Organizing your pantry
Step 1: Toss Expired Food
Pantries NEED to be organized. YOU need yours to be organized for 3 main reasons:
You waste money over-shopping for things you have but can’t find
You waste time trying to find the things you think you have
You waste both time and money eating out due to frustration in not being able to find what you need to make your meal
Plus lack of organization adds to your stress level and feeling like a failure because you’re wasting your valuable time and money on something that is entirely fixable.
Having an organized pantry will not only save you time and money but you’ll feel more confident and assured when it comes to planning your grocery shopping. This makes meal preparation so much easier.
You CAN organize your pantry but you don’t have to give up your entire weekend to getting it done. I am giving you the tools and instructions to organize your pantry, one step at a time.
You won’t feel overwhelmed because it’s going to be broken down into smaller steps that you should be able to accomplish in some found chunks of time like while kids are napping or even while you’re listening to a podcast.
The first step to to organizing your pantry is to toss expired foods.
Take out each can, box, or package of food and look at its expiration date. The expiration date is typically 2 years after it was packaged. If you haven't used it in that time, chances are you will not.
Look at the following packaged foods in your pantry:
Canned foods
Pasta, rice & other grains
Meal starters (Hamburger Helper, Rice a Roni, Tacos)
Sauces & condiments
Tea & hot chocolate
Cereal & oatmeal
Nuts
Baking ingredients like flour and sugar
If you can't find a date, think hard about when you got it. If you're struggling to remember, it's probably time to toss it.
If the package is open, see if it passes the smell test. You'll know if it smells off, especially with rice, nuts, and oils.
Unfortunately, all you can really do with expired food is throw it away. You can not donate it to a food bank or shelter.
If the food is in a glass container, you can clean it out and recycle the glass. Or use it for storing other food once you've cleaned it out. Otherwise, just throw it away.
While you're at it, throw away any packaged food like crackers, rice, pasta, nuts, etc. that has been opened and not securely closed. It is most likely stale and attracting critters. 😟
I'm going to give you steps in the coming posts on how to organize your pantry so that food waste doesn't happen in the future. For today, make a promise to yourself to do better about this and move on. 😉
Pat yourself on the back once you’ve edited out the food that is past its prime. S
Stay tuned for Step 2!