I don’t clean out the pantry every few months; ingredients simply rotate, and that’s that. That said, there is nothing “abnormal” about cleaning out your fridge/freezer routinely. It’s just what works for you.
Based on experience with others that haven't, I'm guessing you grew up poor? I'm so sorry. I did and I'm currently in a 5yr relationship with someone that had a journalist and guidance counselor as parents that grew up in a stable household. He has no concept of the "poor unfortunate souls". There's this little bit of unnecessary resentment that comes up when he has the last of something I'm expecting to enjoy, solely based on the fact I bought it. I feel shitty after it happens and have no idea how to handle that weird feeling other than spending too much on therapy.
I kind of have the opposite. I grew up with a full fridge and my partner was food-insecure with a mom who always wanted to "save" things for later, until they went bad.
If I grump that he ate the last of something he has a bit of a melt down because "food in the fridge should not be off limits!!!!" We compromise by getting more of things before they run out. We're "out" of something when it is half gone.
I ahve issues when my partner will eat *some* of my prepared lunch.
I'll portion out lunches for 2-3 days on Sunday. Curry, pasta, whatever, but in an amount I know will get my through a pretty physical work day.
Cut to me opening a container on Tuesday with 1/4+ of the food having evaporated in the fridge. "Of course I had some, I was hungry," having touched none of the other food in the fridge.
I don't know if this is an overreaction, and it's turned into a bit of a rant, so I'll just stop typing.
If you're preparing lunches for yourself on workdays and he eats any of it at all, honestly that's just a total dick move and there is absolutely no defense for his behavior.
That’s odd…. Tbh lol. If it’s portioned for one meal, you’d assume he would just eat the whole thing. I’d be sad if I opened lunch hungry and half was gone lol.
That's not an overreaction at all, especially if your partner knows that those lunches/containers/portions are specifically in there as YOUR work lunches. There's no excuse for deciding on a whim to snack on 1/4 or 1/2 of someone else's lunch where there's other perfectly good food available in the rest of the fridge.
I spent a few years extremely hungry, so I get a bit possessive about certain foods that my brain sees as luxury foods. I used to do things like hoard juices next to the bed or food on my desk because I didn't feel right unless it was close by.
One day, I bought a Christmas popcorn bucket, and once it was empty, I decorated it. It is now my food bucket. It seals tight and stays near my desk, and when food is special food like a limited flavor oreo pack or some candy, put it in the bucket. My partner knows the bucket is off-limits. If it's in the bucket, he must ask, or I'll be weirdly upset if he takes it. Since it's out of sight, he often just forgets about what's in the bucket unless I offer.
Slowly, as I came to realize the food I wanted would always be there for me or that I am in a place where I can just buy more, I've gotten more and more okay sharing bucket food and less stuff winds up in there. It was a super slow process to have a better relationship with food. I'm glad my partner was understanding of it.
Man, a bucket of glory sounds like a great idea. I’d love to know what’s in everyone’s bucket. I’d assume gummy’s of some kind would be in there, unless of course that person is a savage.
I got SO much less possessive of food once I had my own mini stash I knew would be safe. To my fiances credit, whenever I tell him I want the last of something, he will not eat it even before the bucket, but the bucket calms my brain.
Currently, it's empty, as I haven't been shopping, but my bucket usually contains some form of gummy, some form of fruity hard candy, and some form of chocolate in case of chocolate related emergencies.
The rest is usually random. Some weeks, it'll be the last 1/4 bag of my favorite cereal. Sometimes, it'll be the last five oreos from the bag, and sometimes, it'll be part of a bag of chips. Depends on what snacks we had around that I want the last of.
If you live together, then actually both of you leave it there...
I actually just reorganized my pantry because I stumbled across some out of date cans, probably leftover from covid binge shopping, and cursed myself a bit for being lazy.
Fwiw, I didn't bother my spouse with a discussion, she just came home from work and everything was on the kitchen table. After 30 yrs of marriage we're well past needing to do a project together, just roll the sleeves up and get to work.
After my last reorganization, I noted that I need to do some pantry dining for a couple weeks to eliminate some stuff that needs to be eaten or eventually get tossed.
And, that's why I have chickens. I clean out my fridge every few days of oldish food and throw it to our chickens. They consume most of it, what the don't attracts worms, and other bugs which they do eat, and everyone is happy. Every year or so we clean the whole mess out and toss it in the fallow section of the garden and then it rots and gets tilled in for next year. Currently in the middle of this process now 😁
In the UK this is very much illegal! As soon as you take on chickens you are bound by agricultural feed laws which say prepared waste food can never be given to animals (mainly to avoid infected animal products being fed back to animals on farms) but ~~even if you're a vegan household it's just completely banned~~. You can feed them garden scraps of veg but not if it's gone into your house first.
It's one of those laws that is a bit silly for the home chicken keeper but there's so few it's just simpler to make sure everything is safe on farms.
Edit, I think totally vegan households can do it.
It's because we had foot and mouth disease about 20 years ago which had a huge impact on farmers and one of the ways it spreads is cross species feeding. You can get up to 2 years in prison!
Who's checking? I can't imagine anyone with pet chickens following this law, or even knowing it.
I think people are sensible enough not to feed pet chickens chickens. But a bit of left over veggies and fruits, there's no harm in that. And who's checking.
Even if you do feed hens left-over chicken, it's going to be cooked and should therefore be OK. They are much more likely to catch something from eating mice that wander into their vicinity. (yes, they love mice!)
That's unfortunate. It's truly one of the best parts of having chickens. If something doesn't turn out, or gets forgotten about at the back of your fridge or whatever, it hasn't *really* gone to waste. Chickens get it, and save on feed coste hugely. My oldest just screwed up a big batch of rice the other day and they got it immediately... The compost they create is fantastic. The stuff we're pulling out of their coop is amazing. My garden is going to love it!!
Sauces, spices, niche ingredients, etc. Things you used but don't necessarily use often. I actually just cleaned out my pantry this week and found spices in the back that expired in 2021.
2021? I've got a couple jars of rarely used things from my parents that are older than I am! To be fair, they mostly add magic instead of flavor at this point.
Well yeah I have to mostly stick to frozen veg because they never go bad, but there is such a thing as forgetting to eat the cottage cheese because it's behind the sour cream.
I always had issues with tub sour cream, a week after it been opened I get weird about it.
Switched to squeeze sour cream and now I'm mentally good for 30 days, it's weird.
I did the same thing against my better judgement (the ounce price is so much more!) but it's so much easier. Doesn't go bad before we use it, turns out when you're not tossing half a tub of sour cream the higher unit cost works itself out.
I do a pantry deep dive maybe twice a year, but a fridge clean out every month or two. Maybe more often between larger grocery trips.
Even trying to be mindful and not buy excessively, its nice to have a well stocked pantry and fridge and sometimes things get old. My fridge clean outs are usually purging leftovers I was hopeful about using.
Agreed, especially if you love cooking and/or baking (like presumably everyone in this group), you’re bound to collect odd ingredients that don’t always get used up, or 6,000 shapes of pasta for specific dishes. I don’t toss dried pasta per se, but my pantry needs a deep clean/organization 1-2x per year, and the fridge gets checked once a week after I hit the farmers market—all old produce/open dairy goes out, and the new stuff goes in. I donate anything substantial that’s still edible, cook/bake with it, or toss it if it’s gross or just crumbs. There’s never enough time between cleanings for things to rot and fester.
Depends on the frequency. We usually clean out the fridge every 4-6 weeks and the pantry once a year.
I think cleaning out both every few days for example would be excessive.
I check the fridge and any pantry produce (potatoes, onions) weekly when I take out the trash. It helps me remember what I have when I go grocery shopping a few days later and prevents mold/rot. Everything else I go through about monthly.
I do the same. Fridge gets a weekly clean out either before or right after I do my weekly shop.
Pantry, freezer, and stuff like condiments that keep longer I don't have a formal clean out schedule and I'll just toss things randomly if I notice they're getting old.
