Constantly wondering “what's in my fridge?” It's time to kick the habit! We have all the tips you need to clean out and keep track of the food you have in your kitchen. Cut out waste while using our handy, free printable to track what you've got!

Fridge inventory printable checklist from Fun Cheap or Free

If you've followed along for long, you know we LOVE our freezers. Yes, plural. We have several of them, and they are packed to the BRIM with food. The same goes for our fridge and pantry! Our freezers are one of the main tools that allow us to keep our grocery budget so low, and still make healthy, homemade meals for our family!

Aside from learning how to buy extra food items that are on sale (to build that freezer and pantry stockpile), the real trick is to inventory your kitchen so you know what's in there and rotate the food regularly.

*Note: When you click the links in this post, we may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Lucky for us all, we have a gorgeous kitchen inventory printable on ShelfCooking.com that will knock your socks off! So keep on reading to see how to inventory your food and use that beautiful inventory printable. No more wondering “what's in my fridge?” on a daily basis for you!


HOW CAN I EASILY KNOW WHAT'S IN MY FRIDGE, FREEZER, AND PANTRY?

Obviously, the best way to know exactly what you have is to use the kitchen inventory printable. However, you can't just start adding items to it with your next grocery pickup order. You need to completely go through all of the food in your kitchen!

It may be a big task if you have a lot of food, but the first time is the hardest. Once you've gone through all of your food, then you just have to worry about keeping it up to date any time you add or use items.

This is a great time to CLEAN AND ORGANIZE your pantry, fridge, and freezer! Don't worry, we've got some great tips for you on doing this… We're going to focus on cleaning out the freezer, but apply these tips to anywhere you keep food in your house!


TAKE EVERYTHING OUT OF YOUR FREEZER

Freezer foods and freezer inventory checklist printable, from Fun Cheap or Free

Choose one side or area of your freezer and completely empty the contents to the floor. Keep a garbage can close by and toss anything that is super old, funky looking (or smelling), or something that you will never use.

Keep your stuff in a pile, it won't thaw out fast enough to do any harm to anything! But if you're worried, keep a cooler nearby and put the food in there.


CLEAN OUT THE CREEPY GUNK

Don't skip the cleaning part! You never know when your freezer will be empty again, so take advantage of it. Use a vacuum to suck out what you can, then move on to the elbow grease! Ecloths are our favorite way to scrub all of the gross stuff out of the fridge and freezer!


PUT IT ALL BACK & WRITE IT DOWN

Freezer inventory checklist in a freezer drawer, from Fun Cheap or Free

Put everything back, and try your best to make it make sense! Write down every item as you go. Here's how we do it:

  • Start with the least-used, bulkiest stuff at the bottom.
  • Try to make each side or area of your freezer make sense. For example, here's how we organized our kitchen pull-out freezer:
    • Left side: Frozen meals/soup, meat, purees, salsa, etc.
    • Right side: Veggies, fruit, dairy, baking goods, lunchmeat, etc.
    • Top mini drawer: Small, random items, and items we use regularly, such as butter, cream cheese, string cheese and bagged cheese, yogurt, breads, frozen sandwiches, ice cream, etc.
  • Write down everything as you put it back in your freezer and make note of what side/area it's on. Try to write it down somewhat in the same order as how you put it back in your freezer, along with how many you have.

USE YOUR KITCHEN INVENTORY PRINTABLE

Kitchen inventory checklist printable on a clipboard, from Fun Cheap or Free

Don't forget to use your kitchen inventory checklist from ShelfCooking.com so you're no longer asking yourself “what's in my fridge?”!

Remember, at the end of the day the purpose of having all this glorious food is to make your life easier and save you money… So USE IT! Plan your meals around what you have, especially on those weeks where money is tight.


DO A SPENDING FREEZE

Wanna get reeeeaaaaalllll crazy?!

Now that you have all this newly discovered food in your life, do a one- or two-week spending freeze! It will not only force you to use what you have, but it's a great way to save a LOT of money in a short amount of time. It's liberating, motivating, and empowering; like a juice cleanse for your body or something.

In one week you could save enough money to completely pay for Christmas. Buy a few kitchen staples before the freeze, but otherwise don't spend a dime and focus only on what you have in your pantry, fridge, and freezer!


That's it! Super easy, super useful, super quick project that will make you feel oh so good. Now, get out there and enjoy having a romantic date with the food in your kitchen!

Image with text that reads "how to inventory your food and know what you have" from Fun Cheap or Free

Have you checked out ShelfCooking.com yet? Our brand new site is dedicated to helping you cook delicious, homemade, down-home-cooked meals for your family without spending too much time in the kitchen!

Basically every parent's dream, right? Join our Shelf Cooking Community today!


Want some more great ideas?

Happy inventorying!

Jordan F Page signature from Fun Cheap or Free