Pantry Inventory Template (Free, Copy or Print)
Keep two short lists. The first holds the basics you always restock, like salt, rice and cooking oil, and each one is only "have" or "out". The second holds everything else, with where it is, how much is left and when it needs using. Both are below to copy or print, and after the first count you update them when you shop.
Before I kept a pantry list, I often came home with things we already had. It was usually the items I rarely reach for, like cocoa powder and vanilla extract. The weekly staples went wrong the other way: I bought too much at once, didn't know when or how I'd use it all, and some of it expired. That part was just a lack of discipline.
A list helps with both problems. You can see what you own before you buy more, and you can see what needs using before it goes off.
The template
The rows are examples, so replace them with your own food. You can also download the template as an Excel file, which opens in Google Sheets and Numbers, or as a PDF to print.
Staples
| Staple | Have or out |
|---|---|
| Salt | Have |
| Black pepper | Have |
| Cooking oil | Out |
| Rice | Have |
| Eggs | Out |
Everything else
| Item | Where | How much | Opened | Best-by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cocoa powder | Baking shelf | About half a tin | Yes | |
| Vanilla extract | Baking shelf | 1 small bottle | Yes | |
| Canned tomatoes | Cupboard | 3 cans | ||
| Dried pasta | Cupboard | 2 boxes | ||
| Mustard | Fridge door | 1 jar | In the summer | |
| Frozen peas | Freezer | Half a bag | Since October | |
In a spreadsheet
The Excel file already has a tab for each list, common staples filled in with a have-or-out menu, and the best-by highlight described below. To build your own instead, copy each table from this page into its own tab in Google Sheets or Excel, starting at cell A1. Either way, share the file with everyone who cooks or shops, or it ends up describing only what one person bought.
Type best-by dates as full dates with the year, such as 3/1/2027, so the column sorts. Leave the cell blank when there's no date. Then:
- Sort the second tab by Best-by to see what to cook first.
- Turn on a filter on the staples tab (Data > Create a filter in Google Sheets, Data > Filter in Excel) and show only "Out". That's the start of your shopping list.
- To color anything past its date or due in the next two weeks, select the Best-by cells from E2 down on the second tab, leaving out the header, and add a conditional formatting rule with the custom formula
=AND(E2<>"",E2<=TODAY()+14). In Google Sheets it's under Format > Conditional formatting. In Excel, go to Home > Conditional Formatting > New Rule and choose "Use a formula to determine which cells to format". Change 14 to however many days of warning you want.
On paper
Print the PDF, which has a page for each list plus a blank staples page, or copy the headings onto one sheet for each place you keep food and tape it inside that cupboard or freezer door. Write in pencil, because amounts change every week, and copy the sheet out again when it gets hard to read.
What each column is for
- Staple. Anything you always want in the house and only replace when it runs out. The only question is whether you have it, so it gets no count. If the amount matters, like eggs for a recipe, put it in the second list with a number instead.
- Item. The name you'd say out loud. "Cocoa powder" is enough. Leave the brand off unless you care which one you buy.
- Where. Cupboard, fridge door, freezer, a shelf in the garage. Once food lives in more than one place, this column is how you find the second jar before you buy a third.
- How much. A count or a rough estimate with its unit, like 3 cans or half a bag. You're deciding whether to buy more, and "about half" answers that.
- Opened. Yes, or roughly when. Nuts, flour, oils and condiments lose quality faster once open, so an open package is one to use first. For the freezer, write when the food went in.
- Best-by. The date on the package, if it has one and you might forget the item. On paper, the month and year are enough. In the US, a "Best if used by" date is about quality and isn't a safety date, according to the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service. Use it to decide what to cook first.
Some staples hardly need the list at all. When black pepper or cooking oil runs out, I add it to the grocery list almost by reflex, because nearly every meal needs them. If you want the sheet shorter, leave basics like those off and keep the occasional items, which are the ones I kept buying twice.
If you later want a category column (baking, canned goods, spices) or the date you bought something, add it. Every extra column is one more thing to fill in for each item, so start without them.
How to do the first inventory
You don't have to empty every cupboard to start. Go through the kitchen one area at a time and write things down where they sit.
