Pantry

January in Northern California is a double whammy of organizing inspiration. First, of course, is the motivation of the new year. The second is the fake spring that occurs at the end of the month, making spring cleaning instincts
kick in.

I've been planning on reorganizing our pantry for months. It must be admitted that my Charles and I are food hoarders. Since we work in natural foods, we receive lots of samples as well as dented cans that are given to the staff. It's wonderful to have so much back stock, but it gets too difficult to deal with. It's very easy to forget what we have.

To make matters worse, I had squirreled away food in the kitchen cupboards, in the shelves of our kitchen cart, and in the pantry itself. First, I had to take everything out. Then I put everything on the counters, checking expiration dates as I went along. Unfortunately, there were quite a few outdated cans. Fortunately, I found a lot of stuff to take back to work to donate.

Then I organized the foodstuffs into categories -- tea, sugars, dry goods, beans, canned fish, ethnic foods, tomato products, pastas, and canned fruits and jams. Once I had sorted everything, I filled the shelves, keeping to my categories to prevent losing track of the food supply again. Nothing went back in the cupboards or cart. If it didn't fit in the pantry, it got donated.

I feel so glad (and accomplished) that I got everything in its place. Now I can actually find my supplies and know what I can throw together for something tasty and quick or what might be a great addition to a meal I'm planning. Have you done any new year organizing?

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