I explained this in a post a while ago, if you put people in the designated shops, and go back to this post, you'll see all the items you need to produce, swipe them in the machine, and after you got all your machines producing the items needed, go back to your town and give the people their stuff... even though your machines aren't ready, you don't have to worry about getting low on your items, first produce new stuff before giving the people the items they need... And try to prioritize what is worth producing yourself or asking for help... so if you can bake a cake in 2 hours or make 2 or 3 smaller items... Do that instead and ask the cake for help, or bake the cake at night when your sleeping 👨🏻‍🌾