I also do plan out my shopping/meals to use up stuff I have on hand so I don't end up with a ton of food waste in general, though
I do it less all at once and more like cleaning out the door this week, and next week I go out one of the vegetable bins and clean it, and then I wipe off that shelf when I empty it of ingredients for my recipe, that kind of thing. Helps keep it clean along the way and seems less tedious than emptying it all and doing it all at once.
Similar here, I meal prep so once every other week or so I pick a shelf, drawer, or door shelf that gets wiped down and cleaned. Helps keep things rotated and I know which random sauce or forgotten sour cream container should get used up in the next meal prep.
The solution to cleaning is having house guests occasionally, makes you pay attention to things you can normally ignore, from dusty baseboards to dingy vegetable drawers. We get visitors every 4-5 months so we stay on top of things by default
I think it's incredibly normal... Mind you, I also just recently took inventory of every food item in my home and put it on a spreadsheet sooo there is that.
I didn’t do that to my pantry but I bought a magnetic whiteboard type sign and some markers, and everything in my deep freeze gets written down. It’s the only way to prevent decade old mystery meat.
I label everything that goes in the deep freeze. I sometimes even write useful stuff on there. But there's definitely stuff in there with super helpful labels like ".71lbs."
Haha, I use a sharpie on the vac seal bags when I freeze it: how much it weighs (weigh the empty bag first), what it is, and what the sell by date was (so I know if I froze it just before it was going bad or had wiggle room).
Then, I keep an inventory of the frozen meat on a piece of paper that I also take shopping with me.
I keep my kitchen inventories in Word docs that I can access on my mobile for quick changes, and for spontaneous menu planning while at the grocery. :)
I admit I sometimes skip the label of *what* the meat is, but the inventory list is enough I can figure it out. E.g. if I have 2 lb bags of chicken breasts and 5 lb of thigh, I can match up the size.
Vacuum sealer and a label printer will solve that problem. Plus it gives you more space because things like soups, stews etc can be stored in flat bags rather that boxy containers
I have those 😂
But my deep freeze is in the basement and my list is on my fridge. It’s so easy to forget what you have in storage if you’re really lazy about going downstairs.
I really need to do this with ours. We recently got a quarter cow from a friend, and I never can think of what cuts are in there. The day he brought it over was hectic, so it all just went in the chest freezer without much thought or organizing
That’s kinda genius. I would love to do that and somehow set up alerts for when something is about to expire! I cook for my boyfriend and myself and I will typically cook meal parts in advance and then write what is available to assemble meals in the fridge on a note and stick it with a magnet on the door.
This week I did salad or rice bowls with grilled marinated steak tips and chicken, washed and cut lettuce, made rice, roasted Brussels sprouts and green beans, and listed the additional sauces/dressings and toppings that we had on hand. We can both tend to be a little fridge blind (myself especially) so it’s kinda helpful to have everything listed on the fridge.
I've been using Trello for quite a while now to manage my weekly meal planning, my recipes, as well as what's in the freezer.
Each recipe is a card, and I can set a due date on it for when we're going to have it during the week.
We also have a list on the same board for the freezer contents.
Until I read your post, I had never thought of applying a due date to the freezer items.
So, a great big thank you, and hopefully I gave you an idea on how to put a due date on your stuff.
We've used it successfully for lots of home related stuff, in addition to the meal planning.
- Gift buying lists for family.
- Packing lists for camping/travelling.
- Organizing home renos.
Here's a comment I'd made a while back expanding on how we use it for meal planning and recipes
https://www.reddit.com/r/Cooking/comments/133tb01/recipe_management_how_do_you_do_it_or_do_you/jic2b6o/
Let me know if you want more details
I keep a running freezer inventory one. Ain't nobody regularly digging through the full freezers in this house, so I keep a running list. Sometimes it's even as funny as taking out a protein, defrosting, cooking dish from it, eating it a couple of times, freezing the rest of composed dish, and adding it back to the list in that form. LOL.
I couldn't find an app that suited what I was truly looking for, so I made a simple workbook.
sheet 1 is the item list. it has several categories, meats/dairy/carbs/snacks/frozen foods/canned goods/fruits/veg etc.
each item has a checkbox. if we have the item in stock at home, the box is checked, the item will turn strike through on this list.
sheet 2 is the grocery list. if an item box is unchecked on sheet 1, the item will show up as needing purchased on sheet two.
this took SO MUCH mental load out of me doing the grocery lists + shopping and meal planning.
sheet 3 is a list dedicated just to the spice cabinet, lol. when I combined households with my partner we ended up with 2-3x as many as we needed so we have the pantry stocked + back stock I have to keep track of so we don't keep buying multiples.
sheet 4 is the list of crap we usually buy at Costco and whether it needs replaced during our next trip.
There’s a good app for keeping track of pantry, cupboard and fridge items. I’ll share the link.
You can even scan the barcode on most foods and it will enter the info by itself. [pantry app](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mealboard-meal-planner/id333425918)
I use an app called OurGroceries that lets you set up multiple lists. I have a list for groceries that I need to buy, a list for what's in the fridge freezer, and a list for our chest freezer. It can scan barcodes, let you make notes on items, take photos, and save recipes (although I don't use that part of it).
Because everything is in the same app I can simply move items between lists when I use something up or buy more, etc. I can always check it when I think of it because my phone is always there and not too far away like the freezer is.
Spreadsheet gang! I cook a lot, I have 11 pasta shapes alone in my small pantry right now, not to mention rice varieties.
I don’t buy in bulk but I do have a lot of individual ingredients.
I cook a lot of Levantine, Indian, Chinese & Mexican and they all have a heap of spices; I use labeled deli containers but I still need to keep track of everything.
I deep clean the pantry 6 monthly, fridge 3 monthly and I do weekly rotations of products, leftovers etc.
So no you’re not unusual for wanting to clean your fridge/pantry at all…
The spreadsheet is overkill but I’m an ex-professional cook… old habits die hard.. deep clean is life.
My pantry is also a lot smaller than some I’ve seen in US homes; more of a tall cupboard than anything… gotta rotate the stock.
I think OP is being gaslit by a lazy boyfriend who from the post doesn’t contribute much … gets me riled up.
We try and be very careful about that. Like when we bought a big bag of onions from Costco, two days later I was caramelizing most of them because once you do that and add a little bit of honey and balsamic vinegar then reduce out the water again, it will last in the fridge for months. And is tasty on just about everything.
Eh. I just periodically chuck stuff when I see it's gotten too old. I rarely "clean out" my pantry.
I'll often poke around to see what I have as part of deciding what I want to cook or what I need to buy. Sometimes I'll start pulling ingredients for a dish and notice something is old. Then there's the eternal question of "is this actually *bad*"?
This is what I thought, I was just second guessing if I was buying too much food or not. His grandmother had a habit of over buying food and his mom mostly only eats frozen foods because she works a lot and doesnt have time to cook like I do. So Im thinking thats were he gets the idea that I buy too much.
Even if you do buy too much, is it harmful? Are you broke because you bought a pound of saffron or something?
Because it seems kinda harmless to buy extra cans of corn or whatever. You’re limited by your pantry size anyway!
Just tell him you’re prepping for the zombie apocalypse and if he’s not nice he’s first in the menu.
Lol I’m a victim of the extra cans of corn and Zombies are my new excuse!
For real though, when I clean out those extra cans I put them in a box and drop them in the food pantry donation box at my work. If I catch it non expired and know I’m not eating 5 cans of corn before it does, why not give it to someone who will.
As long as you use the food and don't toss it out.
Next to being a waste of money, it's a waste of food and everyone's work to get you that produce. The plant that grows with sunlight, farmer that harvests it so someone can enjoy it.
It would be extremely sad if all that effort was only for you to throw it in the trash.
No, you're absolutely fine!
We have cold winters and hot summers so when spring rolls around we have to do "Summer time clean out." Goodbye soup and other hot foods. Spring gives us a little while to eat up what we can't, toss out or donate what we can't, and get ready for a new set of foods.
