Free fridge and freezer temperature log sheet
Type in your fridges and freezers, pick the month and how many checks a day, and print. You get an A4 sheet with a row for every day and, for each check, the time, a reading for each unit and the initials of whoever checked, plus a column for what was done if a reading was out of range. In England and Wales chilled food must be kept at 8°C or below (England, Wales), and the FSA recommends checking fridges at least once a day (Safer food, better business).
Make your sheet
A printable A4 log for the month: your own fridges, display chillers and freezers, a row for every day, the time, a reading per unit, initials and an action column.
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Preview
How to use the log sheet maker
- Leave the check type on "Fridges and freezers", or pick another kind of sheet.
- Type your café's name and the site, if you want them on the sheet, and pick the month. It's set to next month to begin with.
- Add each fridge, display chiller and freezer, with the name your staff know it by, such as "Walk-in fridge". Its limit prints under its name.
- Choose how many checks a day: one, two (opening and closing), three or four. The FSA recommends checking fridges and chilled displays at least once a day, starting with your opening checks (Safer food, better business for caterers).
- Press "Print or save as PDF". Smaller sheets print portrait; wider ones print landscape.
- Each row has the time, a reading per unit, initials and an action column for anything out of range.
The temperatures on the sheet
The sheet prints each unit's limit under its name and the figures below in its legend. Where a figure is the law it says so, and where it is FSA guidance it says that too.
- 8°C or below
- Chilled food. This is the legal limit in England and Wales (England, Schedule 4; Wales, Schedule 4).
- Fridges at 5°C or below
- FSA recommends setting fridges and chilled displays at 5°C or below, so chilled food stays at 8°C or below (Safer food, better business for caterers, "Chilled storage and displaying chilled food").
- −18°C or below
- Frozen food. This is FSA guidance (Safer food, better business for caterers, Management section, "Prove it").
Questions café owners ask
- How often should I check my fridge temperature?
- The FSA recommends checking the temperature of fridges and chilled display equipment at least once a day, starting with your opening checks (Safer food, better business for caterers, "Chilled storage and displaying chilled food"). Anything more often than that is your own choice, set in your food safety procedures. The sheet has room for up to four checks a day.
- What temperature should a fridge and a freezer be?
- Chilled food must be kept at 8°C or below: that is the law in England and Wales (England, Schedule 4; Wales, Schedule 4). The FSA recommends setting fridges and chilled displays at 5°C or below, and its guidance is to keep frozen food at −18°C or below (Safer food, better business for caterers).
- How do I check a freezer temperature?
- FSA guidance is that you can use the freezer's digital display or a dial thermometer to check it is keeping food at a safe temperature (Safer food, better business for caterers, "Prove it").
- Do I have to keep a written temperature log?
- No law asks for this particular sheet. The law asks a food business to have a food safety procedure based on HACCP principles, including monitoring, corrective actions, and documents and records in proportion to the nature and size of the business (Regulation 852/2004, Article 5). The FSA's Safer food, better business pack says that depending on the size and nature of your business you may need to keep more records to show you are making food safely (Safer food, better business for caterers). A temperature log sheet is one way to keep that record.
- What should I do if a fridge reading is too high?
- FSA guidance is that if a fridge or display unit breaks down, you use other equipment or move the food somewhere cold. If you can't, or you don't know how long it has been broken down, contact the Environmental Health team at your local council for advice. Then write down what went wrong and what you did (Safer food, better business for caterers, "Chilled storage and displaying chilled food"). The sheet's last column is for that.
Sources
Every source below was read on 13 October 2026.
Keep the records that go with it.
managero records these on a phone, flags any reading outside the safe range and keeps the history for the inspector export. £18.99 excl VAT a month for your first site, with managero HR & Safety included.