“You know you’ve got a ton of soy sauce
in here,” called my husband in a muffled voice.
He was a tad bit hard to understand,
seeing as how his whole head was deep into our cabinet that we use as a
pantry. Pulling out his head from the pantry, he reached way in the back
and extracted four (4) bottles of soy sauce.
Now I don’t want to run out of soy sauce,
seeing as how I do like to stir fry and combined with garlic, brown
sugar, and oil, it makes my favorite grilling marinade. Still, my kitchen
is not that large, so accumulating that many of something is not a great
idea. There is danger in not using it fast enough as you watch your
expired food go down the drain along with your hard earned cash that you
paid for it.
I was thinking of this the other day as I
helped a client organize a large pantry for a family. With both spouses
cooking, the cook doesn’t always know if there is a spare in the house.
I implemented an easy little system I now use.
In some cases, you can stock your spare
right behind the original, such as a new olive oil bottle sitting right
behind the opened one. That’s great but that doesn’t always work. Open
the fridge and try to find room for the new mayonnaise to set by the old
one. Or try to cram another container of cinnamon or cumin on the spice
turntable next to the old one.
Since they can’t be stored where you
normally store that item, they get shoved in the pantry.
Since they
aren’t consumed daily, like cereal or canned soup, they end of gradually
working their way to the back, dark corner where they sit forgotten.
Meanwhile, you spend more money at the store to buy another.
What’s the solution for extra condiments and staples? - The answer is a permanent marker:
Stock a marker in your kitchen drawer or even tape a magnet on it and hang it on the fridge.
When you come in from grocery shopping, do
place groceries away where they belong. When you open the refrigerator
and find a mayonnaise is already open, grab your maker. Write a large "2"
on the lid. This way, when the jar is empty, the "2" reminds you that
you have a second jar available. Repeat that process on condiments,
oils, spices, and the like.
No more running to the store for something
you already have on hand. When you see the “2,” head to the pantry. For
the price of a marker, you can save a ton on groceries and gas over the
course of a year.
