Frequently Asked Questions

First think about your biggest challenge for provisioning.

If it’s what’s in the freezer, start there.  If the fridge, go for it. But I suggest that you divide the fridge and freezer into zones.  For me, it’s bottom, middle and top. So, for the top-loading fridge on our boat, it’s FridgeB (bottom), FridgeM (middle) and FridgeT (top).  I keep beer and seldom-used soft drinks in the bottom of the fridge, mostly for guests and entertaining. The middle is things like open bottles mayonnaise and salad dressing, cheese and any meat.  The top is always lettuce and leftovers. Whatever needs to be less cold and eaten first.

For the freezer – also top-loading – the bottom is nearly always a frozen turkey breast or chicken.  It helps to keep the freezer cold. The middle is ice, fish, meat, seafood and poultry parts (breasts and legs).  The top is usually leftovers and pizza dough.

Maybe it’s what’s under the floorboards that’s your biggest challenge.  Inventory what’s under them. It’s probably what’s oldest on the boat, and the cans may be starting to rust.  You want to use them up before you use what’s in the cupboard.

Pick a couple of your more “challenging” locations, and start with them.  You can add more locations on the fly at any time.

You also have the option of setting up all of your locations before you start doing any inventory.  That way, as you go along and add inventory to different locations, the locations are already set up in the app.

When you put an item into inventory, you can put in a minimum quantity to have on hand.  For example, if my minimum quantity for mushroom soup is two, if I have two on board, when I draw down one, I’m now one shy of my minimum quantity.  When I go to the shopping list, it’s noted as a “short” item. I can add it if I wish.. Of course, you can always buy more than the minimum (especially if it’s on sale). If you haven’t specified a minimum, you can still add the item manually from the Inventory on Hand page or the Shopping List page.

The Inventory on Hand screen flags all below-minimum and out-of-stock items using symbols that are displayed at the top of the page. Sometimes you’ll be completely out of stock.

I’m sure that happens to all of us.  I use my iPad in the galley. I have all my recipes on it, and it has a folding cover so it ‘sits up’ so it’s easy to read when I’m cooking.  And of course, I also use it for Pantry in Paradise. If I forget what I’ve drawn down on, I can always go back to the last recipe I used, and check the ingredients.  That’ll jog my memory. Conversely, check your leftovers and see what ingredients you recently used. I also usually make a note of what we have for meals, mostly lunch and dinner, and that’s another memory jogger for what you’ve recently used.

Your other option, which I suggest is part of a regular routine, is to inventory your storage locations on a regular basis using the audit function.  Do one cupboard a month and check what’s in it. It’s also a good time to clean the cupboard out, add bay leaves and cloves to keep bugs away (or whatever your choice of anti-infestation is), and make sure that you don’t have any bugs in your food.  Then you can update your inventory for that location, and you’re good going forward.

Tip:  Photograph your locations as you inventory them.  That’ll help jog your memory if you used something (as it’s in the photo but not in that location anymore) and forgot to draw down on it.  It also helps with knowing can sizes and brands.

A great feature of Pantry in Paradise, is that you can draw down fractions of any and all inventory items. You do this by keying the remaining quantity directly into the quantity field.

One of the handiest items in our galley is our digital scale.  It measures all of 10 x 10 cm, and stores in its own plastic case.  It’s great for figuring out what the appropriate fraction should be. For example, our puppy’s treats come in a 220 g bag.  Four treats (her normal serving) is 1 gram. So there are 220 treat ‘servings’ in the bag. She has about five treat servings a day, so a bag will last about 44 days, or six weeks.  Since David gives her more treats per serving than I do, and sometimes she gets more than five servings a day (as we both give her treats and she’s good at asking for more), I figure a bag lasts five weeks.  When it’s about 1/3 empty, I draw down in the app, and it’ll get added to the shopping list (the minimum quantity is 0.5). I’m not going to draw down every time I give her treats, so I have this routine to save time. 

Same for spices.  When a jar is less than 1/3 to ¼ full, it gets drawn down in the app.  And then it gets added to the shopping list.

For some things it just don’t make sense to draw down each time they’re used.  I choose a limit for different pantry items. For spices, it’s when a jar is below ¼ full.  That’s when it gets drawn down in the app (by keying the remaining quantity directly into the quantity field).

When I make bread, I keep small quantities of sugar and yeast in the cupboard nearest the sink, and the bulk supplies are stored elsewhere, I don’t draw down on the smaller containers at all.  I draw down on bulk supplies when it makes sense, given my usage and convenience – 1/3 left for sugar and 1/4 for yeast (unless it expires and no longer rises – the Batch date and Use-Within days (under Product Details) are very useful to ensure stale-dated product is replaced)

It’s easy to use shortcuts for convenience.

For me, I use Pantry in Paradise primarily on my iPad, not my iPhone.  I like the iPad’s bigger screen and I find it easier to work with.  But I don’t take my iPad grocery shopping: I log on to my account on the iPhone and off I go.  As the shopping list is organized by categories (e.g. produce department, dairy), it makes shopping organized and easy.  You’ll find what works best for you.

Coming to a future version!  You’ll be able to check what and how much you throw out (tomatoes gone bad, avocados forgotten, rusty tins abandoned in the bilge) and see how much it’s costing you.  If Pantry in Paradise can save you from losing even two or three vegetables or forgotten leftovers each month, it will more than pay for the subscription. And you’ll be walking more gently on the earth!

For those items, a Shopping Note can be used. This s a free-form note that can be used for anything you wish – press the three-dots-in-a-circle symbol on the Shopping List page.

To use Pantry in Paradise, you don’t need to be connected to the Internet.  Your data will automatically be synchronized with Paradise App’s back-end servers once your Internet connection is restored. You will, of course, need a connection to email your shopping list.