Pantry Inventory: How It Works + FREE Printable

Doing a monthly PANTRY INVENTORY is truly a game-changer for saving time, money, and sanity in the kitchen.

WHAT IS A PANTRY INVENTORY?

The Pantry Inventory sheet is a simplified checklist of clean, healthy foods that allows you to ‘inventory’ all the non-perishable dry ingredients in your kitchen.  The list serves 3 main purposes:

• A checklist of healthy ingredients to what to stock your pantry with
• A guide of which specific brands I buy (I researched each individual ingredient for a good balance of health, price, and convenience)
• A tool to simplify buying these items to only once/month—saving lots of time & money

HOW TO USE THE PANTRY INVENTORY CHECKLIST

1. At the beginning of each month, I print a fresh copy and use it as a running grocery for staple items we run out of.
2. Towards the end of the month, I do a FULL INVENTORY of our kitchen & pantry and mark what needs to be restocked-to get us through the following month.
3. On a designated day of the month (I do each “Third Thursday”) I open up this sheet on my computer, and simply click and order each item that we need to restock. 

TIP: To avoid having 100 browser tabs open as you’re ordering– I suggest closing each tab after you add it to your cart.  When you’re done adding items to your cart(s), you can open each website and all the items will still be in your cart. Just make sure you are signed in to your accounts for each site). 

HOW I CHOSE BRANDS & ITEMS

The 3 factors I considered were– health, price, and convenience.

I researched and price compared each item individually to find the best balance of these for our family (so I don’t have to remember them).

Here are a few examples of how I chose certain items:

Mayonnaise? In an effort to buy mayo made with no soybean or canola oil, I was buying 100% avocado mayo from Costco…only to find it is cheaper elsewhere.

Nuts & Seeds?  Since many store brands are roasted in unhealthy oils, I found ones that are raw or dry-roasted at the best price.

Tomato products?  With tomatoes being on the Dirty Dozen list, I prefer organic tomato-based products whenever possible and reasonably priced.

Cashew butter?  I found the organic version cheaper than regular ones, so why not?!

Certain considerations may be a bit different for your family, so feel free to choose what works best for your budget and preferences!

DOWNLOAD your FREE Pantry Inventory Checklist HERE

WHERE ARE THE INGREDIENTS LINKED?

Most of the links on this sheet are from 3 locations: 

1. Costco  (membership required)
2. Thrive Market (membership required)
3. Amazon

Also, a few items are linked to my local store (Kroger) which I add to my online cart, so they’re already there when I order groceries online for the week.

* Sometimes a link will return “product not found”, usually meaning it is currently out of stock.  This has been happening more often during times of high-volume ordering.  But, once restocked the links will work.  In the meantime, I recommend just searching for a comparable brand.

A QUICK WORD ABOUT MEMBERSHIPS

Since Costco and Thrive Market do require memberships, here are my quick thoughts:

COSTCO: I actually don’t go to the Costco warehouse often, but have found that money saved from JUST ordering online makes my membership worthwhile.  If you’re considering a membership, you can get a $10-$20 Costco gift-card by signing up HERE.

THRIVE MARKET:  You can read more about my honest review of Thrive Market HERE to see if it makes sense for YOUR family. 

If you’re considering a membership, you can get $20 off your first order HERE.

When thinking about memberships, I consider the CONVENIENCE of not having to go to Whole Foods, or certain stores to find certain specialty items.  It’s always wise to reevaluate memberships each year to make sure they are serving your family well, because seasons change!

LET ME KNOW…

If you find something for a better price OR think I should add something send me a message HERE.

I’d love to see your inventory in action!  Take a picture and tag @jennawatersnutrition on Facebook or Instagram!