INVENTORY ON HAND – from the top of the page:

FIRST, IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW:

1. There is a list of @ 200 products in what we call a Pre-fill List (it’s displayed when you press on the PLUSsign). This helps speed up the initial app set-up that requires you to select the products you want to track.
2. When you add your initial inventory, the products on hand may be partway through their shelf life. For this reason, you can overwrite the Use Within timeframe on the Quantity & Location Future purchases will use the Default Use Within you specified.
3. You can add a product at any point in the process: inventory, shopping or put-away. The PLUS sign is available on all these pages to allow this. See more below.
4. The icons across the bottom of the page enable easy navigation throughout the app.

AUDIT – this takes you to the Audit page, where you can perform an inventory count if your overall inventory becomes inaccurate. Use the Filter function to focus on the storage location you’re counting.

INFO ICON – advises how fractional quantities can be used in drawing down products.

HELP ICON – takes you to help text relevant to the page you are on.

SEARCH – search to find a tracked product in inventory by keying the product name, or part thereof. If it’s not found, use the PLUS button to add a new product (see PLUS SIGN instructions below).

SORT BUTTON – this sorts products into the desired order (product name, et cetera).

FILTER ICON – press this to sort and filter by storage location, category, et cetera, as desired. Press Save Filter to save your most-used filters for future use. Press View saved filters to select, then press Apply. The five flags indicate your chosen filters.

WARNINGS – low means less than the Minimum Quantity you have selected for a product.

PRODUCT-LEVEL ACTIONS: Pressing on a product line allows you to:

• View Product Details:
  • The top part of this page sets the parameters for a product. These will be used for future purchases (unit of measure, category, et cetera). See Info buttons for more guidance.
  • Current Inventory, the bottom section, gives the product batch details – you can press on a batch and edit the quantity, storage location or Use Within for that batch. Changes here will apply to that batch only and will not affect future purchases. You can also delete a batch.
• Edit Product Life – you can edit the product life of a product in a given location (e.g. Butter in the Fridge (Top Shelf). If you have more than one batch in that location and only want the change to apply to one batch, make the change at the batch level (see Current Inventory in the previous paragraph).
  • If you also want to change the product life of future purchases, also check the Change the default use within to new use within button.
• Add to Shopping List – selecting this will add one unit of the product to Shopping List. To add more, go to the shopping list.
  • Note: if you leave the Minimum Quantity for a product at zero, you can build your shopping list manually instead of automatically – or some products can be automatic, others manual.
• Move to New location – you can move a product (or part) to a new location and change its Use Within days if appropriate (e.g. Fridge to Freezer).
  • If you move only some of a product, you can write off the remainder if you want.
• Delete – you can delete the product and its quantity altogether.
  • Note that, unless there is another batch in another location, the product will no longer be listed as a tracked product on the Add New Product to Track page.
• Cancel – go back to the Inventory on Hand page.

MINUS SIGNS to the left of the product quantities. Pressing on these will reduce the quantity by one unit (for each press). You can also draw down on your inventory using fractional quantities by clicking in the quantity box and keying in the remaining quantity. E.G. 2 bottles of wine become 1½  bottles.

NAVIGATION BUTTONS – these take you to the four main pages of the app.

PLUS SIGN at the bottom centre of the page – this takes you to the Add New Item to Track page. Search for the product and complete its details or add a brand-new product from scratch. The details you enter will be remembered but can be changed at any time. Press Save to confirm the product details, then Yes to add the quantity you have on hand.

• Note that there are two lists, one for tracked food, the other for non-tracked. You are looking at the list withoutthe red dot. Press on the red to see the other list.
• Note that any new attributes (e.g. a Pet Food category) can be added on the fly when needed.
• Minimum Quantity is the point below which the app will automatically add shortages to the shopping list. If there is no minimum quantity, there is no automatic add; in that case, you can add the product manually. Some users may prefer to generate their entire shopping list manually – that’s easily done. Fractional quantities (e.g. 1/2 lb.) are allowed.
• Weekly Need is used when you need to provision for more people than usual, or for a longer trip. The app calculates how much extra food you need. Be careful to use realistic values and fractions – things add up faster than you might think!
• Usual Storage Location is the primary place where you store a product. Products can be split into two locations on Put-Away if you have a secondary storage location.
• Default Use Within is the expected shelf life of the product, given the typical condition of the food when you bought it, its storage location, ambient temperatures et cetera. This value will be used for future purchases.
  • Note: you can (and should?) overwrite this value on the initial adding of your products, as many of your products will already be part way through their shelf life and you want to consume them before they go bad! Use the Use Within field on the Quantity & Location  screen when adding your initial inventory.