Today's Challenge: Pantry Pickup

Let's take a few minutes to get our stockpiles picked up!

Take a look at your goodies.

• Have products that you may have gone overboard on? Let's purge a little... make a donation pile.
• Check expiration dates... pull out "expireds" for one pile and "close to expiring" in another
• Do you need to restock the bathroom, kitchen, tissue boxes? Make sure there are plenty of shampoo, soap, cleaners, paper goods where they are handy when needed.

Now, organize your pile. Make sure to use FIFO system so you have your quickest expiring items in front and longest shelf life in back.

Since often we re-package food after purchase you should check out a helpful shelf-life guide to make sure you are keeping with the healthiest and best quality foods in your stockpile - I found these helpful:

Urban Survival Guide
Scribd <---- Thorough
UNL Food Safety <----- Easy to follow and printable guide

Now that you are organized, what do you do with the product you've purged?

• We at Poor House Princess encourage you to donate as much as possible. Find a local food bank or church pantry. Many will only accept NON-EXPIRED items. HOWEVER, our local food bank will set expired items out while informing individuals they are expireds. Those persons then can choose for themselves if they would like the items.
• Many expireds are NOT harmful. The expiration date indicates when the products are at their best for use. Check out the guides above to see which items can be used after the printed expiration date.