Spring clean your pantry: what to keep, what to toss

April 16, 2018 in Leslie's Featured Content

Spring clean your pantry: what to keep, what to toss

Is your fridge crammed with half-empty bottles of condiments and questionable leftovers? Are there foods in your freezer so heavily freezer burned they're unrecognizable? Or perhaps your pantry shelves are home to boxes of crackers past their prime or spices that have lost their aroma.

If you're nodding your head, then it's time to survey what's lurking on those shelves.  Sounds like a daunting task, but it's one well worth the effort. Spring cleaning your pantry can help you get rid of expired food, save on waste, and be more organized.

"Best before" dates refer to quality, not safety.  They tell you how long a product will retain its freshness, flavour and high quality.  Many refrigerated foods can still be eaten safely soon after their best before dates have expired, provided they've been stored properly and still look, smell and taste fine. 

"Packaged on" dates, mandatory for meat, tells you the day the fresh food was packaged in the store. "Use by" and "expiry" dates mean the product should be eaten by the date listed.  If these dates on refrigerated food have passed, it's safer to discard them.

Set aside an hour or two to go through everything.  Then clean, evaluate, throw out and replace.

The fridge

Spring cleaning starts by emptying the fridge. Wipe down the shelves with hot soapy water.  As you return items, throw out condiments or foods that you don't intend to finish or opened bottles that have been taking up space for months on end. Check best before dates for salad dressings, sauces, mayonnaise and margarine and pitch anything that's long expired.

If you have multiple jars of the same product open, resist the temptation to combine them in one jar since the best before dates will be different depending on when you bought them and how long they've been opened.  Remember, you're not saving any money on Costco-sized bottles of condiments and salad dressings if you don't use them quickly.

Now, what to do about surface mould growing on the forgotten lunch meat or the grape jelly?  Foods with a high moisture content - e.g. lunch meats, jams and jellies, yogurt, soft cheese, and cooked leftovers - should be tossed.  That's because mould may be growing below the surface of these foods. 

Mouldy bread and baked goods, which are porous foods, can also be contaminated below the surface and should be thrown out.

It's difficult for mould to penetrate the surface of low moisture foods such as hard cheese and firm fruits and vegetables. As long as you cut off at least one inch around and below the mould, these foods can be used. Just be sure to repackage them in fresh wrap.

Check the temperature of your fridge.  To keep foods safe when they are being stored, make sure your fridge is set at 4°C (40°F) or colder.  And don't crowd contents - air circulation is key for keeping foods cold.

The freezer

While frozen foods remain safe indefinitely, their quality deteriorates as time passes.  Frozen leftovers, casseroles and home pasta sauces more than three months old need to be pitched.  Use the accompanying chart to determine how long to keep various frozen foods for maximum quality.

While freezer burn doesn't make a food unsafe to eat, it does it affects its quality. Those dry grayish-brown leathery spots are caused by air reaching the surface of the food. You can cut those spots away before or after cooking the food. Foods with a bad case of freezer burn, however, probably aren't worth keeping.

Proper packaging can prevent freezer burn. Freeze leftovers in airtight freezer containers. If you're planning to freeze supermarket meat or poultry for more than a month, overwrap the package with air tight heavy-duty foil, freezer paper or a freezer re-sealable plastic bag.

Make sure everything that goes into your freezer is labelled with a date as to when it was purchased. Make sure the temperature of your freezer is set at -18°C (0°F).

The kitchen cupboards

Sort through your non-perishable foods and check best before dates on packages of crackers, breakfast cereal, peanut butter and unopened condiments.  Open bottles of vegetable oil and give them a whiff. Over time, unsaturated fats go rancid causing them to smell stale. 

Whole grains such as oats, brown rice, and whole wheat flour deteriorate more quickly than their refined grains due to their slightly higher fat content. They'll last longer if stored in the fridge.

Although canned goods have a long shelf life, keep in mind they can lose 5 to 20 percent of their nutritional content every year.  Storing them past the recommended time can also change quality, colour and taste.

High acid foods such as tomatoes, fruit and fruit juice can be stored up to 18 months.  Canned vegetables and meat, which are less acidic, can be stored for two to five years.

When spring cleaning, rotate your stock. Move older cans to the front so they are used first; place newer products in the back. Any can that's leaking, bulging or cracked should be tossed in the trash.

Label canned goods and packaged foods that don't have a best before date with the date they were purchased. Store canned foods in a cool, dry, dark place and ideally, use within one year of purchasing.

Next, move on to your spice rack. Most dried herbs last up to three years and spices two to four years, but their potency will diminish with time.  Clues to freshness include colour and smell. If their colour has faded and they don't release an aroma when lightly crushed in your hand, they're ready to be replaced. Store your dried herbs and spices in airtight bottles, away from light or heat.

How long can you keep it?

Use the following guide to maintain the best quality and safety of some everyday foods.

In the fridge

Ketchup, opened

6 months

Mayonnaise, opened

2 months

Mustard, opened

12 months

Salad dressing, opened

3 months

Barbecue sauce, opened

4 months

Jams, jellies, opened

12 months

Cheese, hard

10 months

Deli meats, opened

3 to 4 days

Cooked leftovers

2 to 4 days

In the freezer

Meat, steaks, chops and roasts

8 to 12 months

Meat, ground

2 to 3 months

Bacon

1 month

Poultry, pieces

6 months

Fatty fish (e.g. salmon)

2 months

Len fish (e.g. sole, tilapia)

6 months

Casseroles, frozen dinners

3 to 4 months

Frozen dinners

3 to 4 months

In the pantry

Peanut butter

9 months

Dried pasta

2 years

White rice

2 years

Brown rice

6 to 12 months

Flour, white

6 to 12 months

Flour, whole-wheat:

1 month (6 to 8 months in fridge)

Brown sugar

4 months

White sugar

2 years

Vegetable oil, opened

2 to 4 months

Dried herbs

 1 to 3 years

Spices

2 to 4 years

All research on this web site is the property of Leslie Beck Nutrition Consulting Inc. and is protected by copyright. Keep in mind that research on these matters continues daily and is subject to change. The information presented is not intended as a substitute for medical treatment. It is intended to provide ongoing support of your healthy lifestyle practices.