Don’t let good food go to waste! Keep a freezer inventory so you can keep track of what you’ve got — and enjoy it before it loses its freshness, taste, and texture.
Whether you do a freezer cooking session for the holidays or load up on freezer meals to take on vacation, know what you have so that you can use it up within a good time frame.
Ever go to the freezer thinking you’ve got a batch of marinara sauce to use for dinner, only to find, NO, you used that last month and forgot you did so? Or buy a few packs of pork chops on sale, thinking you’re being really wise only to find that you’ve got SIX packages in the freezer already?
Making freezer meals, shopping the sales, and pantry challenging it are all great things — provided that you use what you have in a reasonable way. A freezer inventory is what you need.
Why Do This
There’s no time, money, or effort saved if you end up pitching unmarked or old, unused food. Or overbuy and find yourself eating pork chops every week for two months.
Taking a food inventory is the first best step to meal planning and shopping your kitchen. Keeping good track of what’s in your freezer with a freezer inventory can help you save money, eat well, and avoid food waste.
Types of Tracking
There are a number of ways to track your freezer inventory.
In an app: There are several different apps you can buy for your device that will help you track what you have in the fridge or freezer. Many of these operate by having you scan the barcode on products. This is fine if you buy a lot of packaged foods, but not so helpful if you’re freezing hand-packaged ingredients or homemade freezer meals. Be sure to check that the app you choose allows for manual entry of custom items.
On the freezer door itself: Some people keep their freezer inventory written directly on their freezer — yep! they write on the door — in dry erase or wet erase marker. If your freezer gets a lot of traffic or if children and jokesters live in your house, this might not be the best bet.
On a dry-erase board: You can write your freezer inventory on a magnetic dry-erase board that attaches to your fridge/freezer or on a regular board that hangs on the kitchen wall.
On a paper template: I like using a paper template that I’ve laminated and stick on a clipboard. It can travel through the house with me, from the kitchen to the garage and provides an easy writing surface. I have magnetic hooks on the fridge for hanging the clipboard.
Here’s what a Freezer Inventory Sheet can look like:
Purchase the Freezer Cooking Planner for the printable template pictured here.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Create a list of the different meals or ingredients that you have stashed away in the freezer. If your freezer is quite full, you may need to empty the freezer completely to understand exactly what you have.
- Next to the item’s name, draw a circle for however many you have on hand. If you have three portions of beef stew, draw three circles.
- As you use up the items in your inventory, cross out a circle. In this way, you’ll know at a glance how many you have left.
- Keep this freezer inventory on the front of your fridge or freezer.
As long as you cross it off each time you pull something from the freezer, you’ll have a great record of what’s left to eat. Not only will this help you tremendously with meal planning, but it will help you make good use of sales, knowing what you have and what you need.
This same process will work if you need to keep track of a pantry or fridge inventory.
FAQs
There is a huge variety of foods you can freeze. You can freeze rice, sauces, soups, casseroles, beans, many cooked vegetables as well as many fruits, baked goods, and so much more! Avoid items with mayonnaise as well as fresh vegetables that you want to stay crisp, such as lettuce or cucumbers. You’ll also want to avoid freezing certain vegetables uncooked as they will change colors or texture. Check our extensive archive of freezer-friendly strategies.
There are multiple ways to track your food inventory: in an app, written on the appliance (fridge or freezer), written on a dry-erase board, or written on paper.
Food kept frozen below zero will be safe to eat indefinitely. However, its taste and texture may decrease over time. Home freezing, however, is difficult to maintain at those safest temperatures. The shelf life of frozen foods will vary based on the item and whether it’s stored in a fridge-freezer or deep freeze. The USDA offers extensive information about freezing and food safety.
Great Freezer Meals
This post was originally published on November 4, 2009. It has been updated for content and clarity.
Marne
I don’t remember where I saw this but what I do is use CLEAN reusable grocery bags (all different). Each holds a different category which works great for my small chest freezer because I can pull them out. The red one has meat, blue has frozen veggies, etc. I have the “legend” takes to the outside as a reminder. I think I will try the list too though!
Jessica Fisher
Yes! I did that when we had a chest freezer. Was really handy.
Molly
THE CIRCLES. Why has this never occurred to me? I ALWAYS have multiples of certain items and have tried a couple different ways to track them and failed. Such a simple solution, but one that has I’ve never thought of, so thank you!
