Best-Before Date Register for Tins and Dry Goods

Who this is for

Find the old tins before they find you. List what is in the cupboard with its best-before date, and the register counts the days from the date you checked, flags anything already past and marks what to use first.

Households with a deep cupboard, a store of long-life food or a habit of buying the same tin twice, and anyone clearing out a relative's kitchen.

What this helps you track

• Every tin, jar and packet with its pack size, quantity and shelf
• How many days each item has left from the date you checked
• What is already past its best-before date
• What falls due this month and what falls due within three months
• What you did about each one: used, moved forward, donated or thrown

How to use it

1. Write the cupboard or location, the date you are checking and who is checking.
2. Fill the two date fields: the last day of this month and the date three months on from today's check.
3. Take each item out, write its name, pack size, quantity and best-before date, then note which shelf it goes back on.
4. Days left and the past, this-month and use-first flags are worked out in the browser and the workbook; on paper, count from the check date.
5. Put the flagged items at the front of the cupboard and plan meals around them.
6. Write what you did with each item in the action column, and repeat the check whenever you do a big shop.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser
• Excel / Google Sheets workbook

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The workbook uses plain formulas only — SUM, IF, COUNTIF and the like — so it opens in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets without anything breaking, and every calculated cell is grey so you can see which figures it worked out.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

What is the difference between best-before and use-by?

Best-before is generally about quality and use-by about safety, but what each means for a given food, and what is allowed after the date, varies by product and country. Check the packet and the guidance where you are.

Why count from the date checked rather than today?

So the paper and the workbook agree. The register is a snapshot of the cupboard on the day you went through it; change the date checked when you do the next round and the flags move with it.

Some packets only give a month and year. What date do I enter?

Pick one rule and stick to it, such as the first day of that month, which errs on the early side. Write the rule in the notes so whoever checks next uses the same one.

How is this different from the freezer tracker?

The freezer tracker is for food you froze yourself, with dates you choose. This register is for shop-bought long-life food with printed dates, and it adds a pack size and an action column for what happened to each item.