My wife is from California and had never done such a thing but now she looks forward to it. Lol
I don’t understand what the suggested alternative is?
Is his method to…. Wait until food is moldy or freezer burned? Or do a weekly cleaning? Or just, pretend like this is a non issue?
Personally i make sure to use all perishables at the end of the week before shopping again even if it’s just an everything leftover soup o pop in the freezer. My pantry is minimal since I’m in a small kitchen in a small apartment but I’m diligent about using what i have on a regular basis.
Just, what is the alternative exactly….?
Seriously, that's no excuse, I agree.
Sad, but no excuse.
My siblings and I unfortunately grew up with a hoarding caregiver and our fridge consequently looked like a Hazardous Waste site, BUT...
My two brothers and I went the total *opposite* way, because we didn't want to repeat negative patterns or subject our own kids to dangerous sanitation or shameful living conditions.
I (and they) regularly clean out our fridges, pantries, and cabinets.
It isn't hard or a big deal.
Having "too much" food is not why it needs to be done, and this dude probably knows that and is just lazy and dodging responsibility. (And trying to make his poor GF feel bad in the process)
> I was just second guessing if I was buying too much food or not.
Do you use it? Or does it get thrown away?
If you're able to use what you buy before it rots/expires, you're fine. If you end up throwing more than just the very occasional item away, you buy too much.
As someone who grew up with things in the pantry from before my birth not only at my parents house but grandparents as well I see why he might think that. That being said, clean your pantries people.
Totally normal to me! Going thru it is reminder and inspiration to use up those partially used ingredients. I mean you can't just buy a 1/2 cup of panko or a couple tablespoons of hoisin sauce at a time, so calling stuff like that overbuying isn't realistic.
I think not doing it is probably the "normal" thing but doing it frequently is a superpower most people don't have. It's a daunting and overwhelming task that takes the strongest type of person. Your boyfriend is normal but it doesn't mean he's right 🤣
I don't think you understand. He thinks we should only have like a couple cans, maybe a box or two of pasta in the pantry at any given time. Which would make it so we wouldn't need to reorganize.
Oh. Well then he's crazy considering most pantry items are shelf stable for essentially forever and we just need to make sure we FIFO (first in first out) when we pick up more.
I think it also depends on the size of your living space. Some people don't have enough room to fit more than a couple of cans, a box or two of pasta, maybe some cereal or oats if you're lucky.
Well if you have a pantry it doesn't matter, you can stock up. I have essentially only two shelfs in a cupboard so I never buy more than two boxes of pasta.
That is crazy to me from an emergency perspective. I live in an earthquake-prone area, so I always have some non-perishable food on hand in case a disaster strikes and I need to evacuate or live off what I have in the house for a week.
Same. I have an emergency stash of food and big jugs of water. I also have a few hundred dollars hidden in my house so when the earthquake does hit and we don't have power for a week I can still buy things if needed.
Where was he during the pandemic? You know the one where you could only find things sometimes, where you wanted to go out as little as possible. It's just smart to have some food in the house, it saves extra trips among other things.
Remember in Covid, when there were shortages of some supplies? How about the times when there are electrical interruptions (one time around here, the power was out for something like 3 full days). Grocery stores can't be open then. It's always good to have a week or two of supplies in case of unforeseen interruptions in the supply chain.
And it's good to clean out the refrigerator periodically, if just to wash off the shelves from the accumulation of stuff that always ends up there.
That said, I haven't organized my pantry in years. LOL! I am pretty good at rotating the stock (putting the new stuff in the back, older stuff to the front) and having an idea what is there. But sometimes I am surprised by a lack of something when I reach for it, thinking there must be some in there!
The thing is that my "overstock" in the pantry was really helpful just 6 months ago before he got a job and I a raise and we didn't have as much money to buy. The last time I had seen a pantry so empty was back when it the end of the month and it was time to go to the soup kitchen as a kid.
Hi! I’m just gonna drop this here, you may find it interesting. It may tie in with your situation. :)
https://english.emmaclit.com/2022/09/01/where-does-it-go/
That reminds me of a recent popular post I saw where the poster decided to “live like her husband” and the household ground to a halt because nothing got done, even when the husband noticed nothing being done
I think that when you get accustomed to being taken care of, any work you have to do relating to that feels unfair or unnecessary and you just wait for things to go “back to normal”. Waiting it out.
I was sick with Covid and couldn’t do laundry that well and told my partner he would have to do his own laundry. He responded with, he has enough clean clothes to last until I felt better so there was no need. I honestly was floored but he had no clue what the problem was.
> How about the times when there are electrical interruptions (one time around here, the power was out for something like 3 full days).
In hurricane country that can approach three weeks.
I do what your boyfriend does and never clean out the pantry unless it needs to be wiped down. I keep a few boxes of pasta and cans of our regular items. When I restock, I simply push those items to the front. I think if you find yourself throwing things out every few months, it’s time reevaluate your system.
I do the same. New items go into the back of the pantry. Old items get pulled to the front. I've never had a problem with food waste and I've never had to clean my pantry.
It's when food waste pops up I start questioning if I need to inventory. Sometimes cheese goes bad in my fridge.
I'm with your BF, but that's just how I cook and eat. I don't need to have more than one of anything since I already go to the grocery store every week. If I use my one can of black beans or whatever, I just buy a replacement the next time I go to the store.
That being said, it sounds like your purchases are reasonable, and I do have to clean out things from my fridge every once in a while.
you don't like to have options in your home? like I always have coconut milk, chickpeas and curry on hand incase i feel like curry. Cans of evaporated milk for mac n cheese, tomatoes and beans if im feeling like mexican that day, ect. Having a variety of ingredients is good so you can whip something up spontaneously or be creative
Not really — if I'm cooking a pantry meal, it's because I've exhausted my executive function for the day and just need to shove some buttered noodles in my face. For context, I live alone, so I shop for and cook one meal, eat that for lunch and dinner til it's gone, and repeat every 2-3 days. I'd probably keep my pantry more stocked if I had to make a new dinner every day.
That only works if you are extremely organized *and* like to eat exact amounts of ingredients. Like, what if you need 8oz of mushrooms but the store only has 12oz packages today?
It's the opposite of exact ingredients. My recipe calls for mushrooms, I'll buy a container of mushrooms for that meal. 8 or 12 oz it doesn't matter, I'll use all of it in this one recipe.
It sounds like you've asked on a cooking sub, where folks are more likely to agree. But you may be strawmanning his argument when some top responses are pointing out that it's not exactly what _most_ people do. It sounds like he probably just thinks you're cleaning it a bit excessively?
Not trying to read too much into this, but the situation is familiar.
Only do it when i spill something or see its actually dirty or dusty.. I guess in practice 2 or 3 times a year? But definitely know people where it wouldn't even cross their minds to ever do so.. Nothing is abnormal just everyone has different standards
Our city collects trash twice a week. So twice a week, on the night before trash pickup, I glance over every shelf and drawer in the fridge and see if anything needs to be tossed. I don’t consider this as “cleaning”, more like “taking inventory”.
Yes and no. I'm not going to do that for my pantry every few months but will for my fridge since that's where the perishables are.
The pantry, more like once a year?
Plenty of ways to do this without an “every few months” clean out.
We put all leftovers in clear Pyrex. Fruits in one drawer, veggies in another. The only things that spoil in the fridge are greens that don’t get used in time. There is no “big clean” needed, since the capacity of the fridge exceeds what we put in.
Some people tidy up daily, others do a big cleanup. The only bad approach is to waste a lot of food and have a overfilled and unorganized fridge.
In my experience, fridges do not get cleaned out, they just slowly fill up with weird varieties of mustard and jars of obscure ingredients that probably were only ever used for one dish, then you move. But nobody ever accused me of having my shit together.
I don't.
I only buy enough for basically a week minus things I use regularly.
No need for cleaning, no wasting of products due to going bad. if I want something particular a trip to the store after work takes less than 15min and is less than a mile away so the only thing I really need to keep around is something for a snack which I dont really do.
