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This new house has a fairly small pantry, but it is definately better than nothing.
I've got paper products on the floor and the great big pots, like the tamale pot and the crab steaming pot on the top shelf ( where I can see them, but not reach them.)
Food is easy to organize because I don't buy food that I don't use. Canned food in one area, pickles and salad toppings next to that. Baking products all in their place, and so on.
In the last house, I had lots of appliances in the pantry. They won't fit here, so they are going to have to go onto shelves in the garage.
I don't have any food in my kitchen, except for a small holder for my seasonings I use almost daily. Other spices have their place in the pantry. Kitchen cabinets are full of cooking utensils, pots and pans, casseroles, etc.
Oh, wait.... there are dog treats next to the stove, if you want to count that as food.
I say I only buy foods I use, but that isn't entirely true. We have a store that sells close dated food, stock overruns, and weird stuff that hasn't sold well. I will sometimes buy the weird stuff. But I take that home and try it immediately. If it is delicious it will sell out fast, so I need to know if I have to rush back and stock up.
My pantry is a closet with one door. I have a spice rack with 8 shelves on the inside of the pantry door. I don't have anything expired in my pantry, and I don't have anything that I'm not going to use.
If I hear about a neighbor or acquaintance who is short on food, I go through the pantry and pull out anything we're not going to use soon and anything I have a large supply of. That happens several times a year.
Flour, cornmeal, and oatmeal will attract bugs if they're kept too long. Baking mix probably will too...I don't use any mixes.
Feeling pretty good right now. Pantry cleaned, organized, and inventoried as part of my autumn house cleaning/organizing goals. I also cleaned out all the cabinets, wiped them down, and set aside things to be donated. It took longer than I thought it would, but I was very thorough. Tomorrow, I tackle the fridge!
I have stuff in my pantry that is most likely long expired, but so what? It's pantry stuff, it has indefinite shelf life. Few kinds of rice, beans, imported noodle and pasta, cans and jars - as long they didn't changed color or bulged, flour in airtight containers, tubes of tomato and garlic paste. Lots of imported stuff like vinegars, dried wild mushrooms; fruit in rum or vodka, infused salts, homemade canned food, dried fruit, grains, Wasa bread, German dark breads vacuum packed, stuff for baking, preserves, Swiss and German muesli, Babel of seeds, seasonings, salts, cooking oils, and stuff that is there for years hidden in the darkest parts of my pantry.
On the bottom shelves I have gallons of spring water, canned sparkling water and a variety of German beers.
I have stuff in my pantry that is most likely long expired, but so what? It's pantry stuff, it has indefinite shelf life. Few kinds of rice, beans, imported noodle and pasta, cans and jars - as long they didn't changed color or bulged, flour in airtight containers, tubes of tomato and garlic paste. Lots of imported stuff like vinegars, dried wild mushrooms; fruit in rum or vodka, infused salts, homemade canned food, dried fruit, grains, Wasa bread, German dark breads vacuum packed, stuff for baking, preserves, Swiss and German muesli, Babel of seeds, seasonings, salts, cooking oils, and stuff that is there for years hidden in the darkest parts of my pantry.
On the bottom shelves I have gallons of spring water, canned sparkling water and a variety of German beers.
But how far is too far? Going through the pantry the other day, found a can of tuna fish that was Sharpie marked as bought in March of 2009 (so that's a rental house, Operation: WHIRLWIND, having two apartments, having one apartment back) and then in an unpacked box, found one marked March of 2001.
So how far back are the years good in the darkest parts?
I know the answer is, "Well, Tamara, if you are concerned, then just don't, and use something newer" but to me, that's not the best attitude to be in. Waste not, want not.......especially right now with bills that take my breath away.
I don't HAVE a pantry, because I live in a small condo, but I have fond memories of the one in my parents' house when I was a kid, before they remodeled the kitchen and go rid of it. You could actually walk into it and fit several people inside, and I remember my older sisters stretching the telephone cord to go inside and use it as a private phone booth.
