Your pantry: managing materials and stock
The pantry is where you track everything you work with — your materials, tools, and supplies. Here's how it's organized per craft and how to keep it up to date.
Your pantry is Hi Ellie's inventory system — it tracks everything you work with so Ellie knows what you have on hand, what's running low, and what goes into each recipe. Keeping it up to date is what makes the rest of the app work well.
How the pantry is organized
The pantry has four tabs — which four depends on your active craft. Here's what a Resin workspace shows:
| Tab | What goes here |
|---|---|
| Colorants | Pigment powders, alcohol inks, mica powders, dyes, and any other colorants you add to resin |
| Resins | Your resin systems — the A+B epoxies, UV resins, and casting resins you pour with |
| Molds | Your mold library — both template molds from Hi Ellie's catalog and custom molds you've added |
| Supplies | Everything else — glitter, foils, inclusions, mixing cups, gloves, release spray |
Each tab is paginated — if you have a lot of items, use the page controls at the bottom to browse.
Heads up: the tabs follow your active craft. The four above are what a Resin workspace shows. In a Candle workspace the pantry shows Waxes, Wicks, Fragrance Oils and Vessels instead — the idea is the same, just the categories your craft actually uses. See Finding your way around for how crafts and their pantries fit together.
Adding items
Tap Add on any tab to add a new item. Fill in:
- Name — what you call it (can be a product name, a nickname, or both)
- Brand — the supplier or manufacturer
- Quantity on hand — how much you currently have
- Unit — grams, ml, oz, or count depending on the item
- Cost (optional) — what you paid per unit, used for COGS calculations
- Notes (optional) — anything worth remembering: where you bought it, mixing tips, observations
For colorants, you can also record a color swatch by selecting a color from the picker — this is used in recipe displays and Inspire palette results.
Stock status
Every pantry item has a stock status. Hi Ellie sets this automatically based on your quantity, but you can change it manually at any time:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| In stock | You have a usable amount on hand |
| Low | Running low — worth ordering soon |
| Out | None left |
| Needs order | Manually flagged for reordering |
| Discontinued | No longer available; kept for recipe history |
Items marked Low, Out, or Needs order appear on your dashboard and in your Shopping List.
Setting a default material
Some crafts let you mark a go-to item as the default, so the wizard doesn't ask you to pick it every time.
In a Resin workspace: if you work with one resin most of the time, mark it as your default. The Guided and Collab wizard modes use your default resin automatically — no picking required each time. To set it, open the resin's edit modal and turn on Default resin for this workspace. Only one resin can be the default at a time — setting a new one clears the previous.
The shopping list
Tap Shopping List (available from the pantry or the dashboard) to see a consolidated list of everything that needs restocking. The list groups items by stock status and includes links to search for them online where available.
You can copy the list, export it as a PDF, or open it in Ellie to discuss substitutions or alternatives.
Updating quantities
After a pour session or batch is completed, Hi Ellie automatically deducts what you used — colorant and resin amounts in a Resin workspace, wax, wick, and fragrance in a Candle workspace. You don't need to update quantities manually every time.
For items you receive, add, or discard outside of a session — like restocking or discarding expired materials — tap the item to edit it and update the quantity directly.
Free plan limits
The free plan includes up to 50 pantry items. As you approach the limit, a banner appears on the pantry page. At 50 items, the Add button is disabled until you remove something or upgrade.
See Free plan limits & what upgrading unlocks for details.
Tips
- Add items before you start building recipes. Ellie references your actual pantry when generating recipe ideas — the more complete your inventory, the better her suggestions.
- Use the Notes field for supplier info. Recording where you bought something and at what price saves time when you need to reorder.
- Keep statuses current. The dashboard's "Running low" section and Ellie's restocking suggestions are only as accurate as your stock statuses.
- Colorant swatches are worth setting. They make your recipe cards and Inspire results much easier to scan visually.