Pantry items - how long can I keep them?
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
United States
September 20, 2016 6:59am CST
With the price of food continuing to soar, we all want to save money and not have to throw out our valuable pantry items. But we might not be sure how long we can keep items such as sugar, honey, grains, etc before they are no longer usable. Here are a few hints:
* White rice - store white rice in an air tight container in a cool dry place and it will last for a long time. But, with that said, be sure to check for bugs in the container. If you find bugs don't try to sort them out - toss the the item in the trash and start fresh.
* Sugar - Sugar, whether white or brown, will lump. That doesn't make it unusable Click on the link and you will find a method to 'unlump' your sugar.
* Dried Beans - Southerners use a lot of dry beans. I am a transplant in the south so I don't use that many. Maybe once or twice a winter I make bean soup from scratch. You can keep dried beans, properly stored, in your pantry for up to two years.
Check out the other items listed in the article below. Hopefully some of these helpful tips will help you save money in the long run.
Photo is mine. Thank goodness I have a double pantry so lots of storage.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/packages/cooking-from-the-pantry/the-top-10-longest-lasting-foods.html?soc=fnculinarysocial_20160920_66000496&adbid=10153813610751727&adbpl=fb&adbpr=20534666726
20 people like this
22 responses
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
20 Sep 16
They tend to put the soon to expire dates in the front, so you have to dig to the back of the aisle LOL.
2 people like this
@Lady_Justice (969)
• United States
20 Sep 16
@AbbyGreenhill Yep, they rotate the stock. That's why I do the same thing at home.
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
20 Sep 16
@Lady_Justice We had an ant problem in the pantry a while back - I had not put the cap back on tight on pancake syrup and when we discovered the problem we tossed out everything that was open - so we're light on some staples right now.
2 people like this
@Happy2BeMe (99353)
• Canada
20 Sep 16
Thanks for sharing this very useful information. It is good to know this. Great picture. You have a beautiful kitchen and lots of storage! That must be wonderful.
4 people like this
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
20 Sep 16
Thanks, yes, we have a ton of storage, the most storage in any of the homes we've owned.
2 people like this
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
20 Sep 16
@Happy2BeMe I know and I even have an almost empty cabinet.
1 person likes this
@Happy2BeMe (99353)
• Canada
20 Sep 16
@AbbyGreenhill You can never have too much storage!
1 person likes this
@vandana7 (102698)
• India
20 Sep 16
Interesting tips...can you give me how to keep small red ants away from sugar...though we don't use sugar at all, we need to keep ants out...rice we do not have bugs, but we also use neem leaves
in rice ...that keeps insects away for real long.
Here are some simple gardening tips to grow the medicinal neem tree.
3 people like this
@vandana7 (102698)
• India
20 Sep 16
@ilocosboy ... I have found it to be effective. Its an age old tradition out here...everybody does it, so I have been doing it...as to mosquitoes..I am not sure..
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@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
20 Sep 16
You have to put the sugar in airtight container - a jar works or a canister with tight lid.
3 people like this
@ilocosboy (45155)
• Philippines
20 Sep 16
Really, been leaves can push away insects, is it also effective for mosquitos.
3 people like this
@silvermist (19701)
• India
21 Sep 16
@AbbyGreenhill I did find bugs in a store bought new packet of chick peas. I had to throw it out. Thank you for sharing the links.
2 people like this
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
21 Sep 16
Yes, we can bring bugs home that are alive an kicking in packages. And You're welcome.
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@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
20 Sep 16
You are welcome, hope it is useful.
1 person likes this
@ilocosboy (45155)
• Philippines
20 Sep 16
That is helpful ways to keep them. Nice ideas.
3 people like this
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
20 Sep 16
Thanks, I am sure it will help some.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (189915)
• Boise, Idaho
20 Sep 16
Investing in good air tight containers is the key I think.
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@celticeagle (189915)
• Boise, Idaho
20 Sep 16
@AbbyGreenhill .......And those beans and rice can last for ages if no air or moisture gets in.
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
20 Sep 16
That's why Tupperware is so popular in places like where I live - moister and air don't do good things to food.
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
20 Sep 16
@celticeagle I don't buy a lot of beans and like I said I buy small bags of staples now.
