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.