How to Pack Up Your Pantry

Pack your pantry to keep your perishables fresh, organized and ready for meals in your new home.

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The edible contents of your kitchen require special care to move, of course.

When the time comes, consider that the less you have to move, the better. Begin your kitchen move prep by using or getting rid of what food you can.

For the foodstuffs that you do move, we share ways to pack your pantry that will keep your perishables fresh, organized and ready for meals in your new home.

Sort it out
Start your kitchen packing by taking inventory of all you have there. You may have items that are well past their prime; check the expiration date of every item. Chances are, you can eliminate some of your pantry supplies right off the bat because they’re too old to eat.

If you have open bags of snack food, pasta or baking ingredients that have been there a while, toss them out. As your move approaches, do the same for cold food, throwing out long-open condiments, sauces and pickled items, as well as old, open bags and boxes of frozen foods.

When you’re left with everything that could be consumed or moved, start planning your meals.

Eat it now
Having minimal food stores to transfer is the best bet for an easier move. When you know a move is imminent, go through your refrigerator and freezer to begin using up everything there, without replenishing anything except the daily essentials.

Start early with kitchen organization that includes meal planning to use up your stores. Look to consume open containers of grain and items stored in glass containers. Cans are fairly durable, but heavy. To reduce your volume of heavy movables, cook with recipes that use beans, canned vegetables and canned fish. Soups and stews are great ways to use up frozen meats and vegetables.

If you have bags of flour, sugar, chocolate chips, coconut flakes and other baking ingredients that are open, why not get busy baking? Go on a bread or cookie-baking blitz, and say goodbye to friends and neighbors with some homemade treats from your kitchen. You’ll leave them with fond memories — and have a portion of your pantry that you won’t need to pack!

When you pare down the pantry, you’ll save money and have less to move, in the end.

Donate it
If you’ve got too little time before your move to use up the sealed dry goods and canned foods in your pantry, make plans right away to donate them. Many towns have a food bank or shelter that would be happy to take your food supplies to share with others.

How to pack food
Once you’ve depleted your stock down to the essentials you want to carry with you – cans, sealed boxes and bags that don’t require refrigeration, for instance — you can prepare them for packing.

• Bagged food should be placed in Ziploc bags or plastic grocery bags, then sealed with duct tape to limit leaking in transit.
• Sealed cake mixes, cereal and cookies are best moved in their own original packaging, with heavier items at the bottom of a medium-sized box.
• Wrap spices and jarred items in protective paper or plastic wrap, and pack them as you would any glassware.
• Be sure to label any boxes containing food as PERISHABLE; you may have a rude discovery later if you leave edibles packed up for too long!

Knowing how to pack your pantry and its perishables requires a little more advance planning than the other rooms in your apartment. Weed out what’s expired and not worth moving, eat what you can, and share or donate what you have left over. You’ll fill stomachs, while emptying the kitchen, making movers and mouths happy.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock / Tigger11th