Pantry Inventory + Use-It-Up Tracker

Most pantry trackers just list what you own. This one asks the harder question: what needs eating first — and did you actually save it?

HOW IT WORKS
Every item gets a Date Added and a Use-By Window in days — YOUR window, typed by you, from the date on the packet or your own judgement. The sheet computes the use-by date and the days left, and flags two states: USE SOON (inside your use-soon window, 7 days in the sample) and CHECK DATE? (past the window you set). Then it does the part no other pantry sheet does: the Use-It-Up Planner ranks everything flagged, most urgent first, with a meal idea and an outcome column — and the scoreboard turns those outcomes into the two numbers that matter: value rescued and value thrown away.

WHAT’S INSIDE
– Pantry Inventory (24 rows): item, location (Pantry / Fridge / Freezer), quantity, unit, estimated value, date added, your window in days — use-by date, days left and the flag all calculate themselves
– The sample pantry: 22 items worth $128.75 — 4 flagged USE SOON (hummus at 1 day, milk at 4, yogurt at 5, carrots at 7) and 2 already past their windows (a tub of cooked rice, a batch of soup)
– Use-It-Up Planner: the flagged items ranked worst-first by formula — the soup at −14 days goes first, then the rice, then the hummus — each with a planned meal and an outcome
– The Waste Scoreboard: 6 flagged, 5 rescued worth $16.92, 1 thrown away worth $5.60 — the soup, honestly logged
– Expense Log + zero-based Monthly Budget ($405 across 8 grocery categories), Dashboard and Monthly Summary

HONEST LIMITS, STATED PLAINLY
The sheet tracks dates; it is not a food-safety authority. The window on every item is your own entry — the sheet does the arithmetic on your dates, it never judges whether food is safe. The CHECK DATE? flag is deliberately hedged: it tells you to look at the item and decide, not that anything is spoiled.

How it works: the seven tabs are Start Here (your settings + step-by-step), the two feature tabs, Expense Log, Monthly Budget (zero-based), Dashboard and Monthly Summary. Yellow cells are the only places you type — every yellow value is your own entry. Formula cells are locked (password: sheetdaily, disclosed on the Start Here tab) and every formula is error-wrapped, so an untouched sheet reads blank instead of showing error codes. Instant download, ready for Excel and Google Sheets.

A note on the sample data: every price and date in this workbook is example data, typed in by hand to show you how the sheet behaves. Replace it with your own.