Canning inventory: Spreadsheet, paper or app?

Updated October 17, 2026

A pantry inventory spreadsheet can track home-canned jars with a row for each batch, jar size and storage place. Include the product, processed date, quantity and used count, then calculate remaining as quantity minus used. Paper and canning apps offer other ways to keep the same records.

If you already use spreadsheets for the garden or household budget, keeping your jar counts in one may feel straightforward. You can choose the columns, sort the rows, and let formulas do the subtraction.

We’re building The Cantry because we’d rather have the batch log and inventory connected in an app. A spreadsheet gives you more freedom to arrange the record yourself, though, and paper may be easier to update beside the jars. Here’s what each involves.

Setting up a canning spreadsheet

Use a row for each batch’s jars in a particular size and place. Two batches of green beans need separate rows so you can keep their processed dates. If some jars are in the kitchen and others downstairs, give each place its own count.

These columns cover a canning inventory:

• Product. Use consistent names so a filter finds all the batches you want.
• Processed date. Enter it as a date the spreadsheet can sort.
• Jar size. Keep sizes separate when adding up quantities.
• Jar location. A room, cupboard or shelf name you recognize.
• Quantity. The number of jars you’re starting that row with.
• Used. The total you’ve opened, given away, or discarded.
• Gifted or discarded (of used). An optional count of the used jars that weren’t eaten at home.
• Remaining. A formula that subtracts used from quantity.

In the example, 17 pints of green beans have left the shelf, including 2 given away or discarded. There are 7 remaining, and the household ate 15. The optional column is part of used, so don’t subtract it again when calculating remaining.

Let formulas handle the totals

Set the remaining formula to subtract the used cell from the quantity cell on each row. When you add a new batch, check that its row has the formula too.

You can filter by product or location and sort by processed date. For planning, add up the batches for a product within the same jar size and period. If you’re comparing what you made with what was eaten, subtract the gifted or discarded count from used.

Those totals give your canning planner something to work from. Keep any jars you already had at the start of the period in the record as well, so the figures account for them.

The ongoing job is entering new batches and changing the count when you take jars. A spreadsheet can do the arithmetic, but it still depends on those updates.

When paper is more convenient

A printed list beside the jars is easy for anyone in the household to mark. There’s no file to open, and a pencil works without power or a connection.

You can use our canning inventory sheet if you’d prefer that setup. You’ll tally jars and work out the remaining counts by hand. If you later want to sort the record or combine totals across several sheets, a spreadsheet can help with that.

What changes with an app

An app made for canning can connect the batch record with the inventory, saving you from entering the same jars in two places. Check whether the app you’re considering does that and whether updating the count is convenient for you.

A pantry inventory app for home-canned food also needs to handle processed dates, jar sizes and storage places. Ask how it works without a connection and how to export your records before moving a spreadsheet you’ve spent time keeping.

Moving a spreadsheet into The Cantry

The Cantry can import a spreadsheet saved as a CSV file, with at least your inventory. It shows how your columns match its fields before saving. The details above provide the product, processed date, jar size, location and remaining count for jars you already have; if you only know the year, you can enter that.

The Cantry works without internet or cell signal, and records come back when you reinstall it or sign in on another phone. You can export records as CSV, including after a subscription ends. It’s a paid subscription with a free trial; the price hasn’t been announced yet.

Once your inventory is entered, logging a batch adds its jars and marking a jar used updates the count. You can attach a gifted or discarded reason to that action. The totals come from those records, without maintaining your own formulas.