# Pantry Inventory App With Expiry Reminders, Plus a Free Template > Make each pantry shelf, freezer drawer and chest freezer basket a numbered box in Hoardo, list what's in it with how many, and give food a best-before date with a reminder. Hoardo emails you before it expires and when staples run low. Start from the free template on this page. Published 2026-10-26 by Hoardo. Original: https://www.hoardo.com/articles/pantry-inventory A pantry inventory is a list of the food you have, where it is and when it goes off. Kept on paper, it's out of date by the second shop. Kept in a pantry inventory app, it can remind you before the chicken in the freezer needs eating, and tell you there's a second tin of tomatoes before you buy a third. Hoardo is a free inventory app for exactly that: the pantry shelves, the freezer drawers and the medicine cabinet, each with what's in it, how many and until when. This guide shows how to set it up, and there's a free pantry inventory template to start from. ## A pantry inventory app that knows what expires Food has one date that matters: best before (or use by). Hoardo keeps it in one of two ways. - **The item's own Date.** Every item can have a date, shown on its row. Good when you only track one date per thing. - **A Best before property.** Hoardo's Home properties include Best before. Add it in Settings › Item properties and every item gets a Best before row, with the date on its line in the list. Either way, tap "Notify me?" beside the date and pick when: on the day, 1, 2, 3, 7, 14 or 30 days before, or 1, 7, 14 or 30 days after. Hoardo emails you and shows it in the app's notifications. A reminder goes to the person who set it, so two people in a household can each watch their own things. Each date has one reminder, so pick the timing that gives you time to cook it. *The chicken in the chest freezer: Notify me a week before its best-before date, and the email that comes.* ## Set up the kitchen in ten minutes 1. **Make a room for each place food lives.** "Kitchen" for the pantry and the fridge freezer, "Garage" for the chest freezer. 2. **Add a numbered box for each shelf, drawer or basket.** "Pantry shelf", "Baking shelf", "Freezer drawers". Write the number on a strip of tape on the shelf edge, or print a QR label. 3. **Add what's there.** Type it, say "four packs of spaghetti, six tins of tomatoes" out loud, or take a photo of the shelf and let Hoardo list what it sees. Then check the counts. 4. **Add best-before dates** to what can go off. Dry pasta can wait; the fresh yeast can't. Your pantry inventory list is then searchable from the shop: open Hoardo, type "tomato", and see what you have and where. *The pantry shelf: how many of each, with best-before dates. The oat milk is down to its last one.* ## Freezer inventory A freezer inventory works best when each drawer or basket is its own numbered box. You stop guessing which drawer the berries are in, and you see at a glance which drawer is full. Choose the freezer drawing for the box in Hoardo and set how full it is. Label bags with what's in them and the date you froze them. Put that date, or a best-before date, on the item in Hoardo, and the oldest things get eaten first. ### Chest freezer inventory A chest freezer is where food disappears. Split it into the layers you actually use, like "top basket" and "bottom", and make each one a box. Anything you take out, take off the list or lower its count with − on the item. Before a big shop, open the bottom layer's list instead of emptying the freezer onto the floor. *The bottom of the chest freezer: soup, bread rolls and bolognese, each with its date.* ### Freezer inventory list on paper If you like a printed freezer inventory list on the freezer door, export it: every room in Hoardo exports as a spreadsheet (CSV) you can print. The list on your phone stays the one you search and change. ## Quantities and low stock Every item has a quantity, and − and + change it as you use things or unpack the shopping. For staples you never want to run out of, tap "Notify me?" beside the quantity and pick a level. When the oat milk gets down to it, Hoardo emails you. Its count turns red on the shelf's list, so you see it too. *The oat milk is down to one: Hoardo's email says it's running low.* ## Scanning barcodes, and what scanning doesn't do You can add a product's barcode to an item, and scanning it with your phone's camera then finds that item. It's quick for the things you buy again and again. Scanning doesn't look the product up. There's no food database behind it, so a code Hoardo hasn't seen before doesn't fill in a name. Type the name once, say it, or take a photo of the shelf and Hoardo names what's in the picture. ## Free pantry inventory template Prefer to start in a spreadsheet? This pantry inventory template has the columns Hoardo's import understands: name, room, shelf or freezer basket, quantity, best before, a minimum level and notes. Open it in Excel or Google Sheets as a pantry inventory spreadsheet, or fill it in and bring it into Hoardo. [Download the pantry and freezer inventory template (CSV)](https://www.hoardo.com/templates/pantry-freezer-inventory-template.csv) To import it, drop the file into Hoardo's chat. Hoardo shows its plan before anything is added: rooms from the Room column, boxes from the Box column, the best-before date on each item's Date and a low-stock alert from Min level. Change any column's place in the plan, then bring it all in. ## Medicine inventory The medicine cabinet works the same way. Make it a box, list what's in it with how many, and give each medicine its expiry date with a reminder. A medicine inventory, or a medication inventory for a family member, is mainly about two things: knowing what you have before you buy more, and knowing what's out of date. Do the same for a first aid kit inventory: plasters, bandages, antiseptic, the thermometer. Set a low-stock alert on the plasters, because they always run out on a Sunday. Hoardo keeps the list; it doesn't give medical advice. Ask a pharmacist about what to keep and how to get rid of expired medicines safely. *The medicine cabinet: what's there, how many, and when each one expires.* ## Share the pantry with the household Invite everyone who shops or cooks to the kitchen room. They can edit the list, or only view it. Whoever is in the supermarket searches "tomato" and sees the tins on the pantry shelf and the soup in the chest freezer, with how many of each. *Search for tomato: the tins on the pantry shelf and the soup in the chest freezer.* **Know what's in the pantry before you shop Shelves, freezer baskets, best-before reminders and low-stock alerts. Free, every feature included.** [Start free](https://www.hoardo.com/login) ## Questions about pantry inventory ### What's the best way to keep a pantry inventory? Treat each shelf, drawer and freezer basket as a numbered box, list what's in it with how many, and add a best-before date to anything that goes off. Change the counts when you cook or shop. A list you can search from the shop beats a sheet on the fridge door. ### Can an app remind me before food expires? Yes. In Hoardo, tap Notify me? beside an item's date or its Best before date and pick when, from the day itself to 30 days before. Hoardo sends you an email and shows it in the app. ### How do I keep a freezer inventory? Make each freezer drawer or chest freezer basket a box in Hoardo, list the bags with the date you froze them, and take things off the list as you use them. Search then tells you which drawer the peas are in. ### Does scanning a barcode fill in the product? No. Hoardo has no product database. Add a barcode to an item once and scanning finds that item again, but a new code doesn't come with a name. Type it, say it, or take a photo and Hoardo names what it sees. ### Is there a free pantry inventory template? Yes, you can download it from this page as a CSV. It opens in Excel or Google Sheets, and Hoardo's import turns it into rooms, boxes and items with best-before dates and low-stock alerts. ### Can I track medicine expiry dates? Yes. Make the medicine cabinet or the first aid kit a box, and give each medicine its expiry date and a reminder. Hoardo keeps the list but doesn't give medical advice: ask a pharmacist what to keep and how to get rid of old medicines.