How to maintain (online) freezer and pantry inventory

[Bojana]

I tried searching the forum but could not find it and I am sure I am not the first one to struggle with this. It would be great if people could share how you keep your freezer and pantry inventory. Ideally, I'd like an online solution but well designed excel sheets could also do the trick I imagine.

Thanks!

[Martin Fisher]

Here's a very simple freezer inventory tracking spreadsheet that I put together too keep track of what's in the freezer(s) and to help avoid things being forgotten before they should be used up.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/138271/freezer-inventory-tracker

[MelissaH]

We keep our freezer inventory in a shared Google doc. (Ours is just a word processing document, but there's no reason you couldn't use a spreadsheet instead.) Both of us can access it, and because it's cloud-based, we can even use our phones to look at it while we're shopping.

[Anna N]

All good ideas and I have tried similar ones and many more beside but the problem is not how to track but as the title states "how to maintain". I can fill in sheets forever, on line, off line, on white boards, black boards and dinner napkins. Not one of them serves to kick me in the aspidistra to keep them maintained and therein lies the problem. Solve that and you'll have my eternal gratitude. .

[pastameshugana]

I haven't used it but there's an app called 'mini fridge' for ios that does this. You can enter items and dates, even photos. It looks like it helps you work out expiration dates/etc.

EDIT: Now that I look, there's LOTS of little apps like this, with mixed reviews. You'd have to find the one that fits your lifestyle.

We use a grocery app for our shared shopping list thats very helpful.

Edited August 29, 2013 by pastameshugana (log)

[KennethT]

The biggest problem with all of this is, like Anna said, the maintenance. I used to have a spreadsheet with the contents of my 2 freezers... The problem is that you have to update it every time you take something out or put something in - which is a task easily forgotten, or put off to the future and then forgotten. In no time, the inventory means nothing anymore.

Honestly, I don't have a good solution to the problem, which is why I've stopped keeping an inventory altogether.

A ridiculous answer would be to put small RFID tags on everything that you buy, and enter the contents of each tag into a database. As long as you keep adding tags (and related dbase entries) to new acquisitions, keeping track of inventory is easy since you would just need to wave your RFID reader across the face of the freezer.

[gfweb]

I was thinking the same thing. Very do-able.

[FrogPrincesse]

Mine is very simple - I have created a "freezer inventory" note on my iPad that is organized by freezer shelf/location. I list the items I want to use soon as the first items, and I do my best to update the list when I take things out or buy new things. Every other month or so I reconcile my inventory if I noticed that it was no longer up to date.

The list is also available on my iPhone so I can check what I already have when I am grocery shopping. As any other electronic note, it's searchable so I can easily look for specific items when I check my inventory. Every once in a while, I try to create a meal around what I have in the freezer otherwise I tend to forget things indefinitely. I am considering doing the same thing for my pantry but that is not a high priority. [i have something a little more elaborate (i.e., an app that that scans barcodes) for my home bar inventory...]

It's not perfect but it's better than nothing, and it's been working great for me!

Edited August 29, 2013 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

Speaking of inventory and forgetting things in the freezer - it may be time for one of these Don't shop now challenges, we haven't done one in ages!

[gfweb]

RFID wouldn't be cheap. A reader is a few hundred dollars and the chips vary in price from $ 0.50 to a buck or two depending on features and number purchased. That's a large percentage of the cost of food in the freezer and saving stuff from spoiling might not be enough of a savings to justify the cost of the system.

[pastameshugana]

There's been talk (and even trial runs in some markets) of imbedding RFID in all grocery product packaging. You could have automatic checkout: Just walk out the door and they bill your card on file. An RFID enabled fridge/freezer would automatically track these things and display recipe suggestions...

I know it's all very futuristic, but I regularly make wireless video calls to people across the world from my phone, which was pretty out there just a few years ago.

[Martin Fisher]

I keep a notepad attached to the freezer to record what's added or subtracted.

I update the spreadsheet periodically.

Not a big deal, really.

[HungryC]

Damn, you folks are advanced. Or maybe you just keep more frozen foods than I do? I keep the inside freezer & outside chest freezer organized by category (cooked entrees, frozen veg, seafood, meat (half-calf cut & wrapped), poultry) and then I can see at a glance what I have. The only thing too numerous/diverse for my memory is the flour stockpile: I keep a paper list magneted to the freezer door, enumerating the kinds of flour & amount. Can't ever remember if I used all the whole wheat pastry flour or high-gluten or 00, so the list is handy.

ETA: have learned through many hurricane seasons that it's not wise to stockpile frozen goods in my locale. Today is the 8th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. I've cleaned too many fetid fridges to ever, ever, ever want to do that again.

Edited August 29, 2013 by HungryC (log)

[Smithy]

Speaking of inventory and forgetting things in the freezer - it may be time for one of these Don't shop now challenges, we haven't done one in ages!

I'd be up for that if I could do it in a (heh) half-baked way. At this time of year we rely heavily on fresh produce, and I wouldn't care to miss out on the Last of the Local Tomatoes (Duluth has had its first frost warnings already) in the name of not-shopping. But I'm trying to work my way down through the depths of our freezers - I definitely stockpile too much, and like Anna N I've been more successful at setting up inventories than at maintaining them.

Anyone else interested in a no-shop challenge?