Pantry Tip #4

Storage of pantry goods part 1

Tight budget or no, who wants food to go bad before it can be consumed? Our dependence on refrigerators and the accessibility of foods in and out of season has meant that most of us have forgotten the art of food storage.

There are many aspects of food storage to explore - emergency"survival" storage, canning an drying at home, rotating stored goods on a schedule, and more. I hope to cover all of these over time as I learn about them myself. I have to admit that the books I've read so far about canning are intimidating. I just keep thinking about how I have *zero* space for something like that and how at this point, without a garden of my own, purchased canned goods are more practical (though vastly inferior). I *will* tackle that one eventually though.

Today I just want to cover some of the basics of effective food storage - things that will lengthen the shelf life of your pantry goods no matter the quantity or source.

Dedicated pantry space: setting aside an area, a cupboard, a shelf, or a closet, for pantry goods is important if your goal is to keep a stock of non-perishables. I'd encourage this for anyone no matter how small their budget as it allows for adding a variety of flavors to otherwise basic and "plain" ingredients. You want those ingredients to be easily accessible and organized, however, or you will forget to use them. No matter where you choose to store them, make sure the area is out of direct sunlight, cool, and fairly dry. Avoid the cupboards above the oven, or a shelf directly opposite a window. For accessibility, it's nice to use shelves rather than a cabinet with a door, but if your kitchen happens to be like mine - facing southeast with lost of windows - you may want to make that sacrifice to keep the temperature down. The best case scenario is a closet area off of the kitchen.

Containers: store opened packages of sugar, flour, rice, beans, noodles, cereal, etc. in airtight containers rather than in their original packaging. Not only will this keep your dry goods from going stale before you can use them, it makes an appealing visual display. If you use transparent plastic or glass containers, you'll be able to tell immediately where your desired ingredient is and how close you are to needing to restock.

For plastic containers, consider Tupperware Modular Mates, Click Clack Canisters, Lock 'n Lock, and then of course there's The Container Store.

Crate & Barrel has an excellent selection of plastic and alternatives as does World Market.

Expiration Dates: you may want to label containers with the date of purchase and/or the date of expiration in black marker on scotch tape so that they are visible (and removable for reusable containers). At the very least, go through every once in a while and check dates and throw away items that are bad, use items that are going to expire soon, and rearrange items if necessary so that the things that will go bad soonest are most accessible.

Here are some sites from around the web with guidelines as to how long pantry items stay fresh:

comprehensive list
Spices
Veggies