Sometimes our households need a reset. It can be easy to get into the habit of buying groceries, making meals, and missing what we accumulate, especially if we are preserving stockpilers. It’s time to take a pantry and freezer inventory.
NOTE: When I talk about ‘accumulating food’ I am not talking about hoarding. I am talking about taking advantage of sales in a reasonable fashion and/or being prepared for winter, etc. with food to feed your family, (i.e freezing produce for winter use).
Pull out your notebooks or a favorite list program and let’s get to our pantry and freezer inventory. You know those illusive things that find their way to the back or bottom and need thrown out at some point? Throw them out and get it done. We are going to stop this cycle of waste by adding a pantry and freezer inventory to our calendar of things to do.
So first things first, look at your calendar and put a household food inventory on the schedule. I am scheduling my freezers and cabinets to be done quarterly and my refrigerator to be done every time I grocery shop. My favorite way to schedule long term is to set it up in my Google calendar because a few simple clicks has everything set to repeat for life or however long I want. The best part of this is that while the initial inventory will take a chunk of our time, as long as we create systems that work best for us it will be a cinch to keep up with in the future.
Next, I am creating a master list that I can keep in a handy place – mine is going to be in Google Keep – that I can check off as I use things and add things as I buy them. I am using a digital format because papers do not survive or get used in my house for very long. However, Organized Home has these great freezer inventory and pantry inventory lists if you are a paper person.
Another thing I am going to do is evaluate what we are buying and eating and what small changes we can make. Over the last 5 years we have been making the steps to go from using processed foods and back to my roots – cooking from scratch. I have found we stick to it better when we make small steps to change rather than trying to do everything at once. I am sharing my inventory list below to give a realistic view of where we are and where we are heading. Next on my hit list are the canned soups (which we have from winter because we don’t USE them), marshmallows, ketchup, and graham crackers. It cannot possibly be that hard to make graham crackers, right? We’ll see. I am giving myself until next summer to have my own graham cracker and marshmallow recipes perfected.
Finally, I am going to create a list of what we used over the winter – what we didn’t have enough of and what we didn’t use all of so I know what to preserve more or less of next year. I am also going to create a reminder so I double check my inventory before creating the weekly grocery list. I know this will lead to so many more savings – both in buying less and wasting less.
Quick Pantry and Freezer Inventory Checklist
- Stop wasting food – Create a scheduled time to inventory refrigerator, cabinets, and freezers.
- Create a master inventory list of all the food in the refrigerator, cabinets, and freezer
- Evaluate what we are buying, eating, and not eating
- Evaluate what we need to preserve more and/or less of for winter eating.
What is YOUR biggest struggle with in terms of your pantry and freezer?
My Pantry and Freezer Inventory (7/5/15)
Cabinets
- Baking ingredients
- (2) Quinoa
- Marshmallows
- Matzo
- Graham crackers
- Food Should Taste Good Jalapeño tortilla chips
- Food Should Taste Good Olive tortilla chips
- Stacey’s Cocoa pita chips
- (2) Somersaults
- (3) cherry chocolate granola bars
- Sea salt and vinegar popcorn
- (2) single serve Food Should Taste Good cheddar chips
- Food Should Taste Good tortilla chips
- (2) packs snack olives
- Cracker crisps
- Peppercorn brown rice crackers
- (2) quarts salsa
- (1) can diced tomatoes
- (2) pasta
- (3) organic split pea soup
- (2) organic tomato lentil soup
- (1) organic tomato basil soup
- (1) organic southwest black bean soup
- (7) garbanzo beans (canned)
- (3) tomato paste
- (1) artichoke hearts (canned)
- (3) black beans (canned)
- (1) coconut milk (canned)
- (2) tuna fish (packets)
- (4) tuna fish (canned)
- 2# black beans (dried)
- (1) chicken broth (carton)
- (1) vegetable broth (carton)
- (1) beef broth (carton)
- Cowboy chili with quinoa and cranberry (box)
- (1) red enchilada sauce (canned)
- (1) couscous
- (1) organic bbq sauce
- (3) 1# garbanzo beans
- Dried split peas
- Cranberry and herb couscous
- 2# brown rice
- 1/2# pinto beans
- Farro
- Corn pasta
- Mayonnaise
- Ketchup
- Mustard
Refrigerator
- 3 mangoes
- 1 avocado
- 4 green peppers
- 2 kolrabhi
- 4 jalapeños
- Celery
- Lacinato kale
- Dandelion greens
- Parsnip
- Cherries
- 6 lemons
- Parsley
- Cilantro
- 1 zucchini
- Grapes
- Brussells sprouts
- 5 limes
- 6 green cucumbers
- 5 white cucumbers
- 1 red bell pepper
- 2 romaine
- 2 pounds baby bella mushrooms
- shiitake mushrooms
- Broccoli
- Artisan lettuce
- Cauliflower
