When Good Food Goes Bad

Do you ever come across food in your cupboard which expired years ago?

We recently moved house and when we were going through our cupboards we found food that was way past its use-by date. Don’t even ask about some of the sauces in our fridge. And definitely do not dare to mention what things we found in the bottom of our freezer. We were grossed out by our inability to throw stuff out and even worse we were ashamed of the waste. If we had been more organised we would have eaten the food months, and in some cases years, ago instead of it sitting stashed at the back of a cupboard somewhere to go off. Food waste is not only uneconomical, but unethical.

Now we’ve started afresh, so to speak, we are trying harder to keep a better handle on what we buy and are trying to use up the food in our fridge, freezer and cupboards.

Here’s a few tips on being more organised in your pantry and fridge:

- First thing is to clean out your fridge, freezer and cupboards. Make a list of the things you need to replace. Then clean all the surfaces before lining your cupboards with contact, or plastic sheeting or pretty wallpaper. If you start with a clean space it will be easier to keep clean and ordered into the future.

-  Get great containers to store your food in both the fridge and in your cupboards. These pretty floral containers look fab. Remember though, do not become a container hoarder. If you’re not using it, you don’t need it in your life. And here’s a tip, when purchasing containers measure the size of your cupboards so you can maximise the space and buy matching containers which fit snuggly together.

Cool containers look great in the kitchen. Photo: www.dailycandy.com

- Have leftovers night every week. Look in your freezer and your cupboards and make a meal using up some of your stored food. It’s a great way to test out new recipes. Not every leftover meal has to be a casserole, pie or pasta. Use your imagination.

- Label food before you put it in the freezer or your containers so you know what date you pop it in there to save confusion and food poisoning later.

- Don’t leave open bags of flour, noodles and sugar in your cupboard as it attracts ants and other creepy crawlies. We’ve been guilty of doing that, but our toddler put an end to it recently when she decided to throw flour all over the kitchen and her entire body. We now have it secured in an airtight container.

Uniform sized containers fit better in your cupboards. Photo: www.maillardvillemanor.com

- Invest in a spice rack or storage tray  so you don’t have sachets and jars tumbling out all over the place. You can even get cool inserts for your kitchen drawers to store spices in.

- Don’t be afraid to throw away, or give away, food you know you’ll never use. There’s no use holding onto stuff which takes up valuable storage space. Make it one of your cleaning goals of the week, like I discussed in the very helpful cleaning post.

- Don’t put it off another day. Get to it. You’ll be so much happier when you open your cupboard and things don’t fall out everywhere!

Do you know what’s in your freezer? Have you ever checked the use by dates on your condiments? Have you cleaned out your cupboards in the past year?

Do you have any helpful storage tips to share? 

And while I’m asking questions, please don’t forget to go and fill out our survey to find out what you’d like to see on justb. Click here.

Have a fab day,
Bianca x

Main photo: http://browndresswithwhitedots.tumblr.com