Waste Log Template for a Kitchen (Free Excel File)

A kitchen waste log has one line for everything that goes in the bin, gets eaten by staff or is given away: the date, the item and its lot, how much, the reason, what it cost, who recorded it, and what would have prevented it. Total it by reason and by item once a week, and the biggest line tells you what to change. In the month filled in below, a small kitchen threw away $105.24, and 44% of it was one thing: bread that didn't sell.

The short version

• Log it when it happens, by the bin, not from memory at the end of the week.
• Give every line a reason from a short fixed list, so the reasons add up.
• Put a cost on every line. A count of loaves doesn't change behavior; a dollar figure does.
• Read the totals weekly and fix the biggest one. Ignore the rest until it's fixed.
• In TaroStack, every write-off carries its reason, lot and cost, so this summary is a report. More below.

The columns

Samples and staff meals aren't waste in the usual sense, but they leave the shelf without a sale, and if they're not written down the stock count comes up short and nobody knows why. Put them on the log with their own reasons.

A month, filled in

Here's Windward Roots, the made-up taro business I use in these examples, in September 2026:

The bread is costed at $2.60 a loaf, which is what the steps in recipe costing work out for it, and kūlolo at $1.92 a pack, the materials in one twelfth of a pan.

What the totals said

By item, taro sweet bread was $52.00 of it: 15 unsold loaves ($39.00), plus the tasting and the staff lunch.

So the month's lesson isn't spills or expired cream. It's that the bake is sized for a busier day than some days turn out to be. Three of the four unsold lines are bread. Baking six fewer loaves on the slow days would have saved most of $39 a month, and the production schedule example is how to size the bake by day instead of by habit. The taro paste is the second lesson: one batch made too big, $12.29 gone, and making paste twice a week instead of once costs nothing.

$105 a month sounds small. It's $1,263 a year, from a kitchen this size, and it's only what got written down.

Get the template

Download the waste log. It has this month filled in, a drop-down for the reason, and a Summary tab that totals by reason and by item with SUMIF and COUNTIF, so a new line counts the moment it's typed. It's a plain Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.

Value              =IF(OR(D2="",G2=""), "", D2*G2)
Value by reason    =SUMIF('Waste log'!$F:$F, A2, 'Waste log'!$H:$H)

Keep the clipboard version by the bin and type it up weekly, or keep the sheet on a tablet in the kitchen. Either way, the log only works if writing a line takes less effort than not writing it.

Waste and your stock count

Every line on the log is stock that left the shelf. If it isn't taken off your records too, the next count comes up short by exactly the waste, and it'll look like a mystery. That's cause 3 in why inventory doesn't match. For the books, written-off stock isn't in your closing inventory, which is how it reaches your cost of goods sold; there's more on that in how to calculate cost of goods sold for a bakery.

Where this stops working

The log lives by the bin, and the stock records live somewhere else, so every line has to be written twice: once on the log and once as a write-off in the stock sheet. The second one is the one that gets skipped. The cost column needs a current price for every item, which goes stale. And the most expensive waste, stock that expires quietly at the back of the walk-in, only reaches the log after it's already lost.

How TaroStack does it

In TaroStack the waste log and the stock records are the same record. When something is thrown out, it's written off in the app with its reason (expired, spoiled, damaged, sample, lost and the rest), from the lot it came from, at what that lot actually cost you. The stock goes down as you record it, so the next count matches, and waste can be reported by reason, item and site whenever you want this month's totals. Corrections are recorded as corrections, and can be undone.

The bigger saving is the waste that never happens. TaroStack forecasts what will expire unsold at the rate each item really leaves each site, and what it will cost, so the taro paste is a warning on the 12th rather than a line on the 15th. Alerts for lots about to expire come to the app and your email, and expired or held stock stops counting as available, so it isn't sold or baked by mistake.

Write-offs, lots and expiry are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, and your items import from a spreadsheet. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.

Questions people also ask

What should be on a kitchen waste log?

Date, item, lot, quantity and unit, a reason from a fixed list, the cost, who recorded it, and what would have prevented it. The reason and the cost are what make the totals useful.

How do I start a food waste log?

Put a sheet on a clipboard by the bin with the columns above and a short list of reasons, and ask everyone to write a line whenever something is thrown out. Type it up weekly, total it by reason, and act on the biggest line.

Should staff meals and samples go on the waste log?

Yes, with their own reasons. They leave the shelf without a sale, and if they aren't recorded, your stock count and your food cost will both be off by that much.

How do you calculate the cost of food waste?

Quantity times what it cost you per unit, for each line, then add them up. Use cost, not selling price: a loaf that cost $2.60 to make is $2.60 of waste, even if it would have sold for $9.