Jessica Fisher
You can do boxes, too. 😉
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Molly, I’m glad I’m not the only one!! It never occurred to me either. Such a Eureka moment, but I must admit I felt pretty dumb not having thought of it myself. It was good that Jessica shared the visual 🙂
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Jessica, I love this simple method. I’ve done inventories before, but put tally marks. Then when I ate them?? I marked through the tallies, or erased them if I’d done them in pencil (neither of which wound up being very accurate) but your simple idea never occurred to me! Thank you. Note to self-KISS! I’ve continued to slowly, very slowly whittle down the freezer so will be implementing this system soon and from now on.
Jessica Fisher
Glad to hear it was helpful!
Sarah
This reminds me that my list needs updating since we’ve been stuck at home for so long. We did a big shop at BJs right before everything got crazy and I was sort of mentally tracking potential meals but now that I’ve made most of the obvious ones a list would be more helpful.
I’m so glad I practice freezer cooking and a one big shop monthly then fill in as needed with perishables. We are in pretty good shape but a lot of our friends don’t cook and are panicking.
Jessica Fisher
Send your friends here! I’m happy to help as I’m able. I’m so glad you’re set!
Karen J
I do this every year before January pantry challenge and just did it again two weeks ago when the writing was on the wall that going to the grocery store was going to change. Just the act of doing freezer inventory was calming and made me feel more confident during this challenging time. Luckily I’d found some good deals on proteins in February-including Costco steaks that I buy once a year for Valentines day-so I feel good about my stock on hand.
Jessica Fisher
Yay! I’m so glad to hear that you’re well set for the duration.
Emmalene Umar
Thank you! This is awesome, very simple, but something you can add to and take away to keep it up to date at all times. Brilliant 🙂
Jessica Fisher
Glad I could help. Let me know if you’re looking for more tips on freezer cooking. It’s one of my favorite things.
Janelle
My first chest freezer is being delivered tomorrow so I can’t speak for that, but I’ve been using a dry erase board to inventory my small freezer. I drew sections on the board to match the sections in my freezer (main shelf, door shelves), and then I store my food by type, so there’re sections for raw meats, cooked meats, veggies, meals, and desserts. I read a blogger that cut pictures out of sales flyers and attached magnets, then slid magnets back and forth between “Stocked” and “To Purchase” on the freezer door, but I’m just afraid that my three year old would have waaayy too much fun confusing mommy with that system!!!
Christa
I have struggled with this since I got a chest freezer two years ago. Nothing seemed to work, the simplicity of your idea got my attention and I went to work. Same concept. AND I ready your post about comletely emptying and cleaning your fridge. I was super inspired and did it that day with my dh’s help. He moved the shelves around to function better for us (duh, never had thought about it) and I had a hard time keeping the door shut all night when we were done. I couldn’t believe how nice it looked, and how FUNCTIONAL it is now. Thanks for all the inspiration, truly.
Ro
How do you distinguish between cooked food and raw, i.e., chicken from the store, or leftover chicken? Thanks for the input.
Ro
Jessica Fisher
I just write it on the list that way.
Terri
I have a spreadsheet created on the computer and then printed and taped to the top of the freezer. Each package of an item is a separate entry recorded with date, type, and amount. Items are crossed off as they are removed and written in as they are added. Every couple of months I pull off the sheet, update the computer file, and put on a fresh copy. It works great!
Nina T.
That’s such a better way to keep track than what I was doing!!! I am definitely going to start doing it that way!!! Thank you!!!!
Just posted on my blog what I got done….not much but it works 🙂 Thanks again for being such a wonderful inspiration! You have no clue how much you have helped me! 🙂
Jacky
I recently started using a spreadsheet on Google documents to track the inventory. I have columns for meat, vegetables, ready to eat, dessert, and misc. It works great! Obviously it is helpful in the weekly meal planning, but it is especially helpful for unplanned or l;ast minute runs to the store. My husband and I can access it from anywhere and see what we have on hand.
Mrs. Little
I am totally going empty my freezer and make a list like this for my fridge! We have a chest freezer so things get lost at the bottom sometimes. We also get 1/4 side of beef every year with multiple cuts of beef. I can never remember how much of each cut we have left.
This will be a great tool!
Thanks!
Heather Ratliff
I love this idea! I’ve been using a white board and I think I’ll continue to do so (especially when I start freezer cooking), but I like the tally marks!
Leigh
I did it! I just emptied my freezer and finished inventorying (is that word) my big freezer. WOW! That feels awesome to know exactly whats in there. Thanks for the nudge in the right direction