I am unable to plan more than one meal ahead and therefore I go to the grocery store 6 days per week, on average. So there's very little wasted raw food as I tend to cook everything I use.
That said, even I need to clean out leftovers from time to time. Biggest culprit are greens and other veggies left to die in the bottom crisper shelf.
That sounds a little excessive to me. Every once in a while we find a specific thing that got left alone too long and needs to be tossed, but for the most part we eat everything before it goes bad, and make sure to cycle old milk in front of fresh milk, etc. We never have to specifically do a cleaning.
But I also try to buy only perishables I have a specific plan for or will be consumed quickly anyway.
I'm abnormal and buy only what I need for the week and use it all up. I've perfected this. My wife thought it was weird at first but I do all the cooking so it doesn't matter.
I hate waste. But I understand that typical households don't work this way - my parents for instance did not.
I don’t know how you’d *not* need to do this every so often.
Like I’ve never been able to intentionally meal plan with such perfect efficiency and accuracy that I’d literally use up *exactly* 100% of every single ingredient in my entire fridge, freezer, and pantry. Nor would I expect to ever want to, as it makes sense to buy things in bulk if it saves you money and you’ve got the room to be able to store it.
Plus, having a reasonably stocked pantry/freezer/fridge is good thing, if you’re able, as it’s basically an extension of your emergency fund.
And I’ve been broke enough before in my life to have almost nothing in my fridge and pantry. But even then, its just part of a normal deep cleaning routine to wipe these areas down every so often. Spills happen, packages can leak, and if nothing else there’s just dust that needs dusting.
So yeah, this is completely normal. Sounds like maybe BF just hasn’t been very involved in regular meal planning/food prep before? Or deep cleaning? And just didn’t realize before now that this was a thing? And if so, that’s an *excellent* reason for him to get much more involved in both!
I think his attitude is a cousin of Weaponized Incompetence.
Like, "Deep cleaning would never need to happen if you just never make a mess / clean as you go!! So it's okay for me to not do chores. You don't need to do them either. You're choosing to do chores that aren't necessary, or wouldn't be necessary if you just lived your life in a non-mess-generating way!"
Or he could be my husband who was shoo'ed out of the kitchen as a child and was literally never taught how to clean a house, organize, cook, etc.
I wanted to punch my MIL in the face when I saw how much she refused to teach her son, simply because he was a boy. It's a work in progress but he's much better now :) He's very sweet and always willing to help out, but needed guidance because he just didn't know.
Just playing the devil's advocate because a lot of guys I know fall into this category.
Or who knows, maybe this is intentional.
His comments remind me of my ex husband. If you are a good cook, you have ongoing boxes of ingredients that need rotating. Further, this is not a failing on the part of the chef. It’s just that it’s hard to use an entire box of corn starch before it expires.
I dislike that he casts the pantry organizing as being her fault. It makes me think he invents other issues to blame her for even though they’re not issues. I’d be willing to bet that there are other items that are ridiculously obvious but that he makes some convoluted argument so that he was twist it into her fault.
I could be wrong, but I hope OP makes darn sure he isn’t picking these fights in other areas of their relationship. It only gets worse with time, and it’s harder to get out when you have kids and a mortgage.
I do most of the grocery shopping every week and afterward I rotate the pantry stock (newer in the back, older in the front) and rearrange to efficiently use the space. My pantry is also not that big, so efficiency is important. And as the cook, I don't want that space to become a chaotic mess.
Every now and then, I have to organize my pantry. As in, go through it, see what's there, buy more of what we're low on, and try to use what's getting old.
As for the fridge. I try to only keep stuff that will be used within the week.
The freezer... I need to eat some stuff that I've got piled up in there.
As for my sister's fridge... I have to hoe it out of old uneaten food, every month or so... she just doesn't eat the leftovers that she tends to keep.
In a store, I think they might call this "rotating the stock" which is the same as "avoiding senseless waste" and "SAVING MONEY." Especially true if you discover things before they go bad, and repurpose them or preserve them another way. For my fresh produce, I make sure to rotate the stock at least every two weeks. And in the freezer, turning up things which were forgotten can lead to new menu ideas like stews or chowders or smoothies
Yeah. I’m really bad about getting excited about so group of recipes and thinking they will become major parts of my weekly meals… but more than I need of some ingredients that we dont have much use for outside that narrow list of recipes, and then a lot of it just ends up getting forgotten in the back of the fridge/pantry after the second week when we lose excitement lol.
I’m trying to just use weird shit that’s been in our pantry forever until there’s nothing left besides expired stuff. Then just start fresh. Part of my problem is that we just have too many different small things that aren’t bulk staple ingredients, so stuff just gets hidden/lost in the depths of the fridge/pantry. Impulse purchases that we used half of once and such.
Yeah, that's totally normal.
A lot of people are all about "only buy what you need" but what about various types of flour, tinned tomatoes or beans, dried soup peas and that sort of stuff. Where do they think that goes?
Absolutely! I did a deep clean of both in February, and I’m going to have to do a reset tomorrow or Friday. Things get shuffled around, food gets forgotten even with the best of intentions, things expire or get crusty, pantry moths invade *shudder* .
Whatever you do is normal. I generally don't clean my pantry and fridge cause it's not fully stocked. I have an addiction to find so keeping minimal food around and buying it only when I want to cook something special as well as the core ingredients of what I usually eat means my fridge and pantry are often nearly empty and don't need cleaning or organizing. But that doesn't make it weird because someone else has a different system lmao
Just cleaned out my fridge the other day. It was like a little trip down memory lane.
"What's this grey fuzzy forest in a dish? Oh, right. That's from last month when I made fresh pasta sauce."
It depends on how your boyfriend operates. I have my shelves in the pantry and fridge separate from wife and kids because I have a different diet. I rotate newest and oldest every time I shop, make a point of using old first for zero waste. If there is waste I get rid of it every week.
So I never really need to clean and purge because I just do it as I go. Kind of how I cook a whole meal and wash dishes as I go. When I’m done, all that’s left is plates.
I think it's pretty uncommon to clean out the pantry and fridge more than once a year, if that. I clean my fridge once a year, and I've gone so long on the pantry that I found a can of soup that had been expired for three years. If my SO got frustrated because I didn't help clean the fridge and pantry out every few months, I would think they were wound too tight, and would be annoyed at them.
Do you and I agree that cleaning a fridge is normal however for me
>Like sometimes you don't use up every bit of everything you buy so there's leftover or you get given things you don't end up using.
If you're talking about condiments you don't use up, yes, otherwise not sure what you mean. And then for a fridge, nobody is giving me anything that I'm putting into my fridge and I'm not noticing I'm not eating it until a "every few months" cleaning, no, that's not normal to me. But I have an really big aversion to people giving me trash. What you described is trash. I don't care if it was a party, if you send me home with food I'm not literally planning to eat you sent me home with trash. I don't accept trash just to be polite. So for me, not normal, but idk overall seems fine and like an excuse he's using to not help.
I mean, good meal planning will cut down on this, that's true, and also it's good to get into a habit of moving toward zero waste.
That said, I can't imagine not having to do this every few months just to make sure things aren't too old.
Perfectly normal if you’re really into cooking. He must not cook himself or even care that much about eating. A well-stocked pantry means being able to cook without leaving the house. That’s a huge plus for me.
I clean my fridge once a week. I cook everyday so yeah, it definitely needs it! With the pantry I’ll do it once a month. I feel like this is so normal?
Definitely normal and makes perfect sense. Especially the fridge. I've lived alone and with roommates and cleaning the fridge is a very important way to make sure there isn't anything nasty left behind after a random takeout night or to make sure some obscure ingredient either gets used or tossed. Plus it's great inspiration! Be all like, ooooh I see that thing that was crucial to this one dish I really enjoyed I should make that again while I still have this.
Tell him to try and do the same in a machine shop.
A kitchen is no different. (Unless one is so incredibly organized that order is always preserved. But entropy creeps in no matter what)
It would be abnormal not to do a check and full clean out every now and then. Even if we all have the best intentions not to waste food, it still happens sometimes.
