For one observation period, write prepared, served, surplus and unserved waste in the same unit, and keep plate waste beside them rather than inside that balance. Served food is already counted when it is issued. A blank is unknown. Prepared food that does not match the other three figures within your stated precision is unresolved, not a finished row. This log is not a serving-size calculator and it does not say food is safe to donate.

Menu design and supplier questions stay on the catering guide. Before food waste leaves the site, use the waste-reduction guide. Once you know the waste quantity, the stream itself goes on the event waste plan.

Define the period and the categories

Name the observation period on the row, such as one service on one morning. Use one unit for every quantity on that row. Litres and kilograms do not share a row.

The categories are mutually exclusive:

  • prepared: the food you started with for that period
  • served: food issued to guests, counted at the point it is issued
  • surplus: unserved food you are still holding, not yet discarded
  • unserved waste: discarded food that was never served
  • plate waste: served food that later came back and was discarded

Plate waste cannot also sit inside the unserved balance, because the served figure already includes it. You can still mention plate waste in a waste figure you state yourself, when both the unserved waste and the plate waste are known numbers and the plate waste was not already inside the unserved cell. This file does not add those two numbers.

If surplus is later thrown away, take it out of surplus and record the discard as waste, or record it only as waste. Do not leave it in both.

Compare the unserved balance yourself

Add served, surplus and unserved waste. Compare that with prepared. You choose a measurement precision, such as 0 litres when you need an exact match, or 0.5 litres when the scale only supports that.

The row can be reconciled only when the difference is within that precision, plate waste is not inside the unserved figure, and surplus has not also been counted as waste. If prepared is larger than the three-way sum by more than the precision, the gap is an unexplained remainder. If prepared is smaller, the row is over-allocated. Neither is a finished row.

A blank in prepared, served, surplus or unserved waste means that quantity is unknown. Do not type zero. A blank plate-waste cell is also unknown, so leave it out of any waste figure you state. A negative number is not a quantity.

You type the status: reconciled, unknown, remainder, over-allocation, double count, surplus double count, or not a quantity. The spreadsheet does not compare the cells.

Defra’s food and drink waste hierarchy, updated 1 January 2024, says to prevent surplus first and then redistribute what can be redistributed. Food past its use-by date must be treated as waste, and catering waste must not be fed to farmed animals. Make those checks before you place a quantity in surplus. This log does not decide that a food is safe.

Fill in the log

Download both files. Save a copy of the blank file and type into that copy.

There is no grams-per-guest column. A guest count in a note is context. It is never multiplied into a quantity.

Worked example: one balanced row and the cases that stay open

The rows are fictional quantities for Northgate Studio’s service on 9 April 2026, from 08:00 to 12:00.

Item Quantities Status
Soup 20 litres prepared, 14 served, 4 surplus, 2 unserved waste. Plate waste 1 litre, kept outside that sum. Reconciled. 14 plus 4 plus 2 equals 20. The 1 litre is not in that equation.
Pudding Unserved waste is blank. Unknown. The blank is not zero.
Salad 10 kg prepared and 9 kg allocated. Remainder. The extra kilogram is unexplained.
Sandwiches 8 portions prepared and 10 allocated. Over-allocation.
Stew Plate waste is also inside the unserved figure. Double count. Unresolved.
Bread Surplus is also counted in waste. Surplus double count. Unresolved.
Juice Unserved waste is negative. Not a quantity.

If you state a waste figure for the soup, you may add the 2 litres of unserved waste and the 1 litre of plate waste yourself, because both are filled and the plate waste is outside the balance. The file does not do that addition. None of the surplus is described as safe to donate.

Limits

The log does not set a portion, a calorie figure, a temperature or an allergen status. It does not say whether food may be fed to animals. Bin acceptance stays on the event waste plan.

Sources