The Science of Cleaning out the Pantry

As someone who is about to move for the 4th time in 2 years I have come to realize that there are certain areas of the house that you can't just pack up at the last minute.  The primary one being the kitchen.  You would think that because you will be using the kitchen pretty much till the last minute that you would need to pack it up almost last.  Most think it's the equivalent of packing your toiletries for a trip right after you've used them for the last time before your trip.  However, there should be more planning involved that that.

The first move we made was only 10 miles, but it was down a mountain and we were moving into a short-term rental that was furnished.  My biggest concern with that move was making sure nothing broke on the bumpy roads and that I had enough food to last for a couple days once we got to the new house so I didn't have to shop right away.  That meant that I tried to make sure we consumed anything in a bottle before the move.  Anything that needed to be kept cold was taken in a cooler and at the last minute.

The second move was about 50 miles and we were moving stuff from storage into an unfurnished house while we were still living in the furnished rental house.  This allowed me to unpack pots and pans and such before we actually moved in.  Very convenient I must say.  Again, I tried to make sure we consumed as many bottled items as possible, but I also tried to finish off anything that was in large packaging.  The idea there was just to take up as little space as possible.

Move three was 300 miles.  In this case, I tried to clear out everything but staple goods (flour, salt, pepper, etc.).  How you ask?  About 8 weeks before the move I stopped shopping for bulk items.  That meant no shopping trips to Costco and it also meant that unless I KNEW I would use it all, I wouldn't even buy large quantities of meat from the local grocery store.  About 4 weeks before the move I started making menus based on what I had in the pantry and less on what I wanted to eat.  It meant we all ate things we weren't too fond of on occasion (just because of the way the canned goods were paired with other things) but I must admit that we didn't have much to move.

Move four is going to be 300 miles again but there is a bit of a twist.  This time we will be moving into an RV when we get to the other end rather than a house.  That means that I need to plan on limited storage space.  In addition to using up just about everything I can, I need to reduce the size (and maybe number) of staple goods I'm bringing. 

It is certainly not something that can be done at the last minute unless of course you want to throw a bunch of things away (including your hard earned money).