Home Kitchen Management – Food inventory management is the restaurant industry’s answer to reducing food waste (and staying profitable). I decided to find out how it’s done and then adapt that process to my home kitchen because the sad truth is that 50% of what we send to landfill each week is food waste. Worse, it’s a significant waste of your money!
While there are many (often complex) ways that individual restaurants do this, the basic steps to stocking food are the same: set up your space, decide what supplies are needed, count and replenish ingredients regularly, and always use the oldest stock first . The key to sticking with and benefiting from the process in your home is to keep it dead simple.
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If you think this is going to be a boring and painful task, think again. Keeping your home food supply lean and fresh can be a quick and even enjoyable weekly task that lets you focus on coming up with new delicious meals! By following the process I share below, I find my kitchen is always full of fresh ingredients, my weekly menu planning is a breeze, my grocery bills are lower, and my garbage pile has gotten significantly smaller.
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While home kitchens don’t have the same space dimensions as restaurants, do your best to set them up so you can easily use ingredients on a “First In, First Out” basis.
Once you’ve designated these areas, reorganize all of your current ingredients/supplies into them. Just do it as fast as possible. This is a good time to get rid of expired foods and move items to the front of your shelves that need to be used first.
Restaurants use a “par inventory sheet” to manage food inventory by ingredient. Chefs set the levels of how much of a certain item they want on hand, also known as a par level. They also consider how much extra they want on hand for emergencies and special occasions. Then it’s just simple math to see what groceries you need to buy/order.
To set up a basic pari inventory sheet for your kitchen, grab a piece of paper and make 5 columns. 1 each for: ingredient, par level, quantity in store, extras par and order amount.
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Your first inventory count will take a little longer because you will be writing in ingredients for the first time and then deciding on a par level. Trust me, it will save time and aggravation to do it freehand with simple pen and paper. You can make a printable template for future use after you have a running list of your typical ingredients.
Your task here is to make a note of how much of each ingredient you have in your “Amount in Store” column on your inventory sheet.
Be sure to count them according to the unit of measure in which you usually buy them. For example, if you buy soft drinks by the box, count them by the box. If you buy tomatoes by the can, count them by the can. You will eventually use this list in the grocery store, so you will want to know what grocery store amount to buy.
After you’ve completed your first score, it’s time to decide on your par levels. Simply go through the ingredients you’ve documented and add how much you want to keep on hand at any given time.
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How many weeks worth of groceries you keep in your pantry is a personal decision for each household given where you live, food availability and your storage space. At a minimum, or if you just want to start, aim for a 2 week pantry. (If your family gets sick, you can miss one grocery store and everyone will still be well fed.) If you choose, you can build it out from there.
However, for items that store well, you’ll want more than 2 weeks to take advantage of bulk savings and sales. Canned beans, for example, store well and are often offered for sale. These are the most important targets you can supplement. Others, like milk for example, you’ll want to buy fresh at each store, so there’s no point in setting it up.
As you continue this process of taking inventory, you will refine your pari level to the right amount for your diet/lifestyle. Don’t sweat it if you don’t get it right on the first try. It will only be a few times before you quickly see where you have too much or too little stocking.
Food for thought…restaurants usually have their standard menu. They know roughly what ingredients they will cook regularly and use that to inform their par-level decisions. At home we often eat the same 10-15 meals repeatedly. If you know what it is for your household, you can use it to inform your par-level decisions.
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This step is optional as it is more for those who are keen to save as much money as possible in addition to reducing food waste. It is a bit tedious and time consuming. Simply check the prices at your typical stores for the items you buy the most and make a note of them on your inventory sheets.
To keep it simple, I keep a handful of my weekly receipts for reference, and update prices on my template when I do a full food inventory once a season. I’m not too thorough about this step either, since this is my home kitchen. I just keep track of the things we tend to stock up on when there’s a sale (like toilet paper). For example, I don’t track the price of our ketchup because we don’t use it fast enough to stock up.
Prices change weekly with many factors… so use the most recent price you can find as your reference point on your pages. If you shop at multiple stores, it’s helpful to make a note of where you get this price. This allows you to recognize a good sale when you see one. ?
Simply take the inventory sheet and do some simple math to create a shopping list. Then go get those items.
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For this step, remember that you are replenishing your storage stock. This is NOT your typical weekly grocery store. Focus on buying basic items, as well as pantry and freezer items that keep well. (ie. Save fresh produce for your weekly grocery shop.)
If the large one-time expense isn’t in your budget right now, you can build your inventory over time. Just bring the inventory list with you each weekly shop and watch for sales so you can take advantage when you see them. I keep a copy on my phone in a note for quick reference.
When you put away your groceries, be sure to store the new items in the back and bring the older items to the front of the shelf so they get used next. By doing it this way, you can ensure that nothing expires because it is pushed to the back and you always have the freshest stock.
Each week, do a quick eyeball of your fridge, freezer and pantry as you write down your shopping list. You will want to replenish anything that was used up during the previous week. I usually do weekly inventory with a quick eyeball rather than a formal inventory sheet.
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Every now and then take the time to do a complete inventory. I usually find that doing this once a season with our inventory sheet is enough. This is usually when either the storage areas become disorganized or we are low on inventory and need a large store.
Hi, I’m Laura. A suburban mother and housewife with an interest in sustainable living. This website where I share everything I’ve learned – what worked and what didn’t as my family and I work towards a less waste and healthier home.
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I am text block. Click edit button to change this text. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. However, running a home is no easy task, but as women we are called to be wise and look after the ways of our household
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