Never run short: how the Shopping List tells you what to buy next

It's Thursday. You've got a busy weekend of orders and one trip to the shops before it starts. What do you actually need? Most bakers answer that by opening cupboards and doing sums on the back of an envelope. The Shopping List in SweetMargins answers it for you — from your real orders, your real recipes and what's really in your pantry.

How the Shopping List works it out

It looks at three things you already keep in SweetMargins, and puts them together:

Nothing to fill in, nothing to save. The list is worked out fresh every time you open it, so it's always up to date with your latest orders and stock.

Step by step: one busy weekend

Let's follow one baker's week, from taking orders to baking them.

1. 1
   You

   Step 1: You take and confirm orders

   Every order that's pending or confirmed goes into the forecast — however it reached you: typed in, from your quote page, or from WhatsApp.

   Inquiries aren't counted until you confirm them, so a maybe doesn't send you out buying butter. Here, Priya's loaf waits; the other three orders count.

   Orders

   • Sarah

     Chocolate chip cookies × 2 · Sat

     Confirmed

   • Maya

     Vanilla birthday cake · Sat

     Confirmed

   • Leo

     Chocolate chip cookies · Sun

     Pending

   • Priya

     Lemon drizzle loaf · Next week

     Inquiry

2. 2
   Behind the scenes

   Step 2: We add up what those orders need

   For each order, we look at the recipe behind it and multiply by the quantity. Two batches of cookies need twice the butter of one.

   Then we add it all up across every open order, so you see one total per ingredient — not a separate list per customer.

   What your orders need

   3 × Chocolate chip cookies

   Each batch: 1 lb butter, 4 eggs, 24 oz chocolate chips, 2 lb flour, 0.5 fl oz vanilla

   1 × Vanilla birthday cake

   1 lb butter, 8 eggs, 1.5 lb flour, 1.5 fl oz vanilla

   Total needed

   Butter 4 lb · Eggs 20 · Chocolate chips 72 oz · Flour 7.5 lb · Vanilla 3 fl oz

3. 3
   Behind the scenes

   Step 3: We take away what you already have

   Your pantry already has 84 oz of chocolate chips and 31.5 lb of flour — more than enough. So they don't appear in the list at all; they're shown further down as already covered.

   What's left is exactly what you're short of, with an estimated cost based on what you last paid. Now you know the trip will cost about $11, before you leave the house.

   Shopping List

   Based on 3 open orders

   $11.22 to restock

   Log what I bought

   Ingredient	Need	Have	Buy
   Unsalted butter	4 lb	1.5 lb	2.5 lb · $7.03
   Eggs	20	12	8 · $3.00
   Vanilla extract	3 fl oz	1 fl oz	2 fl oz · $1.19

4. 4
   You

   Step 4: You shop, then log the receipt

   Back home, tap Log what I bought on the Shopping List and snap your receipt. We add everything to your pantry in one go (see how Smart ingredient import works).

   Open the list again and it says Fully stocked for what's on order. You can bake the whole weekend without a single “oh no, we're out of eggs” moment.

   Shopping List

   Fully stocked for what's on order

   Already covered by your pantry

   • Unsalted butter4 lb needed
   • Eggs20 needed
   • Chocolate chips72 oz needed
   • All-purpose flour7.5 lb needed
   • Vanilla extract3 fl oz needed

5. 5
   Behind the scenes

   Step 5: You bake — and stock goes down by itself

   As you mark each order Completed, we take what its recipes used out of your pantry. Completed orders also drop off the Shopping List, so nothing is ever counted twice.

   And because you bought exactly what the orders needed, some ingredients are now at zero. That's where the second safety net comes in.

   Ingredients

   3 ingredients are running low.

   Ingredient	In stock	Low at
   Unsalted butter	0 lbLow	1 lb
   Eggs	0 eachLow	12 each
   Chocolate chips	12 ozLow	24 oz
   All-purpose flour	24 lb	10 lb

Two safety nets, working together

The Shopping List and your “Low at” levels do different jobs. Used together, you're covered for the orders you have and the ones you haven't had yet.

Reading the list

• Needed — the total all your open orders will use.
• In stock — what your pantry says you have. If you don't track stock for an ingredient, it shows not tracked and we assume you have none — so you won't be caught short.
• To buy — the gap between the two. Most expensive first, so the items that matter most are at the top.
• Est. cost — based on the last price you paid. Log receipts regularly and this stays accurate.

Tips for the best results

• Link order items to recipes. The list can only count what it knows the recipe for. Custom items without a recipe are skipped — the list tells you how many.
• Enter your current stock once. Fill in what you have today on the Ingredients page. After that, receipts top it up and completed orders bring it down.
• Confirm orders promptly. An order only joins the forecast once it's pending or confirmed.
• Check it before every big shop. A quick look on Thursday saves a panicked trip on Saturday morning.

Where to find it

Open Shopping in the SweetMargins menu. As soon as you have an open order linked to a recipe, your list is ready — no set-up needed. The Shopping List is included on every plan.