It's not perfect but it's damn near.

[Stressofherregard]

you are very welcome!

[BarbaraofSeville]

I think the tip about organising your cupboard into lines is the easiest. Then for tins its just a matter of putting it on the shopping list when you get to the last can or two.

Because like the OP has identified, it's much cheaper to buy multipacks/offers of things like beans, tinned tomatoes, pasta sauce, soup, pulses so good to do unless you have absolutely no space and/or no money.

I think this is one area where an app would be overcomplicating things, for it to work, you'd have to be constantly stock taking your cupboards, which sounds like a time consuming bore.