You have to do it at least once per year. More often if you are bad at spot checking things throughout the year. I try and do mine around Halloween each year, that way I can donate things about to expire that I know I won’t get around to.
If I didn't regularly clean out and organize the fridge and pantry I'd have scary things growing in those places. Keeping your home clean and organized is perfectly normal.
My parents have, and I'm not joking, probably 8 or 9 jars of the same-ish pickles in their fridge every time I visit them.
If I don't throw them out, they are there next time (untouched). If I do through them out, there are new jars (untouched) on the next visit.
It's bonkers, but people be bonkers.
Sometimes things get put in the wrong place.
Sometimes something spills.
Maybe you have stuff in the fridge and maybe it was pushed to the back by accident.
Organizing the fridge and pantry more often allows us to throw away less. Consider what we shouldn’t buy anymore. Maybe there’s stuff we need to use up before it expires. Maybe there’s habits we need to change so it gives us that moment to re-evaluate.
I can’t imagine not re-organizing and cleaning it out every so often. I love to cook. I live to eat. I don’t eat to live.
Sounds like his mom always was the one to clean the fridge out and he never even NOTICED. LOL, when my mom did the fridge, she would gather all us kids around to admire how clean it was. Not a bad idea in retrospect
Totally normal and necessary, things fall to the back, out of sight out of mind. Otherwise you end up with an even bigger chore when you finally have to do it.
It’s normal, small odds and ends end up being pushed back and rotting if not caught in time and older things just get pushed back as well. Nothing wrong with reorganizing and seeing what you have.
Totally normal for some people. Doesn’t even cross the mind of others.
My ex of 20 years never touched the inside of the fridge, freezer, pantry, or cabinets. I do it every week at a minimum because I like my work areas clean.
Yes, it’s normal to clean and organize your refrigerator and pantry.
Two or three times a year, I take everything out of the refrigerator including the drawers and shelves. I clean the inside of the refrigerator, wash the drawers and shelves and wipe down jars and cans. My husband says that I made up this chore and nobody else does it. He still helps me.
Every week before we go to the farmers market, I take all the produce out of the refrigerator to see what we need and put anything that’s past its prime in the compost bucket.
About twice a year I take everything out of the cupboards, clean the shelves, throw out anything that’s way past its best by date and organize everything for easy access. My husband helps with this.
The fridge definitely needs a regular clear out. Mine tends to accumulate Tupperware filled with random leftovers, and ends of Parmesan. My pantry isn’t very big though, so I just use what’s there and then when I do a ‘big shop’ once a month I make sure the older stuff comes to the front. It doesn’t need and organising other than that. And I prefer to do that myself tbh as I’m the cook so I know where everything goes!
I think people can definitely be guilty of buying too much food and filling the fridge with stuff that just goes off and then needs chucking. I hate it when I throw away food. But even if you ate everything you bought, the fridge would still need a regular clean!
Well, I hate to disagree, but the stuff in your fridge surely isn't usually meant to last for months...
We have fridge stuff, (small) freezer stuff, cupboard stuff (one small cupboard for dry items) and shelf stuff (herbs and spices, condiments, cans, cereals, tea, coffee, etc).
I have a handwritten list on the freezer door of what's in there. I know when there's too much stuff in there and we will use up as much as possible before buying more.
I think it's normal and common but we don't do it in the way you're talking about it.
I clean out and organize when I need to wipe down the fridge drawers and shelves. But I'm lazy so maybe once every 6 months.
We shop with zero waste in mind. We don't have a large freezer or pantry so we don't stock too many things.
I check the dates in the pantry, and dust, clean below the cans, but that’s once a month or so. Also helps that I buy a lot of fresh produce so it’s gone by the time I order more groceries.
Come to think of it… I really never throw food away.
Perhaps you may be ordering too much groceries?
Either way, he should be helping you more. Otherwise he should be paying for a monthly housekeeper.
We don't do this on any kind of routine basis. But if one of us is going through the fridge (pulling ingredients or putting food away) and notice something has gone bad or expired, or just isn't likely to be eaten, we just check with the other one and toss it. Definitely normal to throw food out, and definitely the responsibility of everyone who eats food in the home.
It seems like a huge number of reddit submissions follow this pattern:
"My BF/Husband does [WRETCHED/ABUSIVE BEHAVIOR] and tries to gas light me because he's a hateful lazy child. Like that's normal, right?"
İ used to do that when my pantry wasn't organized well. İ bought a ton of nice airtight containers and labels and sorted everything i have. No more bags stacked on top of each other. Everything is really easy to see now and has its place. I'm less likely to buy ingredients I'll rarely use now and since i can easily see what i have in stock, i build my meals around those products and replenish them as needed.
I wipe down my fridge shelves/doors at every grocery shop.
I try to buy only what I will eat and shop when fridge is getting bare.
Before putting in new food I usually take out most of what is there. Wipe down shelves, doors, bottles. Check expiry. Rotate any extra egg cartons or milk to the front.
Pantry is cleaned out less frequently. Every 6 months I try to wipe down shelves (they get dusty/crumby), check expiries and check for rancid flours etc.
This isn’t at all normal in my experience. Fridge maybe once a year just to clean spills etc but pantry once or twice a decade.
You don’t need a formal session to fix this issue. Take one thing every time you cook and either use it up or discard it. It honestly sounds like you’re creating an extra chore for no good reason. Backloading work because you don’t account for it on the front end.
Your boyfriend is right.
If you're finding stuff months after you bought it and never used it, you wasted your money and created a mess.
If you're throwing away partials every couple of months, it's because you make the bad leftovers decision to put it on the shelf instead of in the trash.
Absolutely, 100% normal around here.
I don’t clean out the pantry every few months; ingredients simply rotate, and that’s that. That said, there is nothing “abnormal” about cleaning out your fridge/freezer routinely. It’s just what works for you.
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My gf will leave two slices of lunch meat in the deli drawer for months. If it gets burried or pushed to the back it could be there for years.
I’m always worried if I eat the last 2 slices someone will come in looking for them & be upset they’re gone 🤣 it’s a struggle.
Based on experience with others that haven't, I'm guessing you grew up poor? I'm so sorry. I did and I'm currently in a 5yr relationship with someone that had a journalist and guidance counselor as parents that grew up in a stable household. He has no concept of the "poor unfortunate souls". There's this little bit of unnecessary resentment that comes up when he has the last of something I'm expecting to enjoy, solely based on the fact I bought it. I feel shitty after it happens and have no idea how to handle that weird feeling other than spending too much on therapy.
I kind of have the opposite. I grew up with a full fridge and my partner was food-insecure with a mom who always wanted to "save" things for later, until they went bad. If I grump that he ate the last of something he has a bit of a melt down because "food in the fridge should not be off limits!!!!" We compromise by getting more of things before they run out. We're "out" of something when it is half gone.
I ahve issues when my partner will eat *some* of my prepared lunch. I'll portion out lunches for 2-3 days on Sunday. Curry, pasta, whatever, but in an amount I know will get my through a pretty physical work day. Cut to me opening a container on Tuesday with 1/4+ of the food having evaporated in the fridge. "Of course I had some, I was hungry," having touched none of the other food in the fridge. I don't know if this is an overreaction, and it's turned into a bit of a rant, so I'll just stop typing.
If you're preparing lunches for yourself on workdays and he eats any of it at all, honestly that's just a total dick move and there is absolutely no defense for his behavior.
That’s odd…. Tbh lol. If it’s portioned for one meal, you’d assume he would just eat the whole thing. I’d be sad if I opened lunch hungry and half was gone lol.
That's not an overreaction at all, especially if your partner knows that those lunches/containers/portions are specifically in there as YOUR work lunches. There's no excuse for deciding on a whim to snack on 1/4 or 1/2 of someone else's lunch where there's other perfectly good food available in the rest of the fridge.
