How do I get an alert before I run out of an ingredient?

Switch stock tracking on for that pantry item, enter a count and a minimum, and ibakepro watches it for you. You get an email when the level falls below the minimum, when it reaches a critical level and when it hits zero. Stock tracking is available on every plan.

The thresholds you can set

• Minimum. The level at which you would normally reorder. Falling below it raises a warning.
• Critical. A lower level that means act today. You can set it explicitly, or leave it and ibakepro derives one from your minimum.
• Reorder point. An optional early warning above the minimum, for anything with a long lead time.
• Expiry. Items with a use-by date raise their own alerts as that date approaches and once it passes.

Each alert fires once, when the item crosses the line, so an item sitting below its minimum for a week does not email you every day about it.

Being told before the order, not after

The more useful half is the alerts that look forward. Rather than waiting for the shelf to empty, ibakepro reads your upcoming orders, works out what those orders will consume, and raises the alert ahead of the event date with your prep time and your supplier's lead time allowed for. The point is to be told while there is still time to order, which is a different moment from the one where you notice the tub is empty.

Silence means untracked, not fine

Stock tracking is opt-in per item, and the software fails towards saying nothing. An item with the switch off is never alerted on. An item with the switch on but no count entered is treated as unknown rather than as zero, deliberately: a wrong "out of stock" email is worse than a missing one, because you act on it.

So if an ingredient is not alerting, check two things before assuming it is healthy: is tracking switched on, and does it have a count.

Units, and what the count means

Each item carries its own stock unit, and it should be the unit you actually measure in rather than the unit you buy in. Flour bought in a 5 kg (11 lb) sack and weighed out in grams (ounces) is tracked in grams or ounces, so a minimum of 2 kg (about 4.5 lb) is a level the counts can cross.

A count is only as good as what gets recorded against it. Anything used without being recorded will not be reflected, and the alert you did not get is the consequence.

Where this does not apply

• Alerts arrive in time for you to place the order. The purchase stays between you and your supplier.
• A drop's allocation is a number you set. If you are scheduling a drop, pair it with these alerts to confirm the bake is covered.