Cleaning out the pantry
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
So, in a sudden surge of energy, I decided that it was time to do some re-organising of the pantry shelves. Random items were falling out of the shelves each time I tried to fish through the cupboard, and I had a nagging suspicion that there were long-forgotten items that have gone way past their expiry dates.
So here's a before and after:
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| Items haphazardly stuffed into any available space, resulting in mini avalanches. |
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| Some form of order restored: Lower shelf from left to right: condiments, teas / coffees and snacks. Top shelf: Instant noodles and birds' nest stash. |
Here's hoping that there is some discernible difference at the very least! The worst part of re-organising pantry shelves? The throwing away of expired food (not pictured). The needless wastage of food gets to me every time.
Some handy tips on maintaining a tidy pantry (which would also assist in minimising food wastage) that I've learnt from this exercise, and will hopefully maintain as a matter of habit:
- Implement some form of order when placing food items on shelves, i.e. grouping similar items together, and putting more frequently used items at eye-level. This would ensure you can easily locate items you need, and so that you know from a quick glance what items you already have on hand and do not need to purchase.
- Arrange the items in such a way that every item is visible, for instance, arranging them by height. Similarly, this would facilitate easy access, and prevent items from getting buried and forgotten.
- Where possible, position the items in such a way that the expiry dates face outwards. Items that expire sooner should be placed in front of or on the top of similar items with later expiry dates. (For instance, I stacked up the instant noodle packets with the earlier expiry dates at the top, so I will instinctively reach for those first).
- For products that have been packed into storage containers (for instance, flour and sugar), it is easy to forget their expiry dates once the original storage boxes are thrown out. To ensure these are not forgotten, label your containers. You could simply paste a piece of masking tape to the container, and write the dates with a black marker. Alternatively, tear off the part of the box with the expiry date printed on it, and paste it to the container with some washi tape.
- Try to return items to their original places after each use. Otherwise, whatever effort spent on reorganisation will be soon wasted, and it is only a matter of time before things revert to their original, messy state.
- Always go through your pantry before a grocery run, as a quick reminder of what you already have, in case you end up buying more of an item you forgot you already have. Having your snacks grouped together is also a stern visual reminder to yourself that no, you do not need another bag of chips or cookies.
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