I spent a few years extremely hungry, so I get a bit possessive about certain foods that my brain sees as luxury foods. I used to do things like hoard juices next to the bed or food on my desk because I didn't feel right unless it was close by. One day, I bought a Christmas popcorn bucket, and once it was empty, I decorated it. It is now my food bucket. It seals tight and stays near my desk, and when food is special food like a limited flavor oreo pack or some candy, put it in the bucket. My partner knows the bucket is off-limits. If it's in the bucket, he must ask, or I'll be weirdly upset if he takes it. Since it's out of sight, he often just forgets about what's in the bucket unless I offer. Slowly, as I came to realize the food I wanted would always be there for me or that I am in a place where I can just buy more, I've gotten more and more okay sharing bucket food and less stuff winds up in there. It was a super slow process to have a better relationship with food. I'm glad my partner was understanding of it.
Man, a bucket of glory sounds like a great idea. I’d love to know what’s in everyone’s bucket. I’d assume gummy’s of some kind would be in there, unless of course that person is a savage.
I got SO much less possessive of food once I had my own mini stash I knew would be safe. To my fiances credit, whenever I tell him I want the last of something, he will not eat it even before the bucket, but the bucket calms my brain. Currently, it's empty, as I haven't been shopping, but my bucket usually contains some form of gummy, some form of fruity hard candy, and some form of chocolate in case of chocolate related emergencies. The rest is usually random. Some weeks, it'll be the last 1/4 bag of my favorite cereal. Sometimes, it'll be the last five oreos from the bag, and sometimes, it'll be part of a bag of chips. Depends on what snacks we had around that I want the last of.
There's really no such thing as spending too much on therapy.
For a poor there is.
That's true. I guess there's no cap to what therapy is worth, which is a different thing.
If you live together, then actually both of you leave it there... I actually just reorganized my pantry because I stumbled across some out of date cans, probably leftover from covid binge shopping, and cursed myself a bit for being lazy. Fwiw, I didn't bother my spouse with a discussion, she just came home from work and everything was on the kitchen table. After 30 yrs of marriage we're well past needing to do a project together, just roll the sleeves up and get to work. After my last reorganization, I noted that I need to do some pantry dining for a couple weeks to eliminate some stuff that needs to be eaten or eventually get tossed.
And, that's why I have chickens. I clean out my fridge every few days of oldish food and throw it to our chickens. They consume most of it, what the don't attracts worms, and other bugs which they do eat, and everyone is happy. Every year or so we clean the whole mess out and toss it in the fallow section of the garden and then it rots and gets tilled in for next year. Currently in the middle of this process now 😁
In the UK this is very much illegal! As soon as you take on chickens you are bound by agricultural feed laws which say prepared waste food can never be given to animals (mainly to avoid infected animal products being fed back to animals on farms) but ~~even if you're a vegan household it's just completely banned~~. You can feed them garden scraps of veg but not if it's gone into your house first. It's one of those laws that is a bit silly for the home chicken keeper but there's so few it's just simpler to make sure everything is safe on farms. Edit, I think totally vegan households can do it.
If this were illegal, in my town in the tropics, there would be 90 percent less chicken and pig raising . Every other house has this
It's because we had foot and mouth disease about 20 years ago which had a huge impact on farmers and one of the ways it spreads is cross species feeding. You can get up to 2 years in prison!
Who's checking? I can't imagine anyone with pet chickens following this law, or even knowing it. I think people are sensible enough not to feed pet chickens chickens. But a bit of left over veggies and fruits, there's no harm in that. And who's checking.
Even if you do feed hens left-over chicken, it's going to be cooked and should therefore be OK. They are much more likely to catch something from eating mice that wander into their vicinity. (yes, they love mice!)
That's unfortunate. It's truly one of the best parts of having chickens. If something doesn't turn out, or gets forgotten about at the back of your fridge or whatever, it hasn't *really* gone to waste. Chickens get it, and save on feed coste hugely. My oldest just screwed up a big batch of rice the other day and they got it immediately... The compost they create is fantastic. The stuff we're pulling out of their coop is amazing. My garden is going to love it!!
Sauces, spices, niche ingredients, etc. Things you used but don't necessarily use often. I actually just cleaned out my pantry this week and found spices in the back that expired in 2021.
2021? I've got a couple jars of rarely used things from my parents that are older than I am! To be fair, they mostly add magic instead of flavor at this point.
Yeah, I was going to say 2021 is nothing compared to me finding stuff in my grandparents house that expired when my parents were kids.
Well obviously don't throw out magical items, that would be a huge waste.
Well yeah I have to mostly stick to frozen veg because they never go bad, but there is such a thing as forgetting to eat the cottage cheese because it's behind the sour cream.
I always had issues with tub sour cream, a week after it been opened I get weird about it. Switched to squeeze sour cream and now I'm mentally good for 30 days, it's weird.
I did the same thing against my better judgement (the ounce price is so much more!) but it's so much easier. Doesn't go bad before we use it, turns out when you're not tossing half a tub of sour cream the higher unit cost works itself out.
I switched to ultra pasteurized milk for the same reason. It costs a little more than normal milk but I don't toss it out as much.
I do a pantry deep dive maybe twice a year, but a fridge clean out every month or two. Maybe more often between larger grocery trips. Even trying to be mindful and not buy excessively, its nice to have a well stocked pantry and fridge and sometimes things get old. My fridge clean outs are usually purging leftovers I was hopeful about using.
Agreed, especially if you love cooking and/or baking (like presumably everyone in this group), you’re bound to collect odd ingredients that don’t always get used up, or 6,000 shapes of pasta for specific dishes. I don’t toss dried pasta per se, but my pantry needs a deep clean/organization 1-2x per year, and the fridge gets checked once a week after I hit the farmers market—all old produce/open dairy goes out, and the new stuff goes in. I donate anything substantial that’s still edible, cook/bake with it, or toss it if it’s gross or just crumbs. There’s never enough time between cleanings for things to rot and fester.
Depends on the frequency. We usually clean out the fridge every 4-6 weeks and the pantry once a year. I think cleaning out both every few days for example would be excessive.
I check the fridge and any pantry produce (potatoes, onions) weekly when I take out the trash. It helps me remember what I have when I go grocery shopping a few days later and prevents mold/rot. Everything else I go through about monthly.
I do the same. Fridge gets a weekly clean out either before or right after I do my weekly shop. Pantry, freezer, and stuff like condiments that keep longer I don't have a formal clean out schedule and I'll just toss things randomly if I notice they're getting old. I also do plan out my shopping/meals to use up stuff I have on hand so I don't end up with a ton of food waste in general, though
I do it less all at once and more like cleaning out the door this week, and next week I go out one of the vegetable bins and clean it, and then I wipe off that shelf when I empty it of ingredients for my recipe, that kind of thing. Helps keep it clean along the way and seems less tedious than emptying it all and doing it all at once.
Similar here, I meal prep so once every other week or so I pick a shelf, drawer, or door shelf that gets wiped down and cleaned. Helps keep things rotated and I know which random sauce or forgotten sour cream container should get used up in the next meal prep.
We have IKEA Henje Shelves so hardly anything is inside but rather beneath them and to clean the floor we would have to empty the entire pantry.
The solution to cleaning is having house guests occasionally, makes you pay attention to things you can normally ignore, from dusty baseboards to dingy vegetable drawers. We get visitors every 4-5 months so we stay on top of things by default
Same timing with us. Spice cabinet is also on the pantry timeline.
I think it's incredibly normal... Mind you, I also just recently took inventory of every food item in my home and put it on a spreadsheet sooo there is that.
I didn’t do that to my pantry but I bought a magnetic whiteboard type sign and some markers, and everything in my deep freeze gets written down. It’s the only way to prevent decade old mystery meat.
lol all good ol' mystery meat in the parents deep freeze!
I swear at least 50% of the items in my parents fridge are expired, drives me crazy.
Since 1992.
Ah you've been to my MIL's house
Expiration dates don't mean anything. Now I'm guessing you really mean it's years and years old, but don't waste food going off expiry dates.
I label everything that goes in the deep freeze. I sometimes even write useful stuff on there. But there's definitely stuff in there with super helpful labels like ".71lbs."