My substitute pantry is a cabinet next to the stove. That's where I keep any nonperishables like rice, canned goods, spices, etc. I live alone, so I don't do a whole lot of cooking or need to stock up on a bunch of food for my daughter to sort through when I'm dead.
Last year, I started thinking about how much food I actually might have in the freezer or in that cabinet. Now if you looked in those places in my house, most of you would laugh heartily by the sound of it. I don't overstock, as I said. But I started trying to use up what I already have, supplementing of course with fresh stuff, and it was amazing how many meals I had. I am not a big pasta freak, yet I had three different types in the cabinet. I started to eat that here and there, and still have half a box of "garden vegetable spaghetti". I made several bean and chickpea dishes, and I still have three or four more cans to go. I had two types of rice, hardly ever make rice. Why did I need TWO different types? I can't recall, but it is possible that my daughter bought some when she was visiting.
Anyway, the shelves still aren't empty, and I'm talking about a regular-sized kitchen cabinet with three levels.
(putting it here instead of in House because one of the decisions in the end is to eat it)
How well do we know our pantries? Of what is in there and how long it has been around?
In the apartments, it was a long closet, floor to ceiling, in one wall of the entry way to the kitchen. Lots of room, but things very quickly got buried in the back. In the rental house, it was under stairway where it was narrower so slightly easier to see things, but probably less room.
Here in the ranch house, it is a wide closet behind french doors.
This morning, I decided to make pancakes and was looking for some open flour. I have plastic coffee bins of all kinds, but I was find more cans that had been in there forever, chicken gumbo best by 2015, than the flour (eventually did). Found things, like a jar of lumpfish caviar, which made me feel like the dead oceanographer who stocked NR-1 with all sorts of exotics.....that they found many years after his demise.
So how well do we know our pantries? How often do we organize them? Is it a seasonal thing, once in a year, or "Wow.....I guess it is time."?
Good question: I try to do it about every 6 months but even then I usually forget something that has been pushed clear to the back. Then, of course the decision has to be made: do I through this out? I guess if we didn't even realize it was there, it might be time to dump it. Now I have a job that needs doing in the next few weeks. thanks for reminding me. Of maybe, no thanks!!!!Our pantry is a very large cupboard in the laundry room just off the kitchen. The bottom 1/2 is where we keep pans and such we use only a few times a year, except the top shelve in that section I use for crackers and pasta. The top 1/2 is our food pantry and the shelves are very deep, It is impossible to see what is on the top couple of shelves without a step ladder. I mean to see what is stuck in the back of the pantry.
We have a walk-in pantry. It's really one of my favorite parts of our house. Top shelf requires I get on a ladder so it has a very large turkey roasting pan I use once a year. Other rarely serving pieces, a couple of baskets, picnic stuff, and the dining room Christmas decorations (haha).
Second from the top has extra water filters, candles, flashlights and extra light bulbs.
Middle shelf contains pastas and rice on one side, condiments, oils, vinegars, some spices, and peanut butter in the middle, and all things related to baking (flour, sugars, baking soda, etc.) on the other.
Next shelf has teas, coffee filters, extra coffee on one side. Canned tuna, and other canned goods of all types, and more baking stuff on the last side.
Bottom shelf has napkins, paper plates, cups, extra ziplocs, plastic wrap on one side. The middle contains crackers, snacks, and any cereals. Last side has little used appliances like an extra crock pot, a juicer, and a bread machine.
I usually clean it out once a year or so. Last time I threw out some ancient oatmeal packets and hot chocolate packs. They'd been around since my kids were in high school. It's been 6 years since the youngest graduated so..... There's also microwave popcorn my husband bought at Sam's Club 3 or 4 years ago. It's not the kind I eat usually. He was trying to be nice though. Does microwave popcorn go bad?
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Our pantry is a very large cupboard in the laundry room just off the kitchen. The bottom 1/2 is where we keep pans and such we use only a few times a year, except the top shelve in that section I use for crackers and pasta. The top 1/2 is our food pantry and the shelves are very deep, It is impossible to see what is on the top couple of shelves without a step ladder. I mean to see what is stuck in the back of the pantry.