Use a pantry inventory printable tracker so you know what you have stocked up and when it is best by. Avoid expired foods and make grocery shopping easier.
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One of my best meal planning tips is to try to create meals from what you already have on hand. When your pantry is disorganized, sometimes you don’t really know what you have.
I’m as guilty as the next person at finding food I didn’t know I had buried at the back of the pantry… way past the expiration date. Oops.
For many years, I used a deep cabinet beside my oven for a pantry. It was challenging to keep organized because the shelves were so large, but I made it work.
When we were finally able to make some kitchen updates, we built a pantry on the other side of the kitchen. We used a pair of builder-grade pantry cabinets from Home Depot and added several pullout drawers.
This pantry is much easier to keep organized, but I still find it handy to do a regular pantry inventory.
Pantry organizing tips
No matter what your pantry looks like, these tips can be helpful.
Create zones
Make each shelf a category so everything has its own “home.” My categories are similar to the grocery store aisles, but use what makes sense to you. Add shelf dividers, pull-out containers, or other shelf organizers.
First in first out
Put new purchases at the back and use older items first. This will keep you from losing things on a deep shelf and ensure you use items up before their best-by date.
Use opened packages
Plan meals that use things you’ve already opened. Most of those best-by dates are when the package is still sealed. Once you open it, it’s best to use most things within a few weeks.
Store in air-tight containers
Pretty matching containers look good on Instagram, but they also help keep your food fresh longer. Pouring open packages into reusable containers means you can seal them to keep out air and pests. I don’t think they’re necessary for most things, but we use them for cereal, pasta, and baking staples like flour and sugar.
I also find clear containers handy to see what I need to buy without looking inside every open box. If you’ve ever had a pantry full of cereal boxes, only to discover each one only has a spoonful in it, you know how annoying that can be.
Make a list
Keep a pantry inventory so you know what you have. You can tape it to the inside of the pantry door or store it in your household binder.
I don’t write down the items I buy every week (like cereal or sandwich bread) but I do write down anything that I regularly stock up on.
Get the printable
This pantry inventory printable fits on regular 8.5×11-inch paper.
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Check out some other fun and creative ideas on One Mama’s Daily Drama:
I needed to get orgazied and I downloded your pantry and freezer inventory sheets and it will make it much easier. Thank you for your great ideas and spreadsheets.
You’re welcome! I hope they are helpful for you.
I think pantry inventory is the top problem of all small and large families 🙂
I even did some research of apps that could help me with this issue and didn’t find anything that would fit my needs. As a programmer, I decided to build my own app. Here’s several major key points I came up with:
– There should be categories and possibility to create as many categories as needed, as well as sub-categories.
– There should be a way to tell where those or these goods can be bought. I face situations sometimes that I can’t find certain products in some stores but can find in other stores even if those stores under the same name.
– There should be a way to set units for products. Say, I want to count potatoes in lbs but beans in cans.
– The app should notify the users about the fact that some of the products are about to expire or finish. Additionally, I think the user should be able to tell how long before the app should notify about that. So that, if for example, I want to be notified when I have 2 cans left of Coca-Cola, or when I have 2 lbs left of potatoes. So it depends kind of on the product.
– The other thing I think about is that the app should notify the users if he doesn’t change the quantity of the products for some period. Sometimes, you can forget to change the quantity of spending products so the app could remind you about updating your inventory.
– Finally, the app should have a so-called “Need To Buy” list. This is kind of shopping list where you add products that is about to expire or finish so that the next time you go to the store you know exactly what you need to buy.
What do you think, will this kind of app make the most of the families happy? 🙂
That sounds fantastic, although I’m afraid it might be hard to keep it updated if you’re tracking everything in the pantry. Would you need to edit your inventory every time you used something? I use my pantry printable mostly for bulk items I’m stocking up on, not everything in the pantry.
Hi Keri, thank you for your feedback!
What do you mean by everything? Can you please give some examples of products that you wouldn’t want to track with the app? The only products come to my mind that I wouldn’t track with the app are those that I don’t usually buy but I bought because wanted to try it.
>Would you need to edit your inventory every time you used something?
I guess it depends on a person himself. You can do that regularly or occasionally. One of the features in the app was introduced specifically for this case. You don’t have to update your inventory every time you spend something. The app will remind you to update the quantity of the product if you haven’t done that for awhile. Moreover, you will be able to tell the app how often it should remind you about that. This option will go per product because some products tend to be spent faster than the others. So you can tell for example, to remind you to update the number of cans of Coca-Cola every 2 days (of course, if you like soda that much 🙂 ) and to update the number of package of macaroni every 2 weeks.