Food Pantry Freshness Planner
Add your fridge, freezer, and pantry items once and get a live countdown to each expiry date. The list sorts by urgency so you always know what to eat first. Storage life estimates come from USDA FoodKeeper data. Nothing uploaded.
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Your pantry - sorted by urgency
Storage life quick reference (USDA FoodKeeper)
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Learn more: how long food stays good
How the planner works
For each item, the planner adds a shelf life in days to your purchase date to get an expiry date. It sorts items by days remaining, marks anything due within 7 days as "soon" and anything past its date as expired.
The shelf lives vary a lot with storage and whether the package is open. Unopened eggs in the fridge are 35 days, opened milk 5, and opened hard cheese 21 against 180 days sealed. Dry white rice in the pantry is 1,825 days, and honey is 3,650.
Where the numbers sit against published ranges
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln's food storage chart lists eggs in the shell at 3 to 5 weeks in the fridge, hard cheese at 6 months unopened and 3 to 4 weeks opened, and cooked leftovers at 3 to 4 days. The planner's figures sit at or inside those ranges, using the upper end for eggs and leftovers.
The same chart lists ground meat at 3 to 4 months in the freezer, steaks at 4 to 12 months and fatty fish at 3 to 6 months. It notes that freezing keeps food safe indefinitely, so freezer times are for quality (flavor, color, texture) only.
Date labels
Pare's guide to date labels says that in the United States, apart from infant formula, food date labels are not federally required and are not standardized. It adds that rice, pasta, dried beans and canned goods last far longer than their dates, often a year or more past them, as long as the packaging is intact.
The planner works from a purchase date and its own shelf lives, not the printed date. Use its dates for planning, and check smell, texture and appearance before eating anything. If you are unsure, throw it out.
FAQ
Does a printed date mean the food is unsafe after it?
Not necessarily for shelf-stable foods. Labels are not standardized in the US, and dry goods and canned foods commonly last well past them. Raw meat, dairy and leftovers need more care, so follow the fridge timelines.
Why does opening a package shorten shelf life?
An opened food is exposed to air, moisture and handling that a sealed one is not, which speeds up staleness or spoilage. The planner lists opened and unopened shelf lives separately for that reason.
How do I use FIFO in a home pantry?
First in, first out means putting new purchases behind older stock so the older items get used first. It is a placement habit, not a calculation, and it cuts the number of forgotten items.