What is the Pantry?

The Pantry is your household's food inventory. Every item you buy — whether scanned from a receipt, added via barcode, or entered manually — appears here with its quantity, expiry date, and storage location. As you cook and log meals, quantities update automatically through reconciliation.

The Foundation of Accuracy

The pantry is what makes Eatomate fundamentally different from other nutrition trackers. By knowing what you bought (via receipts) and what you have left, the system can mathematically verify your meal logs through mass conservation: purchased = consumed + waste + remaining. This is how home meal accuracy reaches 99%.

Storage Locations

Items are organised into three storage locations, each with its own tab:

Fridge

Fresh produce, dairy, leftovers, and anything that needs refrigeration. Items here typically have shorter expiry windows, so the fridge tab is the default view.

Freezer

Frozen items, batch-cooked meals, and items you want to preserve longer. Expiry dates are extended automatically when you move an item to the freezer.

Pantry

Dry goods, canned items, spices, oils, and anything stored at room temperature. These items generally have longer shelf lives.

You can move items between locations at any time — for example, moving fresh chicken from the fridge to the freezer to preserve it.

How Items Enter Your Pantry

Receipt Scanning (Recommended)

Photograph your grocery receipt and Eatomate extracts every line item — product name, quantity, and price. Items are automatically added to your pantry with estimated expiry dates based on product category. This is the fastest way to populate your pantry after a shop.

Barcode Scanning

Scan the barcode on any product to add it. Eatomate looks up the product in a database of over 2 million items to pull in nutrition data, brand, and category automatically.

Pantry Bootstrap

When you first set up Eatomate, the onboarding flow guides you through a quick pantry bootstrap — scan a few staple items to get started. You don't need to scan everything on day one; your pantry builds naturally as you scan receipts each week.

Expiry Tracking

Expiry Alerts

Items approaching expiry are highlighted so you can use them before they go to waste:

Expiring soon — Items within 3 days of their expiry date are flagged with a warning
Expired — Items past their expiry date are grouped into a collapsed "Expired" section
Meal planner integration — The meal planner prioritises recipes that use soon-to-expire ingredients

Consumption Tracking

As you log meals, the pantry automatically deducts the ingredients used. Each item shows:

•Original quantity — How much you purchased (e.g., 500g)
•Remaining quantity — How much is left after meals and waste
•Consumption percentage — Visual progress bar showing how much has been used
•Nutrition per remaining — Calories, protein, carbs, and fat for what's left

Waste Logging

When food goes to waste, log it so the system can account for it in reconciliation. For each wasted item you can record:

•Waste percentage — How much of the remaining item was wasted (partial or full)
•Reason — Why it was wasted (expired, spoiled, didn't like it, etc.)

Waste logging is important for accuracy. The reconciliation equation is: purchased = consumed + waste + remaining. If you throw away food without logging it, the system will incorrectly attribute that quantity to meals, inflating your calorie estimates.

Search and Browse

Finding Items

Use the search bar to quickly find specific items by name or brand. Items are also grouped by category within each storage location, so you can browse by:

Storage tab — Switch between Fridge, Freezer, and Pantry
Category — Collapsible sections like Dairy, Meat, Vegetables, Grains, etc.
Expired section — Expired items are grouped separately (collapsed by default)

Accessing Your Pantry

Web App

Navigate to "Pantry" from the dashboard sidebar. Your full inventory is displayed with storage tabs, category grouping, search, and all management actions.

iOS

Tap "Pantry" in the bottom navigation bar. The same storage tabs, search, and management features are available in a mobile-optimised layout.

Android

Tap "Pantry" in the bottom navigation bar. Full feature parity with the web and iOS versions.

Pro Tips

✓Scan receipts the same day you shop — Items enter your pantry with accurate purchase dates and expiry estimates
✓Log waste promptly — This keeps the reconciliation equation balanced and your accuracy high
✓Move items between locations — Moving chicken to the freezer before it expires preserves it and updates the expiry estimate
✓Check the meal planner — It suggests recipes that use your soon-to-expire ingredients first, reducing waste
✓Use receipt scanning for big shops, barcodes for one-offs — Receipts add everything at once; barcode scanning is better for individual items

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to scan every item I buy?

No. Scanning receipts is the fastest way — one photo captures your entire shop. You only need to scan individual barcodes for items bought without a receipt.

How are expiry dates determined?

Expiry dates are estimated based on product category (e.g., fresh chicken ~5 days, milk ~7 days, canned goods ~2 years). You can manually adjust any expiry date if needed.

What happens when I log a meal?

The ingredients used in the meal are automatically deducted from your pantry. This happens through reconciliation — the system matches meal ingredients to pantry items using the ingredient taxonomy and updates remaining quantities.

Is pantry shared across my household?

Yes. The pantry is a household-level feature. All members of your household see the same inventory, and meals logged by any member deduct from the shared pantry.

What about spices and seasonings?

Spices and seasonings are tracked but flagged differently — they're used in small quantities and have long shelf lives, so they don't clutter your expiry alerts.

Next Steps

→Learn how receipt scanning populates your pantry
→Understand how reconciliation keeps your pantry accurate
→See how the meal planner uses your pantry to suggest recipes