Tidy the Store Cupboard Challenge Day 4: Carbs and proteins

Yesterday we sorted out our stocks of herbs, spices, oils, sauces and other seasonings. Now we’re moving on to the big store cupboard staples: proteins and carbohydrates, the building blocks of many thrifty and delicious meals.

It’s always worth having a well thought through reserve of these ingredients, especially as the weather begins to worsen. They allow you to throw quick emergency dinners together, or just avoid schlepping out to the shops if it’s chucking it down with rain.

Here’s the quick declutter for the day:

• Check your quick-cook protein foods, making sure they haven’t gone past their use-by dates. That means tins or cartons of lentils or beans, baked beans, tuna, other tinned fish or seafood, tinned meat, tofu and other vegetarian alternatives. You can also include cans or pouches of soups and stews, jars of frankfurters and so on.
• Check your slower cooking protein foods too. That could be dried lentils or beans, salted fish, dried soya mince or TVP, or whatever else you like.
• Tidy them up, or group them together to keep them organised. Move older stocks to the front of your shelves so you remember to use them up first.
• Make a note of protein foods you’re running low on, including foods/meals you regularly eat and food and snacks that are useful in emergencies.
• Now move on to most of the starchy carbohydrates (we’ll cover sugars and also flour in the baking section tomorrow). That includes rice, pasta, noodles, cous cous, potato flakes, polenta/cornmeal, grains, crackers, gluten free and other free-from foods, and so on. You can also include pot noodles and pasta snacks if you use them. Make sure they’re in date and in good condition.
• Move older foods to the front of the shelf.
• You might also like to put your most frequently used carbs into jars near the cooker, for convenience. I’ve started keeping rice and breakfast cereal on the counter top.
• Add any missing carbs to your shopping list too.

That’s it for today, we’ll be back with the last quick section declutter tomorrow before moving on to the weekend tasks. If you don’t have time for today’s activity then don’t worry, it’s easy enough to catch up at the weekend.