Welcome to 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending
Today is Day 2 of the challenge and we are going to clean and organize our food pantry.
I can hear your sighs of dread now, but trust me, disorganization = disaster when it comes to our grocery spending.
When your pantry is in chaos, food will be forgotten about and go uneaten, and you will end up buying duplicate ingredients. I know this, because it has happened to me many times until I started keeping my pantry neat and tidy.
As you see in the photo below, I have a very limited pantry. I have another cabinet that is not in the photo where I keep coffee & tea and I store our bread in the appliance garage with the toaster. And that’s it for my space. I don’t have a lot and while I dream of those large walk-in pantries that I see on Pinterest, that is for another lifetime.
Today’s challenge might sound like it will take a lot of time, but it actually will be quite easy.
5 Easy Steps to Organize your Pantry
1. Remove everything from your pantry and clean the shelves.
2. On a counter or table, sort your food by category: beverages, baking supplies, canned goods, boxed goods, breakfast foods, condiments, pasta/rice, snacks, etc.
3. Put the food back into the pantry by category, but place the food close to where you’ll use it. Face the food labels forward for easy viewing. Alphabetize your herbs and spices. Some ideas:
- Store spices, herbs, cooking oils, and vinegar near your stove.
- Place the coffee by the machine.
- Store all of the baking supplies near your mixer.
4. Discard or recycle any outdated food. Donate any food that you probably won’t eat (and is not outdated) to a food bank.
5. Take an inventory of what you have on hand in your pantry. We will be using it on day 4.
If you are joining the challenge, please introduce yourself in the comments. Also if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments and I will respond.
To follow along all month, follow daily on Facebook. I’m also participating in the challenge and will be posting pictures during the month.
Also bookmark the 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending category page so you can check in daily.
