Today I spent four hours cleaning our pantry out. We’ve always had a spare large portable pantry in our kitchen, along with the built in pantry closet. We stored mostly snacks in it at the beginning, but in the past year it has expanded to hold canned goods, boxed items and much more. It was time to get the second pantry out of the kitchen and condense the items into one.
I never dreamed it would turn into what it turned into. If your pantry hasn’t been cleaned out in awhile, and you aren’t sure what’s in there, do it – do it now. I have enough food to feed us without having to purchase anything except cold perishables for the next three to four weeks. And we are a family of seven. I had forgotten what we had in there.
Things get pushed to the back in a pantry, sometimes items are placed high on shelves or even down on the floor or the lower shelves, and you forget they are there. It is imperative that you empty the entire pantry and try to group like items together. You’ll be amazed at what you find, especially if its been awhile since you’ve done this, if ever.
How can I preach a frugal lifestyle if I am wasting all this food I found? It isn’t technically wasted, as we are planning to use it. I even spent time writing up a meal plan for the next two weeks using only what was found in the pantry, with no more than the need to spend $10.00 on shredded cheese, sour cream, milk, eggs and butter. Of course, this takes into account the fact that we have an extra freezer where we store frozen meats, and other great deals we find at the store, not to mention my huge amount of freezer meals. Add all those in and I might not have to make a normal grocery trip for another two months!
Check out the frugal living blog for some great meal planning tips working around what you have found in your pantry, in the second of this series, posting tomorrow.