Feeding Frenzy

By Fred

January 12, 2009 2:38 PM | Link to this

Like you, the buy one get one free holds a strong allure. The 10 for 10 dollars also tugs at my cheap skate side. Thus, I end up with mutiple items in the pantry.

By Kat

January 12, 2009 2:41 PM | Link to this

I reorganized my pantry during the holidays while on vacation - it was definitely on my to-do list. I’m so glad I did. I bought a full-size storage rack for the door, so now I can fit even more in there; more importantly, what is in there is organized. I found out that I am not at a loss for most any flavor of Jell-O. I’ve organized plastic cutlery into small bins - use them every day for kids’ lunches. A cup for straws, a small shoe-sized clear bin for kids’ oatmeal and one for parents’ flavors of oatmeal. We also had practically a box of various spices so I got out the label-maker and posted what was in the box on the outside - no more double-buying!

By Karen

January 12, 2009 2:42 PM | Link to this

Mine used to be. I had ant problems and had a slightly crazy Tupperware rep come to my house and “Tupperize me”…….it got rid of the ants and an unintended but very welcome bonus is I have clear containers for everything I use,and I don’t keep much that I don’t use a lot. Those one offs I give away, or toss when I know I am not likely to use them again, and they will go bad before I do. I buy “specialty” stuff in the smallest amount possible until I know it is something I will use regularly, then it gets a container with a label instead of being stuffed in the cupboard where I will not find it until I take a full day and clean out, like I used to.

By Mike

January 12, 2009 2:42 PM | Link to this

Clean the pantry out last week. I found items (can food, mustard, jams and cereal) that had expired three years ago. I realize that my wife and I were not only wasting food, but we were not being good stewards over our money in these hard economic times.

By dan

January 12, 2009 3:05 PM | Link to this

Oh Jeeze..this column hits at an incredibly bad time. Not that anyone reads the AJC anymore, but have you read about the terrible shortages that food banks are facing currently? Drag some of the stuff over to them to help out some of the citizens in the ATL.

By april

January 12, 2009 3:38 PM | Link to this

Hey Fred - Just because it’s 10 for 10 dollars doesn’t mean you have to actuallybuy 10 - You still get 1 for 1.

By LM

January 12, 2009 4:10 PM | Link to this

I live with my BF and can I just say I always thought his pantry was neat and orginized. That was until I moved and and got a chance to look at the food in there. Goodness, what a nightmare. The worst part is he never goes to the store, it is his mother who stocks his shelves with food. Well low and behold I find out the night before Christmas his mom is coming to the house for Christmas dinner, I do the crazy cleaning and scrubbing of the house, wrap presents and everything I can think of the night before, but Christmas morning I realized she was going to be in the kitchen and the pantry and frezzer were a diaster. So I finally start cleaning out the boxes, stale cereal, crackes and such, no biggie, but start looking at the cans and bottles, would you believe there were cans older than my daughter, I mean 1990 and older, same with spices. Well three huge trash cans full later my pantry is the envy of the street. I should know I was a crazy tupperware user, everything was in a container, with a label. Having a kid left me no time to keep up with it, but soon she will be gone to college and I can stay neat and orginized. As long as his mother does not bring expired food into the house.

By Diane

January 12, 2009 4:10 PM | Link to this

It’s time to clean my pantry - the baking powder I used for Christmas baking expired in 2006! (Not as bad as the baking powder in my mother-in-law’s pantry this year - it expired in 1990-something!) And yes, it did still work!

By SK

January 12, 2009 4:23 PM | Link to this

I’ve been married 10 years this past June. In the course of our marriage, we have moved 4 times, twice to different states.

I still have a roll of wax paper that I bought while we were in our first home. The only reason I know for sure, is because there are no Jewel Osco supermarkets anywhere else we’ve lived.

I’m not hanging onto it for sentimental reasons, either, but I still have it, I guess just in case I’ll be using wax paper in the NEXT 10 years!

By Sassy

January 12, 2009 4:34 PM | Link to this

My pantry gets clean out/re-organized every 2 months … everytime I shop Costco. Its a great time to purge the stuff that gets put to the back.

If I won’t be using it in the next week, I donate or trash … depending on what it is.

By Stan

January 12, 2009 5:10 PM | Link to this

My pantry tends to get get cleard out of most things a couple times a year, when I get lazy and don’t go to the store for awhile. It forces me to make meals out of what I have on hand (not always easy, but mostly fun). My spices on the other hand…

By awm

January 12, 2009 7:35 PM | Link to this

Good idea, On my next full day home, I will tackle that task, dumping, cleaning, organizing.

By Caroline

January 12, 2009 8:50 PM | Link to this

I had a horrible pantry up until about a year ago. Granted, it was mostly metal shelving since we didn’t have cabinets then. I broke down and went to a Tupperware party after seeing a friend with a highly organized pantry that “inspired” me. I got “Modularized” and in truth, am enjoying knowing what and how much food is in my pantry since I can see through the Modular Mates. Before, I had boxes, bags, and cans all sorta organized (think stacked on top of each other). I found 7 unopened, outdated mayo jars. Crazy me. I even found spices from our 5 year stint in TX from 7 years ago. Ick. And then the weavels and ants paid a visit. I do have to give my Tupperware Lady [www.my.tupperware.com/mianichols] credit since now at least my pantry is organized and she wasn’t obnoxious about it. Now about the rest of the house…

By Renaissance Woman

January 12, 2009 9:44 PM | Link to this

I intentionally go through the pantry and clear out outdated foods about once every 6 months, so it’s basially up to date! And I make sure I put those nearing their time to the front or top of similar items I just bought.

By Serena

January 13, 2009 12:16 AM | Link to this

Dear people, please stop being so wasteful with your food items! It is a shame to spend so much money on food that you can’t find when you need it, therefore it goes bad. Please regularly check your pantry, and what you have in excess, PLEASE PLEASE donate to a local foodbank or church and help those less fortunate! It will make you feel so much better.

By Cheryl

January 13, 2009 4:20 AM | Link to this

DAD

By Evening Edge guy

January 13, 2009 1:43 PM | Link to this

If you are looking for food-related charities, a good place to start is the AJC DoGood page. You can find out how to make donations or volunteer.

By Cindy

January 13, 2009 2:45 PM | Link to this

Several months ago, my in-laws gave me fresh blueberries from their garden so I decided to make blueberry muffins. The recipe called for baking powder so I went to my pantry and grabbed the only can I had.

For whatever reason, I left the can of baking powder on the kitchen counter and a couple of days later my hubby asked me what the baking powder was for. When I told him I used it to bake the blueberry muffins we had eaten a few days earlier, he started laughing and told me next time to check the expiration date before using. I promptly checked the can and found the expiration date was December 1992!!!! While I have cleaned out my pantry many times over the years, somehow that can of banking powder was kept. Needless to say, I’ve since replaced that can of baking powder with a non-expired one!!