Download a food diary that works on paper
These original Heyberry templates are free to download, print and use. No email, account or app subscription is required. Choose A4 or US Letter for your printer. The daily PDF has one page; the seven-day PDF has one page for each day, giving you the same writing space throughout the week.
Each page includes the date, time, food and drinks, amount or portion, optional calories and macros, and a notes area. The files are printable worksheets, not automatically calculating nutrition tools or interactive PDF forms. Print at actual size if possible and check your printer's preview before printing seven pages.
How to use the template
Write an entry near the time you eat, so the details are easier to remember. Name the foods and drinks, then record quantities you know. For a homemade dish, note the recipe or batch reference and the portion you ate. If you do not know an amount, keep it marked as approximate.
Use as many lines as a meal needs. A plate with several foods can occupy several rows; a simple snack can occupy one. The time column groups those rows without forcing every meal into a fixed breakfast, lunch or dinner box.
A food journal example
An entry might read “12:30 — homemade vegetable soup — one weighed portion — recipe batch made Sunday.” Add the actual weight if you measured it. Record bread, toppings or drinks on additional rows if they are part of the meal.
This is an example of how to describe food, not a nutrition value for soup. Recipe ingredients and serving amounts vary. Use the optional calorie and macro fields only when you have a reference you want to record; leaving them blank is fine.
Optional calories, protein, carbs and fat
For packaged foods, check the serving amount on the label. For unlabelled ingredients, use an appropriate food record and known quantity. Our guide to food without labels explains matching entries and handling uncertainty.
For a homemade batch, add ingredient totals before dividing the portion. Our homemade food guide includes a worked example. Do not apply the calorie value of an uncooked ingredient to the finished weight of a cooked mixed dish.
Use the seven-day diary for a consistent record
Print the weekly version when you want the same layout for several days. Fill in real dates; the numbered days are simply page labels. Use the notes area for a recipe reference, a correction or an ingredient you could not identify.
Keep completed pages somewhere you are comfortable storing personal meal information. This template records food; it does not diagnose food intolerance or prescribe calorie targets. If a professional asks for a specific kind of record, follow their requested fields.
When an app may be useful
If you prefer a digital record with photo or text estimates and editable food amounts, see Heyberry's food diary app. Download and plan setup are free, while meal logging requires Heyberry Pro. These paper templates remain free whether or not you use the app.