Spring Clean Your Food Storage DAY 2: KITCHEN PANTRY

For today’s challenge we are going to go through our kitchen pantries and declutter, organize, and clean them out! If you have a large chunk of time you can pull everything out and do it all at once. But it’s also ok to do a shelf or two at a time so you don’t leave a huge mess on your kitchen counter for three days.

Remove Everything:
- Take everything out of the pantry (or out of one shelf) to start with a clean slate.
Check Expiry Dates:
- Discard any expired or stale items. As with your fridge food, this is a personal choice as to what you consider ok to keep past best-buy dates. It’s always a balance.
Check for Pests:
- Look for signs of pests like insects or rodents. Dispose of any infested items and consider using pest control measures.
Wipe Down Shelves:
- Clean shelves with warm, soapy water to remove dust and spills. Dry thoroughly before placing items back.
Use Organizational Tools and Containers:
- Consider using baskets, bins, or shelf organizers to maximize space and keep items neatly grouped. I love the small Cansolidators from Shelf Reliance to help rotate canned goods.
- Some people like to replace items in boxes and bags with uniform plastic or glass containers. This can be fun and look good but don’t get too caught up in perfection!
Put Food Away:
- Organize items into categories (e.g., grains, canned goods, snacks) to make them easier to find or based on how you use them.
- Move older items to the front and newer items to the back to ensure everything gets used before expiration.
Label Containers:
- Label containers or jars to easily identify contents and expiry dates.
Take an Inventory:
- Determine how much food you would like to keep in your upstairs pantry. I try to keep most of my three-month supply foods upstairs.
- Try to keep at least a few “spares” of most of your spices, condiments, canned goods, boxed goods, etc.
- If you want to be really detailed, you can use this calculator to determine how much food you would need for 3 months. http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/fsme/docs/3monthfoodsupply-new.xls