Interactive lesson

Stock inventory, step by step

Interactive lesson: three sheets for the whole pantry, batch codes and labels, a monthly count in half an hour, a freezer list and waste in kilograms.

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The whole lesson as text

1. No figures, no plan

“There’s still some” and “a few” don’t tell you whether the stores will last until spring.

“There’s still some” isn’t a figure — How many potatoes are left in February? “There’s still some” doesn’t say whether they will last until May.
Three questions — Will the stores last until the new season, how much does the family really eat, and what spoils and why.
Start with three stores — In the first year record only the three stores that matter most, for example potatoes, jars of preserves and meat in the freezer. Once that is a habit, add the rest.
A pencil, not equipment — An inventory is the cheapest saving on a homestead: you don’t need new equipment, just a pencil.

Why: Without figures next year’s plan is “same as last year” again, with the same mistakes. Households that keep an inventory for two or three years usually stop making what doesn’t get eaten and make enough of what runs out first.

An inventory isn’t bookkeeping: one notebook or a few sheets on the pantry door are enough.
The whole pantry takes about 30 minutes a month.

2. Three sheets

Three sheets are enough: what went in, what is left and what was thrown out.

Stock-in book — One line per batch: date, what, how much, batch code and where it is stored.
Monthly inventory — A picture of the pantry on the first of the month: how much of everything is left. The difference between two counts is that month’s use.
Waste at once — The waste record is written as soon as something is thrown out, not at the end of the season.
Yearly totals — In May–June and December add everything up and carry the decisions over to next year’s plan.

Why: Each sheet answers a different question. The difference between two monthly counts tells you how much was eaten, and the waste record shows you the cause of the loss.

The stock-in book doesn’t replace the batch logs: write recipe details in the batch log, and only the result here.
Two crates of rotten apples in January are forgotten by May, so waste is written down at once.