How to Spruce Up Your Pantry (& Restock it Smartly)

Take care of your pantry and it will take care of you.

The pantry is the backbone of the kitchen: It supports whatever flailing produce comes through the fridge—and stands up to the challenge when there's not much in there. Sometimes it needs to work out some kinks, though. So give it a breather with our best advice on refreshing your pantry and building it back up wisely. Be nice to your pantry; it's there for you.

• Give your pantry a makeover.

 

• Learn the real expiration dates of common ingredients so you can toss what's definitely not good anymore.

 

• Use your pantry ingredients to clean your pantry (it's such a good idea that we devoted one post and then another to the topic).

 

• Now organize what's left.

 

• And be sure to heed Amanda Hesser's advice.

 

•  Now that your pantry is a little more cleaned out, build it up again! (This is the fun part.) Start with the must-haves.

 

 

• There are five pastas you should always have.

 

• Plus five natural sugars.

 

• Or, maybe you want your pantry to be a little more Indian.

 

• Now, reward yourself. You just overhauled a really important part of your kitchen! Splurge on a few high-ticket items that you will actually use.

from Food52 http://ift.tt/1JJmX2j