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

Already exists

[Glonoinha]

The appliance that automagically keeps track of your groceries, makes lists of what's needed from the store, even goes and gets them from the store while you are at work - already exists.

It's called a wife.

Re:Already exists

[caswelmo]

While initially excited about my purchase of this product, I have been dissapointed with its overall performance. The initial buy-in was a significant investment, but I had figured that the lack of subscription costs for the life of the unit would make it a worthwhile purchase.

Unfortunately, after a short period of appropriate use I found my item started to malfunction. The day after the two-week warranty period ended it started to make an increasingly annoying noise. A high-pitched wail of sorts. The noise seems to repeat until a specific function is performed. At times the noise even exceeds the volume of the television.

In addition the ports on my model are rarely accessible. Even getting the exterior case off is a major achievement. For some reason I have found it easier to plug-in when floral arrangments are visible to the unit. Strange but true.

In summary, while the lack of subscription costs in a nice bonus, I would suggest that consumers purchase their products on a per-need basis. At least, until resources become scarce, at which time I would suggest grabbing hold of the first product you can and praying she doesn't read Slashdot.

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.

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.

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).

Already been done

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.cedarnet.org/smartware/Hardware/PantryP od/ It even uses a :CueCat!

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.

Some thoughts.

[NoMoreNicksLeft]

Nothing beats a cuecat for cheap barcode scanners. PS2 and USB are available, and no stupid driver funkiness.

Also consider a scanner tasked only to scan receipts. I've been considering something myself, perhaps a small business card scanner would work. As you're putting away the groceries, stick the receipt in there, and a custom script files, OCRs, whatevers it. Maybe also noting the day and time. It could automatically pop up a warning on day 8 that "If the half gallon of milk isn't finished today, it may be time to finish it off or toss it." or somesuch. Or even auto-generate the grocery list as it decides the items are gone, or spoiled.

And as much as I hate RFID, you gotta admit, for at least this one application, it would be cool.