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@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
21 Sep 16
We have a 'sewing' room, well I don't sew - it is the room you walk thru before laundry room - so we have that for all kinds of storage. We have no shortage of storage in this house plus full basement.
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@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
20 Sep 16
Good reminders...you bake a lot so you need good flour and sugar.
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
21 Sep 16
I have alot of beans, we honestly dont eat them often, but if we ever have no money for food, or the stores close, or we get stuck here because of flooding we wont starve!
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@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
21 Sep 16
I keep lots of junk food on hand in case of emergency - beans wouldn't do it for me LOL.
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@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
21 Sep 16
@AbbyGreenhill oh we have canned and frozen stuff too, the beans were part of my uncle's emergency prep kit that my aunt got rid of when she was moving in with gram. Gram already has that sort of thing, and one could tech walk to a store there if one had too.
@Morleyhunt (21741)
• Canada
20 Sep 16
Pasta that is really old will do strange things. 12 years ago on a mission trip, there was a box of lasagna noodles left for is. I told the other girls we can pick up a couple of items and I will make lasagna for supper. When I tried to boiled the noodles they turned into pieces that resembled short pieces of spaghetti. That was interesting lasagna.
We have no idea how old those noodles were. It tasted fine.
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
20 Sep 16
So it tasted good, just didn't look good...I think I would have skipped it LOL
@Morleyhunt (21741)
• Canada
21 Sep 16
@AbbyGreenhill we had to eat something. Food was extremely expensive on the reserve. This was 12 years ago. 4 litres of milk (just over a gallon) was $13. A green pepper, was $5.. The tub of cottage cheese was around $6.. We couldn't afford to throw food away.
@parpande (1515)
• Bangalore, India
20 Sep 16
@AbbyGreenhill its worth informative in alerting everyone. Thanks for the post and expecially your recommendations on rice storage is helpful. But while it comes to honey and similar edible stuffs , I believe most of them have preservatives sodium bezoate and sodium metasulphite that can keep it away from turning soar....
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
20 Sep 16
I have had honey turn a funny color and the texture changed. I don't think anything lasts forever.
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
21 Sep 16
I used to feel like I had to have a big supply of everything, but the older I get the less that makes sense.
1 person likes this
@miniam (9151)
• Bern, Switzerland
21 Sep 16
@AbbyGreenhill
Because as time goes by, you have mmore control of what you need, you know much better how long items last in your pantry.
@responsiveme (22923)
• India
21 Sep 16
I check out expirydates . thanks for useful information.
1 person likes this
@LeaPea2417 (40037)
• Toccoa, Georgia
20 Sep 16
That is good information. The only thing is, I thought you could store dried beans longer than two years.
1 person likes this
@CinnamonGrl (7086)
• Santa Fe, New Mexico
20 Sep 16
Great tips! What's funny is I've never found bugs in stored items, but I found them in a box of Bisquik upon first opening once long ago. That said, we don't normally buy these items in bulk.
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
20 Sep 16
I had weevils in a bag of rice recently - brand new from the store.
@LadyDuck (502622)
• Italy
21 Sep 16
@AbbyGreenhill I have never noticed lumps in the white sugar, that I mainly use when I make cakes. I use the brown sugar to make some cakes and jams, so the lumps are not really a problem.
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
21 Sep 16
@LadyDuck Hummingbird food and sweet tea are main things I use white sugar for. Hummers will be leaving soon so my sugar use will be cut down considerably until next April.
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@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
20 Sep 16
Since what I use sugar for the most, to make hummingbird food, lumps don't bother me. But I get very few lumps. The brown sugar I used to vac. seal.
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
21 Sep 16
Once in a while i'll open something, or start to open it, with expired date. It scares me since I have such a sensitive tummy I rather toss it than eat it.
1 person likes this
@mom210 (9170)
• United States
21 Sep 16
@AbbyGreenhill all of us here have iron tummy's. It works out well, nothing goes to waste not even expired stuff
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
20 Sep 16
You know how fast bugs can get in those sugar and flour bags you get at the store, we always put the stuff in airtight containers.
2 people like this
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
21 Sep 16
thanks Themla I hope it is useful information.
1 person likes this
