Fall Pantry Cleaning

My dream pantry

*255*

   I had decided last night that today was the day that I was going to completely clean out the food pantry. My pantry is two floor to ceiling cabinets (with doors) that are attached to the wall. There are four sets of doors and inside each set is three shelves. Shit load of room for food. One of the first years that we lived here, we developed a moth problem. Come to find out some of the dog food that comes from Walmart back in the day would have moths. You would bring them home and voila..they are in your flour! So I put everything in plastic containers and Ziploc baggies. No issues after that. After that fiasco, I decided I would clean out twice a year, once in the Spring and once in the Fall.

  Cleaning is just a small portion of what has to be done. There are many times when you buy something and you just never use it. Like the cashew butter I have in there. I gave it last Fall, and this Spring to use it. We didn't. So I will check the expiration date and if it is good, it will go for donation. Everything that is old, open and old, or past expiration goes in the trash. Things like old pasta are dumped in garbage so that packages can be recycled (yeah yeah..I am a recycler). Any food that is something we regularly eat that is new in cabinets or was lost in the shuffle stays. Then all the jars and cans need to be wiped down, and shelves cleaned. I buy that fabric netting that brides use to wrap Jordan almond bundles in for their reception and I make bug bundles. I put some whole cloves and some new dried bay leaves in each and tie with a ribbon. One for each shelf. Every once in awhile, I will give them a squeeze. They get changed twice a year too.

  I had these big ideas that I was going to get the whole thing done so that this weekend, I could start canning my jams. But what do I wake up to?
80 deg F and high humidity and pollen count
I cleaned out the top section that carries all of our pastas, grains, dried beans, and boxed pasta crap. I had three opened boxes of lasagna up there. All in the trash. I cannot eat it anyway. That whole area is done but I was sweating like a whore in church during and after.
Yeah, I am done.