The Skull Cinema

After only a few hiccoughs along the way we are entering the final stage of the Grocy set-up procedure. Getting barcode scanning working should markedly streamline the process of dealing with products. As this was a test of the Grocy system it was definite that I was going to use the camera on my phone as a barcode scanner. But there are options around this choice if everything works as required and the system progresses into an installation phase. Although use of a phone camera is by far the simplest method of capturing barcodes, it is not the one suggested by Grocy's creator, Bernd Bestel . He recommends the use of a dedicated barcode scanner. These days they are not that expensive and a basic wired model can be found for as low as £12. Not that I think that this is a good idea unless you want to lose the mobility that we have just set up . For twice the price (still not that much if you are using Grocy routinely) you can get a wireless version, which should retain your freedo...

Now we have Grocy working , even if in skeletal form, the next hurdle is to cut the tie to the PC and go mobile. The advantages of being able to update stock levels on the hoof are obvious. All consume and purchase operations can be done at the point of use without the need to make notes and mark these up later. Inventorying can be performed at the storage location rather than dragging everything to the computer or more note making. What is needed, therefore, is mobile access to Grocy via a smartphone or tablet. There are multiple ways to achieve this. Web Browser The first and simplest method is to use the web browser on your device. Although, at least with Android devices, the browser is slightly finnicky about which address it will accept for the Home Assistant (HA) server. Using the standard homeassistant.local:8123 address results in an error message ' This site can't be reached DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN. ' There appear to be known problems with Android phones ...

Rather than jumping in headfirst and running amok in the cupboards with mobile apps and barcode scanning. I thought it was probably better to get the basics of Grocy sorted out, adding extra functionalities once the groundwork was laid. To start with I chose a single barcoded product that is either entirely unused or used, depending on whether beans on toast are on the menu. The menu options on the left are broken down into four groups; a Stock overview and Shopping list , which are concerned with what is and what should be in the cupboards; Recipes and Meal plan , to organise your food planning; Purchase , Consume , Transfer and Inventory , which are the basic operations used to manage stock levels; and Manage master data , which is a group of data table entry functions that are used to set up Grocy to organise your food stocks. Our first task, then, was to get baked beans added to the list of products that Grocy is managing. To do this I opened Manage master data > Produ...