- 2 dozen eggs
- 2 pounds grape tomatoes
- Fennel
- 2 pounds blueberries
- 2 pounds strawberries
- Rhubarb
- Radishes
- Carrots
- Oranges
- Jarlsberg
- Yellow Cheddar
- Heavy cream
- 1/2 pound mozzarella
- Parmigiano Reggiano
- Milk
- Sour cream
- Pineapple Coconut drink/popsicle base
- Cherry puree
- Strawbery puree
- Mango puree
Small Freezer
- 1 whole chicken
- (5) applesauce
- Black bean burgers
- (2) whole wheat pizza crust (small)
- Cheribundi smoothie packs (2)
- Marrow bones
- Frozen pumpkin (2)
- Ricotta cheese
- 3# corn
- Pizza dough
- 1 T-bone steak
- 2 pounds chip steak
- 2 pounds beef suet
- 4 packs chicken drumsticks
- Shredded cheddar
- (2) Beef rump roast
- Beef top round roast
- Green beans
- Zucchini rounds
- Asparagus
- (2) tuna fillets
- 6 ounces cranberries
- 16 ounces blueberries
- Stewed squash and tomatoes
- (3) Split chicken breast halves
- 3# butter
- Edamame
- 3 beef soup bones
- 2 filet mignon
- Mini pizzas
- 1/2 bag frozen peas
- Chicken cheddar ziti
Chest Freezer
- 1# flounder
- (4) 1# cranberries
- (10) packages applesauce
- (3) broccoli puree
- (2) package Rainier cherries
- 1 package chicken drumsticks
- (2) 6 ounces beef jerky
- Frozen parsley cubes
- 1# andouille
- Homemade biscuits
- 2# broccoli
- (6) blueberries
- (13) 1# ground beef
- (2) chicken spiedie
- (2) strawberry freezer jam
- 16 ounce peas
- 16 ounce green beans
- (2) 16 ounce cauliflower
- (2) 6 cups tomato sauce
- 16 ounces chicken broth
- (4) 16 ounce strawberries
- 8 ounces black beans
- (4) 32 ounce ricotta
- Organic rolled oats
- Beef rump roast
- Zucchini rounds
- Beef suet (for tallow/lard)
- (2) 6 ounces blackberries
- Peaches
- 16 ounces mozzarella
- 16 ounces garbanzo beans
- Beef soup bone
- (3) sweet cherries
- (1) 6 ounce red raspberries
- Homemade grape juice concentrate
- Beef top round roast
- (2) beef sirloin steak
- Beef oxtail
- T-bone steak
- (2) London Broil
- Beef eye roast
- (2) packs beef soup bones
- (2) beef marrow bones
- 1# chicken sausage
- 1 split chicken
- Chicken taco meat
- Peach halves
- Tropical fruit
- (2) Pumpkin puree
- (2) grapes
- (4) sweet cherries (small jar)
- (2) cranberries (small jar)
- (2) peach puree (small jar)
- (1) strawberry puree
- (2) peaches for pie
- (2) peaches for cobbler
- (2) frozen peach slices
- (2) blueberry puree
- (7) shredded zucchini for muffins
- (12) banana puree for muffins
I like to have an inventory of my refrigerator and the pantry and off course the freezer . This main inventory has the amount that I have on hand. I make a menu for the week with recipes so if the recipe calls for say pinto beans and I have 3 cans left. I take 1 away so 2 are left . Now I want that to show automatically so I do not need to count so much. In other words I think this is called revolving list. I do not know but I am old ,on a fixed budged and have only x amount of money to spend so I need the know what is on hand before I buy. Does that make sense?
Hi Kerstin. It truly is nice when it can be made that easy, isn’t it? I don’t know if you use a smartphone but one way you can do this is with an app called “Out of Milk”. You would need to update it when you use things in your pantry then make your shopping list with it also. It is so handy. Another way you can do this is by printing off the inventory lists I have here – https://www.realthekitchenandbeyond.com/kitchen-organization-lists/. Once you print them out you can laminate them or get them laminated pretty cheaply at an office supply store and use a fine tipped dry erase marker to update them. I hope this helps make it easier for you.
Thanks for sharing your list. I am a registered dietitian and I think it’s so important to organize your kitchen so you can make better choices in feeding your family. I show your list to my clients. You have done an excellent job.
Thank you.
I was wondering format you use for your digital freezer inventory? I developed a pretty darn nifty Excel spreadsheet that tracks when foods should be used by and allows me to take a way from item counts for mine. Problem is I find I don’t use it because it is not accessible from all my devices, only my main PC. And I’m not going to stop what I’m doing to run across the house to update it when I’m cooking – and by the time I’m done it’s no longer on my radar. I was hoping to find a reliable app that offers backup, because I always have a mobile device within reach. I found your blog googling for a solution!
I am so with you. I am horrible at keeping up lists if they aren’t within reach and paper lists? FORGET.IT. I use Google Keep. It’s buried within the Google products. I have Android devices so I am not sure if it is available for Apple products (if you have an iPhone), but it makes it super handy. I create all my lists in it and it is super easy because you can easily add and take away. When you check something off it shows up underneath your list so if you need to add it back in or look at history you can. If you can’t find it in Google. let me know and I will find the path you take to get there.