# How the kitchen countdown works

URL: https://mykitchenradar.com/how-it-works/
Updated 2026-11-08 · By SyntyAxis

> MyKitchenRadar multiplies typical daily use for your food culture by your family's size and ages. It shows how long each item will last as a range, such as "Rice: about 6–11 days". Red means today or 1 day, amber 2–6 days, green 7 days or more. Now and then it asks how much is left, you tap Full, Half, Low or Out, and the range narrows.

MyKitchenRadar is a family kitchen app that tells you how many days each food at home will last, like "rice: about 6–11 days", and reminds everyone before it runs out. This page shows how that number is made, with one family's rice worked through step by step.

## What "about 6–11 days" means

"About 6–11 days" means at least 6 days of rice are almost surely left, and the bag will probably be empty within about 11. Staples and fresh food all get a countdown like this, on the Today screen and in All items.

Each countdown is drawn as a capsule on the same scale, from today to two weeks. The solid part is what is surely left. The lighter tint is the range. A tick marks one week, and a hatched end means more than 14 days. When the last of something is about to go, the words change to "finishes today".

## Why a range and not a date

No family eats the same amount of rice every day. A guest stays for lunch, the children eat at school, someone fasts on Tuesdays.

A single date like "runs out on 15 Nov" would hide all of that. The app says "about" and gives the span it is fairly sure of. As it learns how your family eats, the span narrows.

## The red, amber and green rule

The app uses one rule on every screen. The color follows the low end of the range, and the status is always written in words as well.

| Status | Days left | Where you see it | Example on Monday, 9 Nov |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red | Today or 1 day | "Needed by tomorrow" on the buy list | Milk: finishes today. Curd: about 1 day |
| Amber | 2–6 days | "This week" on the buy list | Tomato: about 2 days. Rice: about 6–11 days |
| Green | 7 days or more | "Later" on the Today dial | Atta: about 9–14 days |

Rice at "about 6–11 days" is amber because its low end, 6 days, falls inside this week.

## Where the first guess comes from

The first guess is typical daily use for your food culture, times your family's size and ages. You set up the family once:

- **People:** how many, and their ages
- **Diet:** veg, non-veg, egg, Jain or halal
- **Food culture:** pick one or more of 41
- **Starter kitchen:** about 40 usual items for your food culture. Tick each one Full, Low or Out

Ages matter because a grandmother of 70 and a teenage boy do not eat the same amount. The app counts each person as a share of one adult, using the energy needs published by India's National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN 2020).

## Worked example: a 10 kg bag of rice

Here is the full maths for one example, a Tamil family of 4 in a city who buy a 10 kg (22 lb) bag of rice.

### Step 1: count the family in adult shares

| Person | Share of one adult |
|---|---|
| Man, sedentary | 1.00 |
| Woman, sedentary | 0.79 |
| Child, age 8 | 0.81 |
| Grandmother, age 70 | 0.73 |
| **Family total** | **3.32** |

Shares are each person's daily energy need divided by a sedentary man's 2,110 kcal (ICMR-NIN 2020; elderly values from ICMR-NIN Dietary Guidelines 2024, Table 1.6).

### Step 2: typical rice use for this food culture

Households in urban Tamil Nadu ate 6.467 kg of rice per person per 30 days, as observed by India's national survey (MoSPI HCES 2023-24, Statement 5U).

- Per person per day: 6.467 ÷ 30 = 0.216 kg
- Per adult share: 0.216 ÷ 0.906 = 0.238 kg a day (0.906 is the average adult share per person in urban India, from MoSPI's 2025 nutrition note)
- For this family: 0.238 × 3.32 = **0.79 kg of rice a day**, about 24 kg a month

### Step 3: the first countdown

10 kg ÷ 0.79 kg a day = 12.7 days. On day 0 the app shows **rice: about 10–16 days**.

As a cross-check, ICMR-NIN's recommended cereals for these four people add up to 790 g a day (Dietary Guidelines 2024, Table 1.6). That is a recommended amount, not an observed one, but it lands in the same place.

### Step 4: Dad answers "Half" on day 10

On day 10 the app asks "How much rice is left?" and Dad taps **Half**.

The first guess expected only about 2.1 kg left by now. Half a bag is about 5 kg, so this family eats less rice than a typical urban Tamil family. Maybe the child eats lunch at school.

