QuickAdvice: Fridge Police Helps Assure You Of No More 'Fridge Mysteries'
Fridge Police – Food Expiration Tracker ($2.99) by The Entertainment Company is an app to help you monitor what is in your refrigerator.
Come on, we've all been through it at least once, right? There's some mystery item in our fridge because we opened something and placed it back in the fridge, completely forgetting about it until weeks, months, dare I even say, year(s) later? Then we feel like we need biohazard suits just to take it out of the fridge and into the trash, where it now belongs. Ok. Maybe I'm over exaggerating (or am I?) but you know what I mean.
Put an end to that. Fridge Police is here to help.
The concept of Fridge Police is simple - scan the items in your refrigerator and keep track of how long you have left until that item is no longer good. It's something so simple, yet why we didn't have it before is a mystery. Like Apple's trademark saying, "There's an app for that."
Start up Fridge Police and you get a main menu. From here, you can choose from the following: Barcode Scan, My Items, My Alarm Calendar, and Quick Add.
The Barcode Scan is probably the first thing you want to try out. Selecting it will launch the scanner, which utilizes your iPhone's back camera. Simply get the bar code aligned in the box in the middle of the screen and it will automatically scan once it's steady enough. It will let you know with a vibration as well, just to confirm. If you can't get the scanner to work, there is also an option to enter the barcode manually as well.
Once it's scanned, it will automatically pull up the item info from the database. The details can be edited by you if you need to be more specific. A photo of the item can be added as well, if you need visuals to remember what's in your fridge.
Based on the item that you scanned, it will also have an estimated 'use by' date considering that the open date is whenever you just scanned or entered the barcode in. If you have the expiration date handy, just edit it and save it.
Another nice thing is that if you scan an item twice, the app will let you either check the status of it or enter it as a new item. So if you have two of something, no problem!
The other option of entering in items is the "Quick Add" option. This is just a quicker way to enter in very basic items, such as milk, eggs, soda, bread, and natural cheese. From my experience, these Quick Add items didn't allow me to edit any details after they've been added. Not sure if this is a glitch or meant to be this way, but hopefully the developers can change that in an update for those that want it.
Once you got some items scanned, you can view them all in the My Items option. From here, you can also search for specific items if need be. It's search-as-you-type, so you can just enter a few letters if you can't really remember what it is you're looking for.
The 'My Alarm Calendar' section displays a list of all your items and the alarm dates of when you need to finish the item by. The app will notify you by push notifications.
The app is pretty simple. It may not be perfect (it is hard to edit entries after you enter them), but it's actually a pretty handy tool to have. If you have ever let food go to waste or ended up uncovering that year's 'refrigerator mystery,' then this app can get some good use from you.
Perfect for the college student, or anyone that is on a budget with their food. Don't waste that food!
