A Barcode Driven Kitchen and Grocery List?

Crazy Brian asks: "I have envisioned, for some time now, having a 3Com Audrey with a barcode scanner in my kitchen, where I can scan in items as I put them away, then scan them again as I use them. Barcode information would be stored on my MySQL server, and an inventory would be updated. I could then generate a shopping list, or link it to a database of recipes, to find out what I can have for dinner tonight. The closest thing I have found is the ShopWizard from Symbol, which only runs under Windows. Is there anything out there for Linux? I hope it can use the upcdatabase to find unknown barcodes. Is there any group interest in creating something like this, assuming nothing already exists?" Icepick's Trashbin is a simple application built on this concept, but wouldn't knowing exactly what is in your cabinets and having a ready-made grocery list be a useful feature for any kitchen?

Comments

idea old as...

[gl4ss]

well, something.

but you don't seem to realize that it actually is a lot of extra hassle to scan things when you put them in and when you take them out, also you can't know if the juice is almost empty or whatever.

so unless you're running a biiiig kitchen at some facility it doesn't make that much sense, actually.

Re:idea old as...

[TheWanderingHermit]

It occurs to me that it takes just as long to check the fridge and cabnet as it does to look through a database, even if the database has a way of tracking items using RFID tags.

Honestly, there is already an easy way to see what one can have for dinner. I use it every day. It's called my eyes. It takes me less than a minute to check the fridge, freezer, and cabinets to see what I have. If I tried to track everything, putting away groceries would take much longer, and cooking (or just grabbing that midnight snack when I'm drowsy and hungry and unlikely to remember to scan anything) will take longer. In the long run, it'd take more time to scan and track than to just get off my butt and take a quick look.

Why just limit yourself to having the barcode in

[antifoidulus]

the kitchen?
I have thought about this system myself as well. You can get cards for many PDAs that will scan barcodes, so that way you can "cross" things off at the supermarket(though I would expect some strange looks). Hell, if you like writing code, you could even have the software plan out your shopping, have it locate the aisles everything is in and tell you where to go.

This again?

[Otter]

...wouldn't knowing exactly what is in your cabinets and having a ready-made grocery list be a useful feature for any kitchen?

People have been talking about this since the Apple II. The problem is, that given that:

1) The small size of most home kitchens means that it's relatively easy to keep track of that list in your head. I can tell you without looking that I have pinto beans and lemon juice, but need to buy butter.

2) Home kitchen inventories don't need to be managed as tightly as a Wal-Mart. Unless you're insanely well-organized, there is no cost of capital or opportunity cost to keeping non-perishables around a little longer until you need them.

So the trouble of maintaining a kitchen database, checking every can in and out, makes it more work than just keeping a well-stocked kitchen and buying special items (rack of lamb, sassafras root) when you need them.

Re:This again?

[Tanktalus]

I do understand that there are a number of people saying "why bother?" My answer:

1. This is an "ask" story in a "News for Nerds" site. Um, what could be more nerdy than a roll-your-own barscan kitchen inventory running on Linux? (translation: calm down.)
2. I would find some use for it if it were able to take hand-written lists and combine them with the barcode list (multiple sources, merged from a palm pilot or something). This means that for non-agribusiness foodstuffs (produce, possibly meat), as we run out/low, we can just write it in the list. But for other items, I need to be able to specify where it is - we have a reasonable supply of most non-perishables in the kitchen, but for larger bulk (whether it's a flat of 20 cans of soup, or it's rolls of paper towels), we store that in the basement. So it'd be nice to say where something is stored so we can easily see where all of our soup is, and how much (total) we have. Maybe I'm just being lazy (hey, that's a virtue in my programming language!). Or just plain geeky.

Whatever it is - it's fun. I run a linux webserver on my home machine - somewhat overkill. But I use it because it's fun. Same with email, etc. - so please don't crap all over someone else's geekiness. One man's garbage (waste of time) is another man's treasure (fun way to entertain themselves).

Re:The Agribusiness Diet

[sakusha]

I think you're missing my point. Allow me to illustrate, with an old Calvin & Hobbes comic I still have taped to my refrigerator. Calvin's dad is ranting about the frantic pace of modern life, and how we have all sorts of labor-saving machines that are supposed to make life easier, but instead, just make it faster paced, and more stressful. In the final frame, Calvin is holding a package of frozen food, screaming "SIX MINUTES in a microwave? I don't have TIME for this!"
If I had 15-20 extra minutes to spend every time I go to the store, I'd probably be better off spending it cooking or cleaning the kitchen. If I had a hundred bucks to spend on a bar code printer, I'd probably be better off spending it on better quality food. This whole scenario is a classic example of "goal displacement," the goal of cooking is to provide a healthy diet of tasty food, it's not an inventory management problem or a time management problem. Peoples' diets are getting worse because they're treating cooking like a trip to a gas station, a task that must be taken care of and gotten out of the way. Slow down and smell the coffee (preferably not instant coffee). Food is a pleasurable thing, cooking is fun, not a chore to be turned into another computer algorithm. Some things don't benefit from computerization.

Online Grocery shopping

[Dekks]

As others have pointed out, it seems more trouble than its worth and would be quicker to just write a list by hand. What would be kinda cool though if someone knocked up something the guy was asking for and managed to interface it with one of the many online grocery services, scan the items, click a button and the computer goes and restocks your kitchen for you.