Never Waste Money on Excess Food Again By Using a Pantry Inventory Template
Do you ever have those moments where you’re in the grocery store and can’t remember what you already have in your pantry at home? You probably end up buying too much or not enough – either way, it can be a waste of your money. Fortunately, with the help of a pantry inventory template, you can easily keep track of your pantry items and never worry about wasting money on excess food again!
Having an inventory of what you have in your pantry can make life easier for lots of reasons – from saving money to using ingredients before they go bad. In this blog post, we’ll discuss how a pantry inventory can help you manage your grocery shopping better, as well as provide a handy template to help you keep track of items in your pantry.
What are the benefits of a pantry inventory list?
Keeping a pantry inventory is a great way to make sure you’re using all your groceries before they go bad. It also helps you keep track of what items you need to buy for upcoming meals and allows you to purchase only the necessary ingredients when you go grocery shopping. Having an inventory list will help reduce food waste and save money in the long run.
Prevents Food Waste
Keeping food storage for the entire house can be tricky. You want to fill your food stock but you don’t want to get so much that you can’t use your food storage before the expiration date.
Using a pantry inventory list for your food storage is super helpful because it prevents wasting food items that you purchased but can’t use before their expiration date. You’ll be able to keep track of what food items are in your pantry, when they were bought, and how much is left so that you can make sure you’re using it up before it goes bad.
If you find yourself unable to get through your food inventory before the expiration dates, having a printable pantry inventory is a great idea.
Prevents Over-Buying
Without an inventory sheet for your home kitchen, it’s easy to forget how much food you have. So keeping a pantry inventory list can help you when shopping as you’ll know exactly what you have in your pantry already.
This will help you save money because you won’t be buying items that you already have!
Prevents Running Out of Food
Another important aspect of food inventory lists is that it prevents you from running out of some pantry items. This means that you won’t have to make a last-minute run to the grocery store just because you don’t have something in your pantry.
If you know exactly what’s in your pantry, then it’s one less thing for you to worry about!
Plan Meals
With a pantry inventory list, you can plan meals ahead of time and make sure to buy the necessary ingredients only when shopping. This way, you can use up the food you have in your pantry that might the expiring soon and it cuts down on what you need to buy at the store.
So when you need meal ideas, you can just peruse your pantry list for dinner ideas your kids will love with items you already have on your pantry shelves and in your refrigerator or freezer.
Meal planning is a lot easier with an inventory list because you don’t have to dig through the stuff in your pantry as you decide what to cook and see what you need to purchase.
What are some ways you can keep a pantry inventory?
Now that we’ve covered why keeping a pantry list is helpful, let’s go over some ways you can keep an inventory of your pantry items.
Pantry Inventory Spreadsheet
The first way to keep an inventory of your pantry is to make your own inventory sheet. If you like creating spreadsheets, you can make your own inventory list. This way, you can easily keep track of what items are in your pantry and when they were bought.
Making your own inventory printable is pretty easy. You just need a sheet of paper or a spreadsheet on your computer. Then, organize the food you have and fill in your inventory list with the food name, quantity, expiration, and other information. You can even add a note on what meal you can use that item for along with the recipe if you want to get really specific with your inventory!
You can keep it on your computer and update it each time you go shopping with what you have in stock, or you can print it out and stick it on the refrigerator or somewhere you can easily access.
Pantry Inventory App
Another easy way to create a pantry inventory list is to use a food storage app. There are quite a few free apps that help you keep track of all the items in your pantry. One benefit to using an app is that it’s all organized on your phone. So, when you go shopping, you have your entire pantry and fridge inventory just a few clicks away.
These apps also keep note of expiration dates so you know when it’s time to use up food items before they expire. And if you find yourself running low on something, you can add it to your grocery list in the app so that you don’t forget it!
Free Printable Pantry Inventory List
The last way you can take stock of your pantries is with a free printable! You can download an inventory printable online and fill it in with the items you have in your pantry.
These printables usually come with categories to organize all of your food items, such as dry goods, canned goods, and frozen foods. Some also allow you to create your own food storage categories.
Why do you need a printable pantry list?
Free printable inventory lists are a great way to quickly take note of the items you have in your pantry and fridge. They also help you plan meals ahead of time and prevent you from running out of food. And if you forget what ingredients you have, you can just check your inventory printable for the stuff you have and their quantity.
So how do you know which free inventory printable you should download? After all, not every free inventory printable is created equally.
Well, when trying to figure out which pantry food list works best for you, consider the following:
- Does it have enough space for all of your food items?
- Are there any helpful features, like expiration tracking and meal planning?
- Is the layout easy to read and update?
- Is it free? (This is always a nice perk!)
- Can you update it to fit your needs?
Answering these questions will ensure that the free pantry food list you download and print will work for your pantry shelves.
You can also get free lists for your fridge and freezer too! Having a fridge and freezer inventory sheet is also incredibly helpful.
Stay Organized with a Printable Pantry List
Keeping an inventory of what you have in your pantry will help you with meal planning, prevents waste, will save you money when buying groceries, and can help keep your pantry organized!
When you know what you have in your pantry, your life becomes a lot easier. You will know your family always has a snack to grab, you will always have food ready to eat and cook with, and it helps keep your pantry clutter-free by preventing over-buying.
Download your free printable pantry list today and get started on keeping up-to-date on your food.