Dates say when something needs eating; minimums say when something needs buying. Both feed the lists — Eat soon and Shopping — so you don't have to go looking.
Dates
Each line of stock can carry three dates, set on the thing's page under Where it is:
- Best before
- Quality. Past it, food is usually fine but not at its best.
- Use by
- Safety. Past it, don't.
- Opened
- When you opened it, which starts a clock of its own.
Packets print whichever they like, so set whichever you've got. The Rummager understands "the milk is use-by Friday" too. Dates work on anything, not only food: batteries, filters, medicine.
Reading a list with dates
- 3d past use-by gone off; deal with it.
- 2d past best-before probably fine, worth a look.
- today due today.
- 4d due in four days.
- opened 5d ago open, with no date. There's no guessed expiry, because how long an open jar lasts depends on what's in it.
With both dates set, the earlier one decides when it shows up. A best-before of the 10th and a use-by of the 20th appears on the 10th, labelled best-before, rather than staying hidden until the 20th. Things already past their date are always shown.
- Opened today
- Records that you've opened it.
- Gone
- You've eaten it or thrown it out: removes that stock.
Minimums
On a thing's page, Always keep at least sets a minimum: "2 bags", "500 g". When stock falls below it, the thing needs buying — it appears on Shopping and in the weekly email — without you having to mark it. Got it on the shopping list puts back exactly the shortfall.
Units are compared, never converted. Stock in "g" doesn't count towards a minimum in "bags", and the page says so rather than guessing. Stock with no unit at all is counted at face value. Stock recorded as "plenty" or "some" can't be counted, so it doesn't count.
The weekly email
Saturday morning, one email covering every space you're in: what's going off this week, and what needs buying. A week with nothing to say sends nothing. Turn it off in Settings.