The pantry gets cleaned out at least twice a year - or so I would tell you and believe it to be true - but what I found today makes that appear to be a lie. There were four (count 'em - four) containers of hot chocolate mix and although only one of them had an expiration date, that was April 1996. Since I don't think ANY hot chocolate has been mixed in this house since before 2000, I tossed them all out. There was a package (half-used) of lasagna noodles, which seemed to be petrified, so out they went.
A plastic container of dry cat food was there, as well as six cat bowls. Since my kitties have recently gone on to their great reward in the sky, I put those away in a storage closet for safe-keeping, should I ever again decide I want to clean litter pans daily and spend small fortunes at the veterinary office.The cat food will be donated.
The medicine chest also got checked; and it had cough medicine that had expired, and calamine lotion. It may be that stuff was still good, but why take a chance? I found enough band aids to last two lifetimes, especially since no children reside here any more, and the grand kids are beyond the point of needing them, at least not every time they visit.
My plastic storage containers have been multiplying (as I'm sure yours do). I'm referring to the smaller ones. The bigger ones seem to go missing every time we have company (and give them something to take home) and I seldom get them back. So I mated all of them to their better-halves and while they do take up a lot of space, at least I won't have to search for the tops - this week. The next time the dish-washer gets cleaned out by that man who lives here with me, they will all be heaved into the bin willy-nilly.
Who knows what I will find tomorrow, when I complete the project. Have you tackled your pantry/cabinets recently? What oddments did you find?
