tomatoes
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Post by tomatoes on Jul 12, 2017 9:40:53 GMT 10
I know there are mixed feelings here about smart phones, so there will be many who would not use an app for keeping track of preps, but still, wondering if anyone uses an app that they love.
I am after a convenient way to keep track of preps. Was going to use a notebook or a spreadsheet but really, I want something MORE convenient. I've been looking through apps, and there are a few. You can put in what the minimum qty you want is, how many you have, storage locations, use by dates, etc. It can sync with other gadgets or other people if you create a group but it says that the information is not stored elsewhere so they are not getting a list of everyone's preps! You can export so a hard copy can be printed and it can be used offline apart from syncing and looking up a database of items.
Anyone tried one of these apps? Any thoughts?
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Apps
Jul 12, 2017 13:07:20 GMT 10
via mobile
SA Hunter likes this
Post by frontsight on Jul 12, 2017 13:07:20 GMT 10
I have offline map, morse code, dictionary, pdf reader with lots of US field manuals and text books, and physical address and contact details of friendlies. They are on my phone and a spare copy loaded to a $50 Pendo tablet (along with solar charger) in a foil bag in side my gun safe.
Its is not ideal but I cannot have that many books in my bug out bag....
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tomatoes
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Post by tomatoes on Jul 12, 2017 15:04:34 GMT 10
I just open the doors of my storage cupboards and look inside. This is what I've been doing up until now, but I'm feeling the need to keep closer track now.
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Apps
Jul 12, 2017 19:43:34 GMT 10
Post by Peter on Jul 12, 2017 19:43:34 GMT 10
Excel spreadsheet (under construction) for me...
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paranoia
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Apps
Jul 13, 2017 11:01:27 GMT 10
Post by paranoia on Jul 13, 2017 11:01:27 GMT 10
I don't do phone apps beyond microsoft office, adobe reader & somthing to manage my podcasts.
Stock management is nothing new so there are 1000s of different ways of doing it. Unless you go the route of barcodes (not as expensive as you'd think) you're not going to be much better than a well designed spreadsheet or database. If you have low rotation preps it might work but if you go shopping once a week and eat from your preps I can't see it worth the effort in data entry alone and then there is startup costs/time.
I use the frostbite system. We rotate our pantry so I dont need to keep track of expiry dates. It's reasonably easy to get a quick understanding of what you have if you stock them in an orderly manner.
I've managed a few stores, stock databases & done plenty of stocktakes. It's not only a lot of work but there is always a difficulty getting everyone involved to actually record their stock movements. If you have unreliable data I feel it's worse than having no data.
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Apps
Jul 13, 2017 21:39:42 GMT 10
Post by Peter on Jul 13, 2017 21:39:42 GMT 10
To clarify - I don't use spreadsheets to track expiry dates; I use them to assess total kJ and protein (in grams). Stock rotation takes care of itself.
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Frank
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Jul 15, 2017 16:37:59 GMT 10
via mobile
Post by Frank on Jul 15, 2017 16:37:59 GMT 10
I am a believer of the simpler the better. Visual 1st, if more tracking is needed then pencil and notebook, if more is needed then excel, then database and so on. All depends how much you have and what you actually want to track. For long term food I visually check only, at this stage I don't feel I need anything more complicated. For ammunition and reloads its pen and paper
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Apps
Jul 17, 2017 8:09:36 GMT 10
Post by graynomad on Jul 17, 2017 8:09:36 GMT 10
I would like to start a spreadsheet at least to get a handle on what I have now, maybe not an ongoing thing though. OTOH I suppose 30 minutes with a pencil and calculator would do the same.
We have a lot of food but I still don't know how many calories.
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tomatoes
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Post by tomatoes on Jul 17, 2017 8:50:07 GMT 10
I have downloaded an app that looks very good, but have decided to go with paper and pencil as that is what I always prefer, and I'm keeping it very simple. I'll describe it briefly incase it helps anyone else.
I'm not counting calories, although I can certainly see the benefit of that. I just find it easier to think in terms of what I know we would eat in a week/month. For example, I know how much pasta and jar sauce for one meal, oats for porridge in a week, wheat for bread, etc. I also know that a pint jar of dehydrated veg will give me enough veg for a casserole with beans, a pot of soup, a batch of veg burgers or a meal of fried rice/pilaf/risotto. This is obviously a bit flexible as I have jars of just onion, etc, and soup will use more than fried rice, but I'm happy to just estimate in jar quantities - one per day.
So in a thin 1 cm grid book I have numbered across the top against the right of the page 1-12 - a column one square wide for each month. Down the left I have listed any items I'm counting and the quantity I want to feed us for a month. I've worked out enough meals to feed us for a month - just roughly, like pasta once a week, rice based dish twice a week, burgers (which can turn into other things) twice a week, etc, along with soups/sandwiches/leftovers for lunches and rice/porridge/etc for breakfast.
In the box for each month for each item I have a tally mark until I get to the amount for the month, then I move on to tally marks for the next month.
I can glance down the column and see what I'm behind in and how many months of food I have.
The only items counted are those not in the main pantry - eg open bags of sugar/flour are not counted. When anyone uses anything from our store cupboards the need to add it to the shopping list on the frig so I can maintain the numbers I have - this will be the tricky bit to police.
Once I fill up the pages for the first 12 months I'll just copy the list.
There are lots of things I don't count because I want to have more than what is on my list. Eg I don't count the quick cook bags of rice although we have quite a lot of them, I don't count long life soy, dairy and other milks - only powdered milks and almonds/soy beans, as we go through the milks very fast and I just buy a couple of dozen whenever they're on special. I don't include coffee and tea at this point but just try to keep lots of spare to give us time to wean ourselves! I might add it at some stage.
I did my first check of what we have quickly yesterday and I'm very pleased with how visual it is in telling me how long I have enough for and what I'm lacking in.
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spatial
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Jul 17, 2017 12:19:41 GMT 10
Post by spatial on Jul 17, 2017 12:19:41 GMT 10
I developed a database about 8 months back when doing an inventory of food storage. Wife was pressure canning like crazy so much stuff all over - it gives a good idea where one is short of basic items using online calculators as to what one needs per month stored.
The old adage still applies you can't mange that what you don't measure.
As to other apps that I have on my $50 mobile that I purchased 5 years ago is a scientific calculator and GPS/compass that were free downloads and I also use them for work.
"tomatoes" idea what I read some where else is very good make up 7 meals and then times by how many weeks of storage you are planning on. It is an easy way to calculate what is required and rotate as well. I also keep lots of staples in long term (+10y) storage (wheat, rice, pasta and beans).
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