Tracking your pantry

How to add what is in your kitchen, scan shelves with the camera, read the freshness bars, and correct an expiry date.

Updated 2026-08-05

Adding pantry items

Tap the search bar at the top of the Pantry tab, or Plus → Manage Pantry → 'Add manually'. Search the ingredient catalog, pick a result, set the quantity and unit, and tap 'Add to Pantry'.

If the catalog doesn't have your item, type the name and tap 'Add as new' — it's saved as free text and still works everywhere else in the app.

Scanning your pantry with the camera

Plus → Manage Pantry → 'Scan pantry' opens the camera. Photograph your shelves or an open fridge — every visible item is identified, quantities are estimated, and you confirm the list before anything is added.

It copes with partly hidden labels and works items out from context. You can take several photos and they fan out into a single review list, so a whole kitchen takes a few shots rather than a few dozen entries.

Quantities and units

Each pantry item carries a quantity and unit. Tap the quantity to use the wheel picker; tap the unit to swap between common ones (each, oz, lb, cup, tbsp, …). Spices and herbs default to unitless 'have it' tracking — you don't measure paprika at the store.

Quantities go down automatically when you check a grocery item off and tap 'Add to Pantry'.

Freshness and expiry dates

Each item shows a small bar for how much of its usual life has gone, based on what the ingredient typically is — eggs keep for weeks, ground beef does not. The bar turns amber as an item gets close and red once it's past. Anything added or restocked in the last day always reads as fresh.

To correct a date, tap the date next to the bar and set the real one with the month/day/year wheels. Do this whenever the packet has a printed date — the estimate is a typical value for that ingredient, not a reading of your packet.

Expired items don't count as 'have it' when a grocery list is built, so anything past its date goes back on the list.

Restocking behaves like a real kitchen: adding to an expired item replaces it with a fresh date, adding to something nearly expired sums the amount and restarts the clock, and adding to something fresh sums it and keeps the original date.

How items are categorized

Items group into sections (Produce, Dairy, Pantry Staples, …) based on the catalog's category. Tap a section header to collapse or expand it. Within a section, anything expired or expiring soon sorts to the top.

If something looks miscategorized, leave it — there's no per-item override yet, and the catalog improves as we curate it.