How do you keep track of your preps

[Huorn]

Ok, I'll hold up my hand to reveal my inner geek!

I have a file containing lists of stores with useby dates on the computer. This is read on boot up and sends an email to my inbox with notice of anything within a fortnight of its useby date.

H

[Carrot Cruncher]

This threads making me feel a whole lot better.....I may be a sad git but I'm not the only one

[lisaloolibell]

Ive started an inventory of all my preps including the location of a particular item and where foods concerned the expiry dates. Its all on paper but will probably type it up on computer as well. Also have lists of what I need to get, what i need to learn and what i need to do. My daughter and I came up with a bug out plan and have made a booklet for this which includes details of things we need to grab if we leave by car, on bicycle or on foot.

[allan]

I really need to start a spreadsheet of my preps but have been putting it off for some time now but today I was going through some old kit when I found a large tin of coffee and lots of dried food with sell by dates over five years in the past.
I cant think why I packed them into a box with an old tent.

[the-gnole]

Are you going to give them a try Allan?

[allan]

I opened the coffee it had a very unusual aroma.
I think I will give the rest of it a miss as the box they where in was not airtight and the packaging was badly discoloured. The tent doesn't look to good either.

[Frnc]

Just wondering if i'm the only sad git that has to keep a spreadsheet of all the various bits of kit in assorted bags etc and scattered round the house/garage ? I started doing it initially to keep a track of best before dates on food stocks that were stashed at the back of cupboards but in the end extended it to lots of other things as I could never remember what bag a particular item was in or whether I had duplicated things. On a serious note it does also highlight shortcomings in your preps when you have to make a list of what you actually have...instead of what you think you have

Surely I'm not the only one......own up...please

Yes, I use the native Mac one that's on the iPhone as well, called Numbers. You can rearrage things depending on parameters, add up weights, keep track of dates, it's very good. I''ve not really used spreadsheets before so it was pretty noob-friendly. I also heavily use the Mac/iPhone Notes (the names are incredibly generic) app for all sorts; things to do, seasonal stuff. I have a section where I'm trying to learn edible/poisonous plants and fungi. A note on water filters, and so on. In fact I've accumulated about 3 or 4 GB of notes on my phone, nearly as much as my music. I like the way everything appears on my phone straight away. I do all the actual work on my computer (Mac mini).
I copy whole pages off the web into Notes, but then I have to manually add bigger photos if I want that detail. This is mostly wild plant and fungi info.
Also on the subject, I have quite a few maps apps. I have the Ornance Survey app, Komoot, Mapout and one or two others.

[jansman]

Wow, this is a resurrection! I shuddered when I saw the gnole as a poster! Remember that idiot mods?

Keeping track? We just use the FIFO system. First In, First Out. Electronic records are fine, but they rely on electric. A piece of paper and pen seems to still work…

[GillyBee]

I have tried spreadsheets but they only work if everyone taking stuff out of the stores updates them every time. This simply does not happen in a multi-person ADHD household. I rely on regular stock takes combined with rotating stock. i.e. moving the oldest stuff to be easily accessible and adding a colour code sticker to quickly identify the BBE and items that need to be used up asap. (Red sticker = use me up. Blue = expires this year, Green & Yellow are longer term stocks to only use if really needed.)
The stickers are new this year - I will find out in a few months if they are having the desired effect of keeping the stock rotating correctly

[jennyjj01]

I have tried spreadsheets but they only work if everyone taking stuff out of the stores updates them every time. This simply does not happen in a multi-person ADHD household. I rely on regular stock takes combined with rotating stock. i.e. moving the oldest stuff to be easily accessible and adding a colour code sticker to quickly identify the BBE and items that need to be used up asap. (Red sticker = use me up. Blue = expires this year, Green & Yellow are longer term stocks to only use if really needed.)
The stickers are new this year - I will find out in a few months if they are having the desired effect of keeping the stock rotating correctly

I agree that spreadsheets go to seed and there has to be a more visible system? How will your sticker system deal with the passage of time? Last year's blue is this year's red etc? Will you periodically over-sticker?
I go with writing the BBE date in FAT marker pen in the format YYMM, sometimes at individual Bottle or Jar level, or sometimes on the faces of a bigger box. Thinking about it pre-printing stickers would save a lot of time.
Originally I had all items mixed together and grouped by date. E.g. tins of soup or fruit expiring in one month all cased up together. That was dumb, so everything moved by type and sorted within those types by date. If i want soup, I go straight to soup. But it does fall down where I have something small and specific, Like say tubs of yeast. So there's a hybrid system where I categorise and group things up a bit.

One day, I'll figure a way to use the bar codes and industrialise my warehouse like amazon