You can add or update many pantry items at once from a spreadsheet: download a template, fill it in, and upload it. Gaia shows you exactly what the file will create or change before anything is saved.
This covers the item itself: its name, category, and nutrition facts. What a specific vendor sells it for, SKU, pack size, and price, is a separate upload scoped to that vendor. See Bulk Upload a Vendor's Product List. Upload your items here first; a vendor's product upload matches each row to an item that already exists in your Pantry.
To add or edit one item at a time, see Create and Edit an Item. If the item already exists in the Gaia Catalog or the Child Nutrition Database, adding it individually is usually faster; see Add Items from the Gaia Catalog and Add Items from the Child Nutrition Database (CNDB). Bulk upload is for items that aren't already in Gaia, or for editing many of your own items' details in one pass.
Import items is available to nutrition directors and other district-level pantry managers. School managers don't see this option.
Quick answer
Start from the template. Download it from the Import items dialog, its column headers are exactly what Gaia expects to read back.
Only Name is required. An item can be created with just a name; add the rest now or fill it in later.
Every upload adds or updates, matched row by row. Gaia matches each row to an existing item by UPC, then manufacturer code, then name, or by Gaia Code, if your file has it. A match updates that item; everything else is created new.
A blank cell means no change, on a matched row. Leave a column blank and the item's current value stays exactly as it is.
Nothing saves until you confirm. Gaia checks the file first and shows you what's new, changed, unchanged, or unreadable.
1. Get the template
Go to Pantry, click + Create, then Import items. In the dialog, click Download template.
The template is a blank Excel file with one header row and one example row. Delete the example row before you upload. Item Type, Category, and Base Unit are dropdown columns, filled in with your own district's categories and units, so a typo gets caught before you ever upload the file.
Already have a spreadsheet of your items from somewhere else? You can upload that too; only columns whose headers match the template's exactly (below) are read, and anything else is ignored. If your item data isn't already in that format, whether it's a spreadsheet, a PDF, or something else entirely, use this prompt to convert it with an AI assistant first.
2. Fill in the template
One row per item. Every column except Name is optional. Fill in what you have. Gaia will include dropdown options for all cells that require specific inputs.
Matching: Gaia Code, UPC, Manufacturer Code, and Manufacturer. Gaia uses these, plus Name, to find an item you already have; see How rows are matched below. Leave Gaia Code blank on a brand-new item; it isn't something you make up.
Basic info: Item Type (Food or Supplies), Category, Base Unit, Base Amount Quantity, Shortcode, Alias, Notes, External Record ID, and Item as Recipe. Item as Recipe set to Yes turns it on for that item, the same as on the item page; No or blank leaves it as it is.
Allergens, Special Diets, and Tags: one cell each, as a comma-separated list, for example EGG, MILK, TREE_NUT.
Nutrition facts: one column per nutrient, Calories, Total Fat, Saturated Fat, Trans Fat, Monounsaturated Fats, Polyunsaturated Fats, Cholesterol, Sodium, Total Carbohydrates, Dietary Fiber, Total Sugars, Added Sugars, Protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Calcium, Iron, Potassium, Water, Phosphorus, and Ash, the same values you'd enter on the item's Nutrition tab.
USDA meal pattern credits: one column per component, Grain, Fruit, Vegetable, Red/Orange, Dark Green, Starchy, Beans, Peas, and Lentils, Other Veg, Meat, and Milk.
On a row that updates an existing item, a blank cell in any of these leaves that field exactly as it is, you don't need to re-enter nutrition facts on a row where you're only fixing the price.
3. Upload the file
Back on the Pantry page, click + Create > Import items, click Choose file, and pick your saved file. Excel (.xlsx) and CSV (.csv) are both accepted. Then click Upload & check.
4. Review the preview
Gaia opens the Item Import Preview and tells you how many rows it's checking. Nothing is saved yet. Every row lands in one of four groups, and you can click a group to see just those rows.
New: items this file will create.
Changed: items this file will update. Each row names the field along with the old and new value.
Unchanged: items that matched with nothing different.
Can't read: rows Gaia will skip, each with the reason: a missing Name, an Item Type that isn't Food or Supplies, a Category or Base Unit that doesn't match anything in your district, an Allergen or Special Diet code Gaia doesn't recognize, or a Gaia Code that doesn't match any item you have.
A row that would create or update an incomplete item, missing its type, base unit, or pack size, is marked with exactly which fields are missing, so you can see it coming before you confirm.
5. Confirm
When the preview looks right, click Confirm. Gaia reports how many rows were processed, created, updated, and left unchanged. If any rows couldn't be saved, they're called out separately. Fix those in your file and upload again; everything else has already been saved.
Upload another file takes you straight back to Import items, and Close returns you to the Pantry.
Items created without every field
Because Name is the only required column, a row can create an item with no type, category, base unit, or pack size yet. Gaia creates it anyway rather than rejecting the row, and lists it under the Incomplete tab on the Pantry page, with a count badge, so it doesn't get lost.
An incomplete item already works in most of Gaia: it can go on a menu or into a recipe. A few things that depend on its missing details, like nutrient analysis, USDA compliance checks, and ordering, need those details filled in first. Open the item from the Incomplete tab whenever you're ready to finish it.
Updating items from a Pantry export
To edit many items you already have, export your Items or Supplies view (see Export a Pantry View), change what you need in the file, and upload it here. The export already uses the template's column names. Its Gaia Code column matches each row to the exact item, and its Serving Weight/Volume columns tell Gaia that the nutrients in the file are per serving. Rows you didn't change come back as Unchanged.
How rows are matched
Gaia checks each row against your existing pantry in this order, and stops at the first match:
Gaia Code, if the column is filled in. This targets one exact item. If it doesn't match anything in your pantry, the row can't be read rather than falling back to another method.
UPC.
Manufacturer Code together with Manufacturer.
Name, if nothing above matched.
If a tier matches more than one item in your pantry, Gaia doesn't guess. The row is treated as new rather than risking the wrong match.
Making more changes later
Reuse your last file, or start again from a fresh template, edit what changed, and upload it the same way. Rows you didn't touch come back as Unchanged, and nobody is duplicated as long as they still match by UPC, manufacturer code, or name.
If you're updating items you already have, filling in the Gaia Code column is the most precise way to make sure each row lands on exactly the item you mean, rather than relying on a name or UPC match.