Free cooking and cooling temperature log template
This free cooking and cooling temperature log template — printable PDF or editable Excel — records the core temperature of cooked items and tracks how fast cooked food came down through the danger zone, with a column for the use-by date you assign afterwards.
Free. No email address, no sign-up — the cooking & cooling temperature log downloads straight away.
Cooking and cooling are the two steps where a kitchen most often loses control of food safety, and they are the two most awkward to record because both involve a clock as well as a thermometer. This sheet keeps them on one page so the same person doing the batch cook fills in both halves.
For cooking, the widely used pass figure is a core temperature of 75°C held momentarily, with equivalent time-temperature combinations accepted in most systems (for example 70°C for two minutes). The US Food Code works in Fahrenheit with product-specific minimums. Print whichever figure your own system specifies in the target column rather than assuming the one on the sheet applies to you.
For cooling, the sheet records a start time and temperature, an end time and temperature, and asks for the elapsed time. The common two-stage rule is down to 21°C within two hours and to 5°C within a further four. Writing the start time down is the whole trick — teams that only record the final temperature can never prove the food got there fast enough.
The use-by column exists because a cooling record without a date on the container is useless the next morning. Fill in the date you have written on the label, so the sheet and the container agree.
What's on the sheet
Log sheet — blank rows to fill in · Landscape A4 · PDF, Excel and CSV
Header fields
Venue / site · Date · Chef on duty
Columns
- Item / batch — Name it as the label says
- Step — Cook / Cool
- Start time — hh:mm
- Start temp — °C
- End time — hh:mm
- Core / end temp — °C
- Elapsed — hh:mm
- Pass? — Y / N
- Use-by date — As written on the label
- Initials
16 blank rows per sheet.
What you get
- ✓Printable PDF, landscape A4, 16 batch rows per day
- ✓Editable Excel (.xlsx) with an elapsed-time formula already in place
- ✓CSV version for importing elsewhere
- ✓Separate cook and cool rows so one batch can be tracked through both steps
- ✓Use-by date column that matches what goes on the label
- ✓Footer prompts for probe hygiene and failed-batch actions
How to use it
- 1
Print one sheet per day and keep it on the pass or beside the blast chiller.
- 2
Write the batch name exactly as it appears on the container label so the two can be matched later.
- 3
For a cook, record the finish time and the core temperature you probed, then mark pass or fail against your target figure.
- 4
For a cool, record the time and temperature the moment the item comes off the heat — not when you remember.
- 5
Take the closing reading, work out the elapsed time, and mark pass or fail against your two-stage cooling rule.
- 6
Copy the use-by date from the container label into the last column and initial the row.
Questions
What core temperature should cooked food reach?
75°C in the thickest part is the figure used across the UK, Ireland and Australia, with equivalents such as 70°C for two minutes accepted. The US Food Code sets product-specific minimums in Fahrenheit. Print your own system's figure in the target column.
How fast does cooked food need to cool?
The widely used two-stage rule is 60°C down to 21°C within two hours, then down to 5°C within a further four hours. Portioning into shallower trays is usually what fixes a failed cool.
How do I work out a use-by date for cooked food?
Many kitchens use the day of production plus three days for chilled cooked food, but the correct figure depends on the product and your own shelf-life validation. Whatever you decide, the label and this log should say the same date.
Do I have to record every batch?
Record every batch you cook and cool for later use. Items cooked to order and served immediately are usually covered by a periodic spot check instead — check what your own food safety management system requires.
Or stop printing it altogether
Rotahr does this check on a phone — timestamped, with the person who did it attached, reminders when one is due, and a PDF export when somebody asks for a month of records. Same job, no folder to search through.
Templates that go with it
Reheat & hot holding record
This free reheat and hot holding record template — printable PDF or editable Excel — gives you one row per batch to log the core temperature it reached on reheating, the time it went into the hot hold unit, a temperature check every hour or two after that, and the time it came off or was discarded.
Fridge & freezer temperature log
This is a free fridge and freezer temperature log template you can download as a printable PDF or an editable Excel sheet — one page per week, with a row for every named unit and space for a morning and evening reading.
Corrective action log
This free HACCP corrective action log template — printable PDF or editable Excel — records every failed check in one place: what went wrong, what you did immediately, what you changed so it does not recur, and who signed it off.
Delivery check record
This free delivery check record template — printable PDF or editable Excel — gives you one row per delivery to record the supplier, the temperature of chilled and frozen goods on arrival, packaging and date-code condition, and exactly what you rejected and why.
Free to print, copy and use in your venue — no attribution required. Written for an international audience: where a threshold is a widely used figure it is printed as one, but food safety and employment rules differ by country and change. Check yours before relying on this sheet.
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