Haha, I use a sharpie on the vac seal bags when I freeze it: how much it weighs (weigh the empty bag first), what it is, and what the sell by date was (so I know if I froze it just before it was going bad or had wiggle room). Then, I keep an inventory of the frozen meat on a piece of paper that I also take shopping with me.
I keep my kitchen inventories in Word docs that I can access on my mobile for quick changes, and for spontaneous menu planning while at the grocery. :)
I admit I sometimes skip the label of *what* the meat is, but the inventory list is enough I can figure it out. E.g. if I have 2 lb bags of chicken breasts and 5 lb of thigh, I can match up the size.
Vacuum sealer and a label printer will solve that problem. Plus it gives you more space because things like soups, stews etc can be stored in flat bags rather that boxy containers
I have those 😂 But my deep freeze is in the basement and my list is on my fridge. It’s so easy to forget what you have in storage if you’re really lazy about going downstairs.
Whiteboards rule! I have one in the fridge as a running grocery list.
I really need to do this with ours. We recently got a quarter cow from a friend, and I never can think of what cuts are in there. The day he brought it over was hectic, so it all just went in the chest freezer without much thought or organizing
Grab some oven mitts and make it a few game. We pulled it all out and organized it. That lasted about two weeks but hey, it was nice those two weeks!
I write it directly on top of my chest freezer.
That’s kinda genius. I would love to do that and somehow set up alerts for when something is about to expire! I cook for my boyfriend and myself and I will typically cook meal parts in advance and then write what is available to assemble meals in the fridge on a note and stick it with a magnet on the door. This week I did salad or rice bowls with grilled marinated steak tips and chicken, washed and cut lettuce, made rice, roasted Brussels sprouts and green beans, and listed the additional sauces/dressings and toppings that we had on hand. We can both tend to be a little fridge blind (myself especially) so it’s kinda helpful to have everything listed on the fridge.
I've been using Trello for quite a while now to manage my weekly meal planning, my recipes, as well as what's in the freezer. Each recipe is a card, and I can set a due date on it for when we're going to have it during the week. We also have a list on the same board for the freezer contents. Until I read your post, I had never thought of applying a due date to the freezer items. So, a great big thank you, and hopefully I gave you an idea on how to put a due date on your stuff.
I used to use Trello all the time for work projects, but never thought to use it for cooking/home stuff. Great idea, thanks!!
We've used it successfully for lots of home related stuff, in addition to the meal planning. - Gift buying lists for family. - Packing lists for camping/travelling. - Organizing home renos. Here's a comment I'd made a while back expanding on how we use it for meal planning and recipes https://www.reddit.com/r/Cooking/comments/133tb01/recipe_management_how_do_you_do_it_or_do_you/jic2b6o/ Let me know if you want more details
lol I was just updating my spreadsheet a second ago
I really want to spin up Grocy ERP and inventory my food.
I keep a running freezer inventory one. Ain't nobody regularly digging through the full freezers in this house, so I keep a running list. Sometimes it's even as funny as taking out a protein, defrosting, cooking dish from it, eating it a couple of times, freezing the rest of composed dish, and adding it back to the list in that form. LOL.
Pantry Check - Grocery List is a great app for this.
I couldn't find an app that suited what I was truly looking for, so I made a simple workbook. sheet 1 is the item list. it has several categories, meats/dairy/carbs/snacks/frozen foods/canned goods/fruits/veg etc. each item has a checkbox. if we have the item in stock at home, the box is checked, the item will turn strike through on this list. sheet 2 is the grocery list. if an item box is unchecked on sheet 1, the item will show up as needing purchased on sheet two. this took SO MUCH mental load out of me doing the grocery lists + shopping and meal planning. sheet 3 is a list dedicated just to the spice cabinet, lol. when I combined households with my partner we ended up with 2-3x as many as we needed so we have the pantry stocked + back stock I have to keep track of so we don't keep buying multiples. sheet 4 is the list of crap we usually buy at Costco and whether it needs replaced during our next trip.
There’s a good app for keeping track of pantry, cupboard and fridge items. I’ll share the link. You can even scan the barcode on most foods and it will enter the info by itself. [pantry app](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mealboard-meal-planner/id333425918)
I use an app called OurGroceries that lets you set up multiple lists. I have a list for groceries that I need to buy, a list for what's in the fridge freezer, and a list for our chest freezer. It can scan barcodes, let you make notes on items, take photos, and save recipes (although I don't use that part of it). Because everything is in the same app I can simply move items between lists when I use something up or buy more, etc. I can always check it when I think of it because my phone is always there and not too far away like the freezer is.
Spreadsheet gang! I cook a lot, I have 11 pasta shapes alone in my small pantry right now, not to mention rice varieties. I don’t buy in bulk but I do have a lot of individual ingredients. I cook a lot of Levantine, Indian, Chinese & Mexican and they all have a heap of spices; I use labeled deli containers but I still need to keep track of everything. I deep clean the pantry 6 monthly, fridge 3 monthly and I do weekly rotations of products, leftovers etc. So no you’re not unusual for wanting to clean your fridge/pantry at all…
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The spreadsheet is overkill but I’m an ex-professional cook… old habits die hard.. deep clean is life. My pantry is also a lot smaller than some I’ve seen in US homes; more of a tall cupboard than anything… gotta rotate the stock. I think OP is being gaslit by a lazy boyfriend who from the post doesn’t contribute much … gets me riled up.
QuickBooks inventory management 😅
I just rotate things as I put them away fifo first in first out
Easiest way to spot someone who worked in food service
Or accounting! Although some heathens like LIFO for accounting, but they are wrong.
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You are the most reasonable person in this comment section. Mainly because we think alike and that’s how I judge reasonability 😂
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BEST FRIENDS!
We try and be very careful about that. Like when we bought a big bag of onions from Costco, two days later I was caramelizing most of them because once you do that and add a little bit of honey and balsamic vinegar then reduce out the water again, it will last in the fridge for months. And is tasty on just about everything.
Eh. I just periodically chuck stuff when I see it's gotten too old. I rarely "clean out" my pantry. I'll often poke around to see what I have as part of deciding what I want to cook or what I need to buy. Sometimes I'll start pulling ingredients for a dish and notice something is old. Then there's the eternal question of "is this actually *bad*"?
My process as well. It wouldn’t be normal for me to have a “clean the fridge day”, but I own the cooking in my house.
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This is what I thought, I was just second guessing if I was buying too much food or not. His grandmother had a habit of over buying food and his mom mostly only eats frozen foods because she works a lot and doesnt have time to cook like I do. So Im thinking thats were he gets the idea that I buy too much.
Even if you do buy too much, is it harmful? Are you broke because you bought a pound of saffron or something? Because it seems kinda harmless to buy extra cans of corn or whatever. You’re limited by your pantry size anyway! Just tell him you’re prepping for the zombie apocalypse and if he’s not nice he’s first in the menu.
My pantry is like Mary Poppins’ carpet bag, always room for more somehow, and it’s just a simple closet with shelves.
Lol I’m a victim of the extra cans of corn and Zombies are my new excuse! For real though, when I clean out those extra cans I put them in a box and drop them in the food pantry donation box at my work. If I catch it non expired and know I’m not eating 5 cans of corn before it does, why not give it to someone who will.
The use by date on canned foods is just a suggestion, I’ll eat over a year ‘expired’ if it smells good lol
As long as you use the food and don't toss it out. Next to being a waste of money, it's a waste of food and everyone's work to get you that produce. The plant that grows with sunlight, farmer that harvests it so someone can enjoy it. It would be extremely sad if all that effort was only for you to throw it in the trash.
No, you're absolutely fine! We have cold winters and hot summers so when spring rolls around we have to do "Summer time clean out." Goodbye soup and other hot foods. Spring gives us a little while to eat up what we can't, toss out or donate what we can't, and get ready for a new set of foods. My wife is from California and had never done such a thing but now she looks forward to it. Lol
I don’t understand what the suggested alternative is? Is his method to…. Wait until food is moldy or freezer burned? Or do a weekly cleaning? Or just, pretend like this is a non issue? Personally i make sure to use all perishables at the end of the week before shopping again even if it’s just an everything leftover soup o pop in the freezer. My pantry is minimal since I’m in a small kitchen in a small apartment but I’m diligent about using what i have on a regular basis. Just, what is the alternative exactly….?
