Food inventory management ?

Hi,

I've been keeping a certain amount of food in stock for a few years now. I've been doing it the simplest possible way : dry food (past, grains), in waterproof barrels.
Now I'd like to diversify what I keep in stock, with cans for instance. That implies keeping track of each item's expiration date.
I'm talking about keeping enough food for a few weeks, not tons of food. I live in a small appartment without much room anyway.


Is there any simple way to go about this ? With an excel sheet or something ? I've no idea how people have been doing this on farms before the computer age, but I guess there's got to be a way to manage a small stock without professional inventory management software.

Thank you in advance for your help.

I have always just keep my list in a 3 ring notebook.

If you only keep enough for a few weeks, just write the expiration date on the container in nice clear lettering, and rotate your stock as you use it, put the new stuff in back, use from the front.

I have tried inventorying my stock but I always fail at it. I have a lot though. I do date it all with sharpies so I can watch dates.

We store shelf-stable foods for immediate use, and for long-term resilience, all together in one big pantry. I think most of our canned goods, dry beans, and whole grains have 12+ months of shelf life, and anything with an unusually short life gets treated more like fresh produce, meaning we don't buy more than we need for a few weeks.

Still, it's easy to lose track of an item and let it expire, or to run out when you need it. We try to avoid this with a few simple rules:

- Shop with a list: The list hangs on the refrigerator with a pen attached. We make a meal plan for 1-2 weeks, and I only shop from the list. Sometimes, I'll notice an empty space on our shelves and realize we're low on an item - so I add it to the list. Or when I'm cooking, if I open the last jar of some item, I'll add it to the list. Sometimes I'll put "2x" or "4x" on the list, to remind me to get extra.

- First in, First out: new cans get placed behind old cans, and the old can gets pushed up front. When cooking, I grab from the front (the old can).

- When buying extra, double-check expiration dates: I usually move though the grocery store pretty quickly, rarely checking dates. But if I'm buying like... 4+ cans of something, I check and make sure they'll last. It's not uncommon for the grocery store to push old stock up to the front of the row!

I think this routine has prevented most things from gathering dust in our pantry, and we keep enough on hand to eat our 'normal' meals for a couple weeks, and to eat a limited version of our favorite recipes for a couple of months.

Maybe something else that helps, is I tend to buy the most versatile / base ingredients possible. I buy whole beans, not seasoned beans that only work in a certain dish. There's a "blackbean corn salsa" we like, but I usually just buy black beans, corn, and salsa separately. I have a sizable spice rack, but I never buy premixed / blends. This way we can make just about anything any time.

We repeat a lot of recipes, and use a lot of the same core ingredients, so I have a good sense of what our staples are.

The freezer ehhh.... is another story. I struggle to keep freezer inventory organized... :P

I use digital tools for many things in my life, but I find that my brain needs paper, pen, and open shelving to organize short term things like food.

To add to Aaron’s post, in my most recent  shopping trip I checked the expiration date of an item on the shelf.  It was two months out of date.  Now, I normally don’t get too concerned about expiration dates, but being two months over coming out of the store is a bit much for me.

Hi Pierre,
of course with an excel sheet it will be really accurate and easy to track. However , you still need to look at your sheet regularly, check the stock, update your sheet etc. But its a good way of managing it.

In my experience a clear visual organisation of your inventory helps a lot. this is how food cellars have looked for centuries. And where I live, if you visit the panrty of a farm, it is still done that way.

Here is a trick you might also like for your case (short term to mid term inventory) and that has always worked. Since the days long before the computer. It is just a small addition to Aarons post. Which really covers the general aproach already :

Arrange your food inventory visually very clearly. I do not know the space you have available where you live. But try to
arrange the canned foods separate from the dried foods, separate from liquids, separate from raw materials. Space them apart.
Then within each category arrange them also in a clear visible way . E.g. dried foods : rice, pasta, beans, lentils, nuts etc.
Like Aaron said : The oldest is always at the front.

The idea is that if you open the door to your pantry : you immediately find everything, see the stock levels of each food.

Once you have everything arranged, you automatically use up the oldest food AND you see immediately which "stack" is getting lower. So you already know what you need to fill up again. No need for keeping entire inventory lists.

I use a white board on the end of the shelves with the list of items / qty. It is easy to update as food goes in and out. If I had to look it up or update it on an electronic device, that sure would not happen in real time. I use the totals when I am setting up a bulk purchase. It has also been really interesting to see what I THOUGHT would be consumed over a particular time frame vs what ACTUALLY got used. Opinions vs data, sometimes massive difference!

And thanks for mentioning about expiration dates. Last week, Joel Salatin and Sina McCullough were talking about the difference between EXPIRATION dates (hard and fast do not consume after this - on baby formula, some meds etc) and BEST BY or USE BEFORE dates (suggestions of quality over time, but also motivated by manufacturers agenda toward repurchase, and contributing to food waste). In case anyone is interested:

News update on the food labeling topic: California and Food Label Requirements

" ...varying phrases on food packaging have long left shoppers unsure whether food is simply past its peak quality or unsafe to eat. The state is aiming to cut down on confusion — and the food waste it creates when people throw away food early — with a new food labeling law starting Wednesday.

It bans the use of “sell by” labels on food packaging, which experts say act as a guide for retailers on how long to display products on the shelves but are not an indicator of whether they are still safe to consume. Now, manufacturers selling food in California must use two standardized labels — a “Best if Used By” label for peak quality and “Use By” label for product safety....  Food manufacturers can choose to use either label or both"