1. A method of providing notification of items nearing an expiry date, comprising: storing, in a personal inventory database at personal food inventory system, a personal food inventory associated with an account for a user of an electronic device, the personal food inventory comprising a plurality of food records specific to the account of the user, each food record comprising a food item identifier, information describing a food item associated with the food item identifier, a freshness start date, and an expiry date, wherein the personal food inventory system is remotely located with respect to the electronic device; providing, to the electronic device, an application configured to communicate with the personal food inventory system to access the personal food inventory for the user; calculating, by the personal food inventory system, for each of the food items in the personal food inventory of the user account, a number of freshness days remaining between a current date and the expiry date for the food item; determining, by the personal food inventory system, one or more food items in the personal food inventory for which the calculated number of freshness days between the current date and the expiry date of the food item is less than a threshold number of days, wherein the threshold number of days comprises a first threshold number associated with a best by freshness date and a second threshold number associated with an expiration date, further comprising providing a second notification associated with the best by date; and providing, by the personal food inventory system to the application on the electronic device, a notification identifying the determined one or more food items as approaching their expiry date.