Pantry: better than the internet fridge

It’s been a couple of very busy day. I gave the keynote at Thingscon and it gave me an opportunity to actually think about the internet fridge, that idea which doesn’t seem to want to die. So I thought I’d put my designer hat on (yes it’s a little dusty but hey ho) and think about what I wanted out of a smart fridge. I realised that the actors who knows the most about what I have bought is both the supermarket and ME. Not the fridge. The fridge is a better icebox. Some people put things in fridges that I don’t (eggs, tomatoes & onions are good examples). I should still be able to make this whole thing smart. So I decided maybe the smart fridge is just a better way to keep track of things at the point of purchase (NFC in self-service checkout points anyone) or through, you know, the BUYER.

So here’s Pantry (i’m squatting this URL for now, no intention of giving myself more work than I aleady have ;)), an app for you and your food.

It’s simple. It’s an app where you can add something to your pantry (maybe auto-complete from your favorite supermarket’s database) and it starts to count down the time you’ve owned it. You either delete it or you add it to a shopping list which could turn into a digital shopping order if you wanted to. It doesn’t matter if the food is in your fridge or in your pantry but the app can show you what should probably be in the fridge. That’s it.

Just by seeing the number of days you’ve owned something is really useful, and also probably helps keep a saner kitchen. It also probably helps you avoid buying more cinnammon sticks which I often do.

There are favorites because of course, some things have a high churn like milk, toilet paper and in my case orange juice, but you can just add favorites as you go.

So there, sometimes really, the internet of things is about making the world connect to you as a user in a more useful way. I’d love to spend more time on Pantry, maybe one day, right now I’m worrying about lamps.

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By designswarm

Blogging since 2005.

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