Expiry date labels
What it is on top, the date underneath, a sheet at a time.
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Example
Example: 20 freezer labels on a part-used Letter sheet of 30
After a Sunday of batch cooking, five dishes go into the freezer in four containers each. The label sheet is a Letter sheet of 30 (2⅝ × 1 in) whose first 10 labels are already used. Settings: Sheet layout Letter · 30 per sheet, Copies of each label 4, First label to use 11, Emphasis First line larger, Text position Centred.
- Each dish is typed as a block of two lines, with a blank line between dishes. Five dishes with 4 copies each make 20 labels.
- They start at label 11, the middle of the fourth row, and run left to right to label 30, the last on the sheet; labels 1 to 10 are left blank.
- With First line larger, the dish is printed 1.35 times the size of the date, so it reads first from across the kitchen.
- With 6 copies of each, the 30 labels would not all fit after label 10: the first 20 go on this sheet and the last 10 start a second page.
| Typed (first line / second line) | Labels |
|---|---|
| Beef chili / Frozen 11/08/2026 | 4 |
| Chicken noodle soup / Frozen 11/08/2026 | 4 |
| Turkey stock / Frozen 11/08/2026 | 4 |
| Pumpkin bread / Frozen 11/08/2026 | 4 |
| Cranberry sauce / Use by 11/15/2026 | 4 |
labels.pdf: one Letter page at true size. Print at 100 %, not “fit to page”, and try the outlines on plain paper against the sheet first. Dates print as typed, so 11/08/2026 stays month first.
How it works
- Type each label as a block: what it is on the first line, the date on the next, with a blank line between labels.
- Set “copies of each label” if you are batching — six of the same soup, say.
- Leave the emphasis on “first line larger” so the contents read first from across the kitchen.
- Print on label sheets; freezer-grade labels stay stuck when they get cold and damp.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I leave the date blank and write it in?
- Yes. Put the contents on the first line and something like “Use by: ________” on the second, and write the date on the line by hand. A second line of nothing but spaces counts as blank and is dropped. Or print the outlines only and fill the whole label in by hand.
- Is this the same as a food label for selling?
- No. Labels for food sold to the public have legal requirements — allergens, weights, the exact wording of a date mark — and this prints what you type, nothing more. Use it for your own kitchen, a freezer or a staff room.
- Can it number a batch?
- Yes. Put {n} in the text and set the number to start at; each label counts on by one, which is how a batch is tracked.
- The print is a few millimetres off my labels. Can I fix it?
- Yes — use the two nudge boxes. Print the outlines on plain paper first, hold it against a label sheet up to the light, and nudge by the difference you see. Also check that the printer is set to 100 % and not “fit to page”, which shrinks everything by a few per cent.
- Which sheet layout do I choose in the US?
- Letter · 30 per sheet is the common 2⅝ × 1 in address-label sheet, 3 across and 10 down, a good size for freezer bags and tubs. Letter · 10 per sheet is 4 × 2 in, for big containers. The A4 layouts are for A4 label packs; Measure my own sheet covers anything else.
- Can I finish a sheet that already has some labels peeled off?
- Yes: set First label to use to the next free one, counting left to right, row by row. On a 30-label sheet with 10 used, start at 11, and the labels fill 11 to 30.
- Is it free, and is there a watermark?
- It is free, and label sheets never carry a line of ours: they are stuck on parcels and lunch boxes, so there is nowhere for it to go.