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!

Have a look before you go?

I have a quick glance in the cupboards before I go shopping to see what I need. I thought everyone did this??

I keep a list on the fridge, to which I add items as I use the last, or nearly the last, of items. If I have a recipe in mind, I'll check that I have all the ingredients. Paper and pencil; painfully low-tech, I know, but it is cheap!

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!

I keep a list on the fridge, to which I add items as I use the last, or nearly the last, of items ... Paper and pencil

Same here. You don't need an app to have a shopping list!

I cleared out my kitchen cupboards during the last lockdown and discovered 6 jars of horseradish. You stand more chance of using your baked beans.

I don't use all of her stuff, but Flylady has a sort of inventory / shopping list system that you might be able to adapt? Step 7/8 work together
www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/flying-lessons/control-journal/

I’ve seen a perpetual shopping list somewhere online before. It’s a list of all the basics and you flip the peg up next to the item if you need it.

I use the Sainsbury's online shopping app. Even if I'm not going to do an online order, it's good for keeping track of the things I need when I'm popping to the shops.

Always have my phone on me, so when something runs out I immediately add it to the online basket - ready made shopping list!

I just have a quick look in the fridge and cupboards before I go shopping and jot down a list!

we have a larder and when we need something topped up or replaced, we write it on a post it that's on the inside of the cupboard door. We then add it to the shopping list.

6 tins of beans would last no time here so i'd have no problems with that though !

we also try to do meal plans and make sure we have all of the ingredients.

I do an online shop at work in my lunch break so we have phases. Dh will mention, please stop buying beans/passata/shreddies/pasta because I’ve started putting them in the garage!!! I’m rubbish but I’m not on a tight budget so it’s fine. Previously, when on a budget, I would have looked rather than try to order from memory.

Just do a shopping list?

I keep a master shopping list on notes on my phone , copy it before shopping and delete stuff I don’t need , then delete it from the note as I add it to my trolley

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

We use the cozi app - it's a family organiser type thing where calendars and lists can all be used by each member of the family.

I look in cupboards, fridge & freezer, 'see' what's not there, write it on a list.
Plan meals and write them on list.

I use click and collect. Can go round my house and add things that I need. Don't have to bother going in either, much easier to budget too and it's quicker. All round winner, not had many issues with products either. Sometimes meat will be due earlier than normal but that just goes to the front of the meal planner, hardly a big deal.

I have a list of everything I buy on a regular basis including food, toiletries, cleaning materials etc.

I check the list at the beginning of every month and try to do one big shop for pantry items, toiletries, cleaning stuff etc. My goal is to buy everything I need to avoid ‘top up shops’ and to ensure I don’t run out in the month ahead with the exception of fresh fruit, veg and meat which I shop for twice a week.

I walk through the house and check what is in the cupboards and fridge before going to the supermarket and I cross things off my list if I don’t need to buy them.

Also, my list was originally written in excel so when I am feeling particularly organized I have gone through receipts and added prices to the spreadsheet. This has turned it into a handy price book. I can tell you which of my three local supermarkets has the best deals on a product, what the average price I have paid for something is and how much prices have really gone up in the last few years.

I highly recommend this system.

A set of eyes and a pen or the notes on my phone

We use alexa for shopping lists. We add things as they are used up and she sends the list to the app.

Quickest way I find to have a shopping list pad (e.g scrap paper and peg) near the store cupboards. When you use the last of time , or see you are getting low on an item you use frequently, write it down on list there and then (have a pen/pencil hanging next to it ) . When you do your shopping, use this as start of list and then add special ingredients for that weeks meals .
works fine.
I never shop without having done a menu and checked cupboards for special ingredients I need for that week.

but everything else I just use the ass to list when quantities I have drops below a certain level (e.g 2 bins of tomatoes, 1 tin sweat corn, 8 dishwasher tabs etc…)
I worked in supply chain…we have all sorts of high fancy names for purchasing methods…this one is called “reorder point”. But some people would swear by “periodic order” which means you check everything at time before you do your weekly shop. Or you can go “Kanban” which means have 2 on the go of everything, when you use one leave it out as a “signal” to order more. works a treat with the milk rota at work.
I love how man came along and invented fancy complicated terms in work for stuff women have done intuitively for centuries 🤣🤣🤣

We have a little whiteboard and write on it if anything runs out and then I take a photo of it before shopping

Use the ass😱🤣🤣use the list that should be

If your cupboards/fridge are vaguely tidy, take a picture before you go to the shop, check as you're walking round.