Best Before - Food Tracker 2.80

Reviews

3 ★, on 2020-12-13
Much promise but some niggles currently let it down. Items are easy to add and I love the fact you can insert your own photograph. It's also great that it autocompletes so if you add something you've added before, it will offer you the previous entry including the photograph used - obv you can override and insert a new one. Nice display with a small photo of each item shown in the list and the ability to collapse/expand different categories - a shame you can only view by category, NOT by storage, so if for example I wanted to view all the things in my fridge, I couldn't. Niggles are some of the AI included which would perhaps be better left out. 1) You have the option of setting a Best Before date on each item or leaving it blank - you can set the number of days in the settings, so I set mine to 90 as I mainly use it for frozen meals and I try to eat them within 3 months. I thought it would be easier to have it automatically set the 90 days and for items I DON'T want it set, I can remove the date when I first add the item. HOWEVER, every time you edit an item, if it doesn't have a BB date on it, the AI jumps in and sets it - in the end I disabled the option and I simply set it manually now. 2) "Opened" - ARRRGGGHHH - once set, you CANNOT remove it and it's a right pain. e.g. I add 3 packs of minced beef - consume 1 pack, suddenly the other 2 packs are now marked as OPEN. There is a small checkbox labelled "open individually" which may help stop this, haven't tried yet, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE allow people to turn off the "opened" setting especially as the AI is setting it in the first place according to sometimes non-obvious rules. 3) Adding to existing "consumed" item. If I have 3 packs of beef, I use 1, it shows as 2/3 remaining. I now buy another pack - I CANNOT set the 2 to 3 - all I can change is the 3 for some weird reason - it now shows as 2/4 remaining when I actually have 3 packs of course. Nice to haves Quantity isn't enough - if I store 4 packs of 500g of Minced Beef, then I'd like to be able to enter both "4" and "500g" somewhere. Currently I'm putting it all in the title, but that's a faff esp as you include g's in the Units column, but that doesn't make sense with your consume AI. e.g. Let's say I enter it as 1500g of Beef and then consume one pack - I have to hit the little + sign 499 times to tell the AI I'm down to 1000g remaining - errr no lol I used to use Food Checklist, but thought I'd give this one a whirl - it's definitely got promise - if the niggles above can be sorted it could end up being the best on the market in this niche.

5 ★, on 2020-10-13
Like another user, I have looked high and low for a GOOD Food/Storage/Fridge tracker. Why this one is not #1 I can't understand. It is INFINITELY better than the top-rated/suggested competitor. Yeah, it does not have a recipe feature -- but who cares, I need this to track food and sundries. I can look up recipes online with google. It does *almost* everything else you could want, and does it smartly. Is it perfect, no ... but pretty darn close. I do have a few suggestions I am going to send to the developer, but it is 90% there for me. Intuitive, comprehensive, and ultimately customizable. The ads are non-intrusive and subtle. No waiting to use something, no features blocked, etc. I am going to buy this app right now because I REALLY want to support developers who make great products and don't cripple their software. Great app and great attitude!

3 ★, on 2020-11-11
I downloaded this app today. Overall it is the best app of the ones that I have tested. Positives so far are that the database for food items seems to be quiet extensive. I have-not had to enter a product name manually yet. Downsides, I would prefer that the app use barcode scanner instead of a picture, or have the option to choose between the two. A scanner requires one action on my part and is nearly instant, whereas a picture requires at least 3 actions from me. The extra 4-5 seconds to take a picture, resize and save, add up quickly and the inventory intake process begins to feel tedious. Also, best buy or expiration date scanner/picture reader would be delightful, and reduce entry time. And yes, both because some foods come with a barcode and others with a printed date.Lastly, it would be helpful to be able to add a product category when I am in the entry window for a product. As is, I have to save the product entry, exit, create a product category, and then open the product entry and add it to the product category. Ideally each product entry would require no more than 3 clicks from me, and take no longer than 3 seconds, to get the product entry created with expiration and category. The app should be nearly non-existent to the user in their inventory process, meaning it does its job so well that the user can focus on the inventory project instead of the inventory tool. As I stated, this is the best food inventory app that I have tested. The limitations of the app are common across the board for food inventory apps. However, I think that this app is the best candidate to slim down the inventory process and make itself super sleek for the user. ***Update: Option to set a date for the default "purchase date", or remove. Ninety-nine percent of the products I will enter were not purchased the same day as entry. Or option to not populate that field. Same for expiration date field, ability to manually set an auto populate default expire date for items entered, and that date would not change on entered times if default is manually changed.

3 ★, on 2020-10-19
This seems like an app with a lot of potential. I was not able to create an account and tried some of the trouble shooting steps in the comments. They did not work for me. The other downfall is the barcode scanner is actually a picture you take rather than a scan of the UPC. I fear this would take up too much room on my phone in the end. Keep developing and you'll have a 5 star app soon! Thanks!

5 ★, on 2020-10-04
This app is excellent. By far the best pantry/food storage/food tracker I found as I researched several apps over the last couple weeks. It has so many well thought out features that make the app simple and useful. I love the ability to sort by expiration, amount left, the automatic shopping list feature, and syncing with multiple devices.

3 ★, on 2020-12-30
Good app but not going to use its a pity that its not a true barcode scanner this is the only down side