Getting Inspired by the Spirit of Spring
Spring is in the air, and there is no better time to embrace the spirit of the new season by performing a thorough cleaning out of your pantry and freezer. We are big proponents of keeping the pantry well stocked for easy meal planning, as well as double-batch cooking to build a good backup of meals in the freezer. The pantry and freezer seem to get overstocked during the winter, though – maybe we don’t want to get caught without these staples in bad weather, or we are around the house more so we think we need more on hand. Whatever the reason, this is the time to add the pantry and freezer to your spring cleaning check list. We all like having the tangible results of a spring cleaning — especially in such a high-traffic area of the house! Another great benefit is to get a jump start on meal planning over the next few weeks.
Tips for Your Culinary Spring Cleaning
- Time management. If you don’t have the time or inclination to tackle the pantry or the freezer at once, break down the task. Set aside a certain amount of time a day, like 10 minutes, or begin with sections of the pantry or freezer.
- Use a critical eye. We all purchase items with good intentions for healthier eating, with the idea we need food on hand for the unexpected guest, or with a plan to try new ingredients. As you go through your pantry and freezer, make some practical choices about what you actually need and will use.
- Write it down. Arm yourself with a pen and pad of paper before you begin going through items. Write down whatever you decide to keep. Note expiration dates, where applicable, for future reference. (This is especially helpful with freezer items. We keep a list of items on a magnetic white board on the freezer.) Having a list will help you build meals around the items on hand.
- Donate. For those ingredients or items that have not expired but can still be used by someone, consider donating to your local food pantry. Most food pantries have multiple drop off locations throughout the community, making it easy to donate. Check their websites, local community centers, libraries, or even your farmers market for locations.
- Kids can help. Although lots of household tasks are easier to complete without the help of your kids, this may be a fun one for all of you. The kids can play and learn while you get something checked off your list of to-dos. Little ones can help you pull things off the shelf and count or sort items. They can pretend to grocery shop, or “bag” the donation items.
- Kids can play. There may be some items in your pantry that are really old or expired. Before throwing them out, consider if there is some way your kids can play with them. If there is really old rice or uncooked beans, or even stale cereal, they can fill plastic Easter eggs or other containers with these ingredients to make musical instruments. (We’ve done this every year — just tape or glue the containers shut. The kids decorate the containers with stickers or paint, and voila! Kimberly).
Post-Cleaning Meal Planning and Organizing
- Search for recipe ideas. Once you’ve cleared out the pantry and freezer, decide what items you want to use up. Get ideas by looking at the index of your favorite cookbooks (a great resource for this type of search is Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything). Or enter the ingredient in the search field of your favorite recipe sites, like Cooks Illustrated or Epicurious. Search our site too! We’ve covered a lot of our favorite pantry and freezer items over the past year, so chances are we have some tips on how to use ingredients you have on hand.
- Organize. Check out our tips on pantry and freezer basics to help organize your now de-cluttered spaces.
- Re-stock. Now that you have cleared out and organized spaces, use our check lists for the pantry and freezer to continue to keep track of what items you have on hand, or what you need to re-stock.
Happy Spring Cleaning!
