Day 13: Cleaning Out Your Canned Food

What: Canned food.

Why: There are so many variations of canned food – it seems you can find anything in a can these days! But the real question is: can you find that certain can of food in your cupboards?

How – Here are 6 ideas on how to organize your canned food:

1. Take all of your canned goods out and organize them by type (vegetables with vegetables, then green beans with green beans, etc.)

2. This is where meal planning comes into play. Do you meal plan? I have found that planning out my meals for each week has helped me in being selective and intentional about what I bring into our home. This includes using up the cans of food that I may not use otherwise. In meal planning, I have learned, that it is wise to go through your cupboards and figure out what you have. You may realize that you do not need very many groceries that week because you already have half the items. I find this most often when it comes to canned food. If you have an overabundance of canned food, consider planning your meals that would use up your cans!

3. I have considered (yet haven’t done it) starting a list of all of my canned food so that I do not buy more of what I already have.

4. Now put them back in your cupboards – as you see in the picture above, I have them all lined up according to type. It has made finding a certain can much easier AND I know what I have as well. When you stack like items on each other, you are not searching for minutes on end. This is not rocket science I know, but I think it is valuable advice for keeping even canned food organized.

5. Another idea is to write ON the can what you want to use it for when you buy it so that you don’t end up shorting yourself later.

6. Remember too, there are often canned food drives at various stores and non-profits – especially in the winter months.

Confession of the Day: If I do not keep tabs on what I have with regards to my canned goods, I often end up with 4 cans of creamed corn and I am telling you, it is NOT worth the space that it takes up! With some simple mean planning, you can minimize your canned food and know what you have.