31 Days of Decluttering - Day #13 - Pantry

Today's focus is the pantry.  If you're like me and don't have a pantry, you can still do this exercise.  Simply clean out whatever cupboard(s) you store your food in.

Here's the "before" photo of my kitchen cupboards:

Here are the action steps according to "From Overwhelmed to Organized":

• Toss any items that are past their expiry date (unless it's something you still feel comfortable eating past the date - that's your call!)
• If necessary, throw out items that have evidence of "visitors"
• Relocate items that do not belong in your pantry (based on the purpose you determined)
• Give away or donate any food products you bought, tried, and decided you didn't like {food banks love donated items but PLEASE make sure everything you donate is not expired!}
• Get rid of foods or ingredients you won't likely eat or use (e.g. that spice you bought to bake something but have never used again)
• Combine/consolidate items where practical to reduce the number of open packages
• Have a "pantry swap" with neighbors or friends - each person brings several items from their pantry that they don't use and everyone chooses things they do like

Here's the "after" photo:

Much more organized!  I used some boxes I had in my office to create 3 "trays" to put all the sauces and spices in on the bottom shelf.  Not only does it keep them all together, but it keeps the spices from spilling on the inside of the cabinet too.

This is what got tossed:

I had no idea how much expired food I had!  Gross!!  The pasta wasn't expired, but it had been opened and was dried out.  All of this went straight to the trash!  

I also found all these breakfast bars/snack bars.  I bagged them up and am taking them to work for breakfast/snacks at the office.  I've put myself on a McDonald's coffee/breakfast ban until all of this is gone, which will save me $4.29/day.  Who-hoo!!

I gathered up all the Ketchup packets that kept falling out of the cupboard too and emptied the ketchup into my ketchup bottle in the fridge.  (There was nothing wrong with the Ketchup other than it was in the way).  That saved space and a few nickels in the long run too.  Sweet!

This exercise ended up taking a little over an hour to do, but it was well worth it.  I cleaned out the fridge a few weeks ago and pitched a bunch of expired food/sauces.  Now I just need to do it to the freezer and all the food will be cleaned out.  :)

Next Up:  Day #14 - Underwear Drawer