I'd like advice on this too, specifically to keep track of spices.

http://outofmilk.com/

They have both an iPhone and an Android app that sync with the web one. It also includes a shopping list function.

I downloaded an app for my phone a few months ago called "Out of Milk." It uses the camera to scan barcodes plus you can manually enter items. I found it easy to move items between things I have and things I need to buy. I also liked that I can organize the shopping list by store. Sadly, my camera broke recently so I haven't been able to use the barcode scanner.

It's free for the phone-only app but costs $5 if you want the pro version that lets you sync it to their web based list manager.

http://www.ourgroceries.com/ is similar (fewer features, no scanning) but it's free and it does sync to the website and multiple phones so you can edit in multiple ways.You can use it to create as many lists as you like and organize entries by category. I like it since it syncs to my and my husbands phone so we don't double buy something.

First world problems... ;)

I use Out Of Milk as well and I love it!

Looks like there's no iPhone app for Out of Milk yet, but they say they're working on it. Too bad, it sounds great!

A really first world problem is having so much in your pantry that you need an app to keep track of it and then standing in front of the cupboard complaining that there's nothing to eat!

I know I'm guilty :)

I have a standard set of foods that I keep, and grocery list by store (and then by aisle) that I keep on the fridge and I mark off what I need when I use the last one. I then use the same list to meal plan for the week, checking the recipe with what I have. I started my list my keep my grocery receipts for a month, then I created my list from those.

This whole website is first world problems, y'all.

To make sure I always have the essentials in my pantry (rice, beans, etc) I use A5 lined post-it notes that I stick to the inside of the pantry doors.
List what you should always have on hand, add a tick when you've ran out, and take a photo with your phone before you go grocery shopping.

http://www.mjlyco.com/ Pantry Manager 1.99, sync to cloud, and http://www.prepandpantry.com/ 4.99 full and Free for the 'Lite' version

A truly useful app would track my shopping/pantry and give me recipe suggestions based on the items.

I know the food store Aldi's has a meal planner (list of recipes) that automatically prints out a shopping list for whichever recipes you pick. I tend to use it to plan my week's worth of meals, print the list and check it against what is in my pantry already - whatever remains is my shopping list for that week Sorry, Sirron, it doesn't seem to work in reverse.

I made an app that's free called 'Fridge Pal'.

It started off as a pantry management app but has morphed into a shopping list app as well as a recipe search tool.

You can inventory your pantry by using a barcode scanner so adding items is really quick and simple - just scan the barcode and throw it in your pantry. The app will record expiry dates and remind you when stuff is about to go bad.

It syncs with dropbox so you can take the data out and throw it into a spreadsheet.

As well, you can use the app to search for recipes - you tap combinations of ingredients and then you can search for a recipe that uses those combinations.

The app has a shopping list which syncs and also supports weekly shopping items and multiple shopping lists.

Sorry for the self promotion but I think the app is pretty good and worth checking out. It's free, as I said, so hopefully you guys don't mind the self promotion.

The website is http://www.fridgepalapp.com. Really appreciate any feedback or suggestions on how to make it better!

Nazbot- Maybe you were channeling a message through the universe, because just today I was in my local Whole Foods and thinking that it would be great to have an app where I could scan in barcodes with my phone and have it track the items I had on hand, and what I would want to buy... this thread was the first thing that came up in a google search, and I thought it was amazing that you just posted yesterday about your app that did the 2 basic functions I was looking for, please do a recipe search based on those items!! (I'd thought a recipe search function like that would be cool before, but didn't think to expect it in an inventory app- perfect!)

I downloaded your app, Fridge Pal, while I was at the store, and even told the check out girl about it before I left- when I got home I started to use it to scan in my items. One thing I noticed right off the bat was that the items I scanned were not recognized by the app. I decided to download Out of Milk and see if it did better with recognizing barcodes- of the roughly dozen items I tried, Out of Milk took a second or two to do the lookup, but did a much better job of recognizing the items from my grocery trip, even my healthy cat food! So that was a weakness for FridgePal, but I did test to make sure that FridgePal would remember the item if it saw the barcode again, and it did. So, I looked at both apps a little bit, and ultimately I decided to go forward with FridgePal because I liked the interface and the features a lot more than Out of Milk.

I created a customized name for each of the three areas FridgePal had: Freezer, Fridge and Pantry. Then I continued adding the items from my grocery trip to them, and was prompted to buy the app after the 10th item, which I did. I had to manually fill in the names for all but 2 of my items, which was fairly brutal, but at least I know it will auto fill the names next time.

I would recommend Fridgepal, but would also strongly suggest that the developers make a few improvements:
-First, as I'm mentioned, the item recognition from barcode right now is fairly bad- I think this is a critical part of the app. Hopefully you guys are storing all of the items in a database that the app searches when it sees a barcode- and hopefully you're capturing to the database all of the item adding I did in the app with my grocery trip today!!

-It's nice that FridgePal auto-fills the name of an item it's seen the barcode of before, but the auto entry doesn't continue past that. Even if it's an item you've entered and categorized before, FridgePal has a default expiration date of 1 week away, and defaults to the "general" category. Out of Milk doesn't have the item features that FridgePal has, but one of the nice things about it is that you scan an item and then you're off to the next one. FridgePal could fix this just by remembering what category people enter for that product barcode, and try to guess at how many weeks away the expiration date is based on what other people have entered before or by the type of product it is. If those fields defaulted to the autofilled entry, then as soon as you scanned the item, you could correct info if needed, but if it looked good you could save and immediately go to the next item!

-The app needs to be able to "Scan Out" an item. If I can scan an item in, why can't I scan it out? I think this one is huge to making an app like this work for current inventory management. Ideally, I want to scan in an item when I get it off the shelf at the grocery store or when I put it in my fridge, and then scan it OUT when I use it. That way I always have a running list of what I have on hand and don't have to scour my cupboards to update the app before I go to the grocery store. You could just add a "scan out an item" to the scan screen, have it look up that item in your pantry, and then ask you how many to decrement (default being 1).

Overall, I think this app is off to a great start! I'm hoping the above things will be added, and then it will be a really great and usable app!

and Painoh83, you might see it as a first world problem, but I see it as a first world solution! ;)

thanks,
Kelsey

Wow, that is such a helpful review. The scan out idea is great - it didn't even occur to me but it makes so much sense. Thanks very much for trying the app out and letting me know how it went. Apologies for using this thread to reply but I did want to give a thanks for such a helpful review. I've replied in more depth via email.