One thing that often gets neglected in the day-to-day is reviewing what has been stored in the kitchen cabinets. You might have food stored in there and those items got pushed all the way to the back. Then you realize you forgot about them when it is time to take everything out, and you look at the expiration date and realize it was years ago. Or you thought you would eat something, or your kids would love it, so you bought it in bulk and realized that was a mistake! By routinely going through your cupboards, you can stop this from happening and check out any of your dish and bakeware that needs to be replaced or donated.
Food
When considering whether to keep the food you find, you need to ask a few questions. First, are you completely positive that someone will eat this? If you find you bought something but continually pass it over when it is mealtime, that is a sign that no one is going to eat it. If the item has not expired yet, then it can be given to a local food shelter. There’s no reason to throw it out if it is perfectly good food. It can be used for those that need it. On the other hand, if the food is expired or cans are severely damaged or bulging, throw them out. You want to make sure that the food you give away is consumable by someone else.
Bakeware
Do you have something you bought because it was “cute” but find that it is a hassle to use, or you’ve never taken it out of the box and have had it over six months? This can be something that is donated to a Goodwill-type store or similar organization. Additionally, if you bought something and used it a total of one time and find that you don’t really have a use for it anymore, this can also be donated. Additionally, you can review where your bakeware is located and determine if this is the most efficient space that it can be in. You might find that you need to rearrange your cabinets during this time as well.
Cleaning
When you have everything out of the kitchen cabinets, you can take the time to give your cabinets a thorough cleaning. This would be a good time to remove the crumbs that have collected, wipe down all of the surfaces, vacuum out the smaller particles if needed, and change out the shelf paper.