- What the family really used: 5 kg in 10 days, 0.50 kg a day
- The app blends that with its first guess, and the new rate is about **0.62 kg a day**
- "Half" is a glance, not a weighing, so the app reads it as 40–60% of the bag

Allowing for that, and for day-to-day spread in the rate (0.56–0.68 kg a day), the rice left lasts 5.9 to 10.7 days. The countdown now says **rice: about 6–11 days**.

| Day | What happened | Countdown shown |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 10 kg bag bought | About 10–16 days |
| 10 | Dad taps "Half" | About 6–11 days |
| Next answer | Another Full, Half, Low or Out | Range narrows again |

One tap moved the likely empty day from about day 13 to between day 16 and day 21. Without it, the family would have been told to buy rice days too early.

## How Full, Half, Low and Out make the range tighter

Now and then the app asks one question, like "How much rice is left?". You tap one answer, or type the exact amount if you know it. You never have to weigh anything or record each time you cook.

| You tap | The app reads it as |
|---|---|
| Full | About a whole pack |
| Half | About half the pack |
| Low | A little left |
| Out | Finished |
| An exact amount | That amount |

After each answer the next range starts from your family's own rate, so it is narrower than the last.

## Fresh food gets "Use first"

Milk, curd, greens and tomato can spoil before they run out, so they also get a freshness clock. When they should be eaten soon, the app marks them **Use first**.

In the sample kitchen on Monday, 9 Nov, curd has about 1 day left and spinach about 2 days, so both are the ones to cook first.

## Spices and snacks show "last bought"

A jar of turmeric or a packet of biscuits has no steady daily use, so a day count would be guesswork. For these, the app shows when you last bought them, like "last bought 6 weeks ago".

## Guests, festivals and parties

Occasions speed the countdown up. When you mark guests, a festival or a party, food runs down sooner and the ranges move closer to today.

## It runs on your phone, offline

The maths in the example above runs on your phone, with no internet needed, including each time you tap Full, Half, Low or Out.

Some features do use SyntyAxis's server. Family sharing needs sign-in and a server so Mom, Dad and Grandma see the same kitchen on their own phones. Ask the app and recipes written in your language go through the server too. The privacy policy will list every feature that does.

## Try it with your own bag

The [free estimator](/tools/how-long-will-it-last/) gives the first guess for your own family and bag size, with the same maths as Step 1 to 3 above. The app picks up from there. It asks one quick question now and then, narrows the range from your answers, and reminds everyone before the rice runs out.

## Questions

### What does "about 6–11 days" mean?

At least 6 days of the item are almost surely left, and it will probably be gone within about 11. The app shows a range because no family eats the same amount every day.

### Why doesn't MyKitchenRadar show an exact date?

Nobody can know a family's cooking well enough to promise a date. The range admits that, and it narrows each time you answer Full, Half, Low or Out.

### Do I have to weigh food or log everything we use?

No. When the app asks how much is left, one tap on Full, Half, Low or Out is enough. If you do know the exact amount, you can type it.

### What do red, amber and green mean?

Red is today or 1 day, amber is 2–6 days, green is 7 days or more. The status is always written in words too, so it never depends on color alone.

### How long until the range is accurate for my family?

One answer already moves it. In the 10 kg rice example below, a single "Half" on day 10 changed the estimate from 0.79 kg a day to about 0.62 kg a day.

### Does the countdown need the internet?

No. The countdown runs on your phone and works offline. Family sharing, Ask the app and recipes written in your language use SyntyAxis's server.

## Sources

- [MoSPI, Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2023-24, Statement 5U (rice, urban Tamil Nadu)](https://mospi.gov.in/sites/default/files/publication_reports/Final_Report_HCES_2023-24L.pdf)
- [MoSPI, Nutritional Intake in India press note, 2 Jul 2025 (per-person vs per-consumer-unit calories)](https://mospi.gov.in/sites/default/files/press_release/press_note_Nutritional%20Intake%20in%20India_02072025.pdf)
- [ICMR-NIN, Nutrient Requirements for Indians 2020, brief note (energy by age and sex)](https://www.nin.res.in/rdabook/brief_note.pdf)
- [ICMR-NIN, Dietary Guidelines for Indians 2024, Table 1.6 (elderly energy, recommended cereals)](https://www.nin.res.in/dietaryguidelines/pdfjs/locale/DGI_2024.pdf)