- Start with the staples. Walk through the kitchen and mark each basic as have or out. If you stop after this step, you can already shop for the basics from the list.
- Do the cupboards one shelf at a time, top to bottom. Write each item and roughly how much is left, note what's open, and copy the best-by date only if it falls in the next few months. Move older packages to the front as you go.
- Do the fridge: condiments, sauces, jars and anything open. Look in the produce drawers too. Fresh food you'll eat this week doesn't need a row.
- Do the freezer. Write what's there, roughly how much, and when it went in if you know.
- Mark everything that should be used in the next couple of weeks, and plan a meal or two around those items before you buy anything new.
Mine took about 30 minutes. Most of the duplicates were in the cupboard, and the produce drawers had food in them I'd forgotten about. If you run out of time, stop and do the next area another day.
Keeping it current
An inventory goes stale when updating it is a separate chore, so tie each update to something you already do.
- Before you shop, read down the staples list and put everything marked out on the grocery list. Then look at what you marked to use soon and plan a meal around one of those items. For the meals you're planning, check that what's left covers what each recipe needs, since "half a bag" may not be enough.
- When you unpack, add what's new and set restocked staples back to have, while the bags are still on the counter.
- When you finish a staple, mark it out. For the second list, update the amount after using some and delete the row when it's gone. In a shared house, agree that whoever uses the food updates the list.
- About once a month, look over the shelves for anything the list missed.
The rule that helped me was writing the grocery list while looking at the kitchen instead of from memory. Open the fridge and the cupboards first, then write.
Paper, spreadsheet or app
Paper taped inside a cupboard door is the easiest to update, because it hangs where the food is and anyone in the house can use it. You can't sort it or check it from the store, although a photo of the sheet gets you most of the way.
A shared spreadsheet sorts by date and opens on your phone in the aisle. Its weakness is typing. Someone has to enter every change, and after a big shop that's the step that gets skipped. A spreadsheet also tends to become one person's job, and an item marked out still has to be copied onto the grocery list by hand.
A pantry app cuts down the typing, and the shared ones let the whole household update the same list. Cooklist shares the pantry and shopping list with people you invite, on iPhone and Android, and can put a meal's missing ingredients on the list. Pantry Check is iPhone only, and a household shares it by signing in to one account. NoWaste and Out of Milk also keep a pantry list alongside the shopping list. Like a spreadsheet, an app only knows what someone tells it, so food used without recording it leaves the list wrong either way.
How Soufflé does it
Soufflé is our app, so weigh this section with that in mind.
Soufflé is an iPhone app for a household's recipes, meal plans, pantry and grocery lists, launching February 1, 2027. Its pantry uses the same split as the template. Staples are either have or out, and marking one out puts it on the grocery list. Checking off a matching item at the store sets it back to have. Everything else can carry a quantity and dates, and you can filter the pantry by category, including categories you make yourself.
You add food by scanning a barcode or, for food without one, taking a photo, and you check the details before saving. A barcode identifies the product but not when your package expires, so you confirm the date. When you mark a recipe as cooked, Soufflé shows what it will take out of the pantry and you untick anything you didn't use. Nothing is deducted without that review, which also means food used outside a recipe is yours to record.
Everyone in the household sees the same pantry and any grocery lists shared with it. Changes appear as people use the app, and edits made offline catch up when the phone reconnects. Soufflé can also suggest saved recipes that use what you've recorded, including food that needs using soon, though a suggestion can still be missing an ingredient.
It runs only on iPhone and it's a subscription, while paper and a spreadsheet cost nothing. If either of those already works in your kitchen, keep using it.
FAQ
What should be on a pantry inventory list?
The item, where it's kept and how much is left. Add whether it's open and its best-by date for anything you might forget. Basics you always restock only need "have" or "out".
How often should I do a full pantry inventory?
If you keep up the small updates when you shop, a full recount with every cupboard emptied once or twice a year is usually enough. It's a good time to use up what's been open longest.
Do I need to track expiration dates on everything?
No. Write dates for open packages and for things that are easy to forget, like food at the back of the freezer, and skip them for food you'll eat within the week. Follow the package's storage instructions either way.