I'm Becoming My Grandmother, and, Not in a GOOD Way

Yesterday, I got a wild hair to reorganize my kitchen cupboards and pantry. The inspiration struck while I was mining its contents for a can of fire roasted tomatoes to use in a new crockpot recipe that I saw on Pinterest, which, is yet another example of Pinterest Fails ruining my Saturday, but, I digress...

...so, when I didn't spy a can of tomatoes upon first glance, I started digging deeper, pulling out items as I went. At some point, it occurred to me to start looking at the expiration dates on the items that I was pulling out, and, I was mortified by the number of things that were not only past their sell-by dates, but, past them by years.

Years, people!

This is what happens when one has a pantry that is too large for practical purposes, I mean; I am no longer feeding an army of teenagers, here; it's now just Hugh and me, on a good day. Clearly, there is no need to stockpile canned and packaged goods like they are either going out of style, or, will be the only thing standing between us and starvation come the Zombie Apocalypse.

The entire experience reminded me of the time that we went to Texas to spend a holiday with my grandmother on my Dad's side; my mom ended up cleaning out the fridge and cupboards, both of which were full of expired products, products that my grandma was still using! We were, of course, horrified.

Well, yesterday, I was horrified by the sheer volume of stuff that I tossed; it felt completely wasteful. On the other hand, there was no way I was going to donate expired items to the shelter or food bank (remember, we are talking years past the expiration dates, in some cases), so, I didn't have a lot of options.

Moving forward, I will be far more mindful to not purchase more than I can realistically use within the time frame stamped on the can or package. I will also be able to take pride in the fact that I inherited my grandmother's legs, and not her hoarding tendencies.

On the bright side, my pantry and cupboards have never looked more organized.

Before

After

Before

(How many jars of sprinkles does one woman need?)

 (Seriously, this is ridiculous)

After

My next goal is to tackle the freezers, not to get rid of stuff, but to use it, so; you can probably expect this year's version of Wacky Recipes from the Pantry Purge coming at you, soon.

Shit's about to get interesting.