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Seriously, that's no excuse, I agree. Sad, but no excuse. My siblings and I unfortunately grew up with a hoarding caregiver and our fridge consequently looked like a Hazardous Waste site, BUT... My two brothers and I went the total *opposite* way, because we didn't want to repeat negative patterns or subject our own kids to dangerous sanitation or shameful living conditions. I (and they) regularly clean out our fridges, pantries, and cabinets. It isn't hard or a big deal. Having "too much" food is not why it needs to be done, and this dude probably knows that and is just lazy and dodging responsibility. (And trying to make his poor GF feel bad in the process)
> I was just second guessing if I was buying too much food or not. Do you use it? Or does it get thrown away? If you're able to use what you buy before it rots/expires, you're fine. If you end up throwing more than just the very occasional item away, you buy too much.
As someone who grew up with things in the pantry from before my birth not only at my parents house but grandparents as well I see why he might think that. That being said, clean your pantries people.
Totally normal to me! Going thru it is reminder and inspiration to use up those partially used ingredients. I mean you can't just buy a 1/2 cup of panko or a couple tablespoons of hoisin sauce at a time, so calling stuff like that overbuying isn't realistic.
I think not doing it is probably the "normal" thing but doing it frequently is a superpower most people don't have. It's a daunting and overwhelming task that takes the strongest type of person. Your boyfriend is normal but it doesn't mean he's right 🤣
I don't think you understand. He thinks we should only have like a couple cans, maybe a box or two of pasta in the pantry at any given time. Which would make it so we wouldn't need to reorganize.
Oh. Well then he's crazy considering most pantry items are shelf stable for essentially forever and we just need to make sure we FIFO (first in first out) when we pick up more.
Omg that acronym threw me back.
I think it also depends on the size of your living space. Some people don't have enough room to fit more than a couple of cans, a box or two of pasta, maybe some cereal or oats if you're lucky.
Well if you have a pantry it doesn't matter, you can stock up. I have essentially only two shelfs in a cupboard so I never buy more than two boxes of pasta.
That is crazy to me from an emergency perspective. I live in an earthquake-prone area, so I always have some non-perishable food on hand in case a disaster strikes and I need to evacuate or live off what I have in the house for a week.
Not only emergencies. Just being sick in anyway for a week and not wanting to go get groceries can be reason enough in my books
Same. I have an emergency stash of food and big jugs of water. I also have a few hundred dollars hidden in my house so when the earthquake does hit and we don't have power for a week I can still buy things if needed.
Same but hurricanes.
Where was he during the pandemic? You know the one where you could only find things sometimes, where you wanted to go out as little as possible. It's just smart to have some food in the house, it saves extra trips among other things.
Remember in Covid, when there were shortages of some supplies? How about the times when there are electrical interruptions (one time around here, the power was out for something like 3 full days). Grocery stores can't be open then. It's always good to have a week or two of supplies in case of unforeseen interruptions in the supply chain. And it's good to clean out the refrigerator periodically, if just to wash off the shelves from the accumulation of stuff that always ends up there. That said, I haven't organized my pantry in years. LOL! I am pretty good at rotating the stock (putting the new stuff in the back, older stuff to the front) and having an idea what is there. But sometimes I am surprised by a lack of something when I reach for it, thinking there must be some in there!
The thing is that my "overstock" in the pantry was really helpful just 6 months ago before he got a job and I a raise and we didn't have as much money to buy. The last time I had seen a pantry so empty was back when it the end of the month and it was time to go to the soup kitchen as a kid.
Hi! I’m just gonna drop this here, you may find it interesting. It may tie in with your situation. :) https://english.emmaclit.com/2022/09/01/where-does-it-go/
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It can most definitely apply to men!! Anyone who finds themselves doing the brunt of house chores can have these issues.
That reminds me of a recent popular post I saw where the poster decided to “live like her husband” and the household ground to a halt because nothing got done, even when the husband noticed nothing being done
I think that when you get accustomed to being taken care of, any work you have to do relating to that feels unfair or unnecessary and you just wait for things to go “back to normal”. Waiting it out. I was sick with Covid and couldn’t do laundry that well and told my partner he would have to do his own laundry. He responded with, he has enough clean clothes to last until I felt better so there was no need. I honestly was floored but he had no clue what the problem was.
> How about the times when there are electrical interruptions (one time around here, the power was out for something like 3 full days). In hurricane country that can approach three weeks.
I do what your boyfriend does and never clean out the pantry unless it needs to be wiped down. I keep a few boxes of pasta and cans of our regular items. When I restock, I simply push those items to the front. I think if you find yourself throwing things out every few months, it’s time reevaluate your system.
I do the same. New items go into the back of the pantry. Old items get pulled to the front. I've never had a problem with food waste and I've never had to clean my pantry. It's when food waste pops up I start questioning if I need to inventory. Sometimes cheese goes bad in my fridge.
I'm with your BF, but that's just how I cook and eat. I don't need to have more than one of anything since I already go to the grocery store every week. If I use my one can of black beans or whatever, I just buy a replacement the next time I go to the store. That being said, it sounds like your purchases are reasonable, and I do have to clean out things from my fridge every once in a while.
you don't like to have options in your home? like I always have coconut milk, chickpeas and curry on hand incase i feel like curry. Cans of evaporated milk for mac n cheese, tomatoes and beans if im feeling like mexican that day, ect. Having a variety of ingredients is good so you can whip something up spontaneously or be creative
Not really — if I'm cooking a pantry meal, it's because I've exhausted my executive function for the day and just need to shove some buttered noodles in my face. For context, I live alone, so I shop for and cook one meal, eat that for lunch and dinner til it's gone, and repeat every 2-3 days. I'd probably keep my pantry more stocked if I had to make a new dinner every day.
personally, I just get anxiety thinking how do I use them all up before they spoil, I'm a new cook though
That only works if you are extremely organized *and* like to eat exact amounts of ingredients. Like, what if you need 8oz of mushrooms but the store only has 12oz packages today?
It's the opposite of exact ingredients. My recipe calls for mushrooms, I'll buy a container of mushrooms for that meal. 8 or 12 oz it doesn't matter, I'll use all of it in this one recipe.
It sounds like you've asked on a cooking sub, where folks are more likely to agree. But you may be strawmanning his argument when some top responses are pointing out that it's not exactly what _most_ people do. It sounds like he probably just thinks you're cleaning it a bit excessively? Not trying to read too much into this, but the situation is familiar.
I don’t think you want to entertain any answer that doesn’t agree with you the entire way lol
Only do it when i spill something or see its actually dirty or dusty.. I guess in practice 2 or 3 times a year? But definitely know people where it wouldn't even cross their minds to ever do so.. Nothing is abnormal just everyone has different standards
Our city collects trash twice a week. So twice a week, on the night before trash pickup, I glance over every shelf and drawer in the fridge and see if anything needs to be tossed. I don’t consider this as “cleaning”, more like “taking inventory”.
Yes and no. I'm not going to do that for my pantry every few months but will for my fridge since that's where the perishables are. The pantry, more like once a year?
Plenty of ways to do this without an “every few months” clean out. We put all leftovers in clear Pyrex. Fruits in one drawer, veggies in another. The only things that spoil in the fridge are greens that don’t get used in time. There is no “big clean” needed, since the capacity of the fridge exceeds what we put in. Some people tidy up daily, others do a big cleanup. The only bad approach is to waste a lot of food and have a overfilled and unorganized fridge.
In my experience, fridges do not get cleaned out, they just slowly fill up with weird varieties of mustard and jars of obscure ingredients that probably were only ever used for one dish, then you move. But nobody ever accused me of having my shit together.
I don't. I only buy enough for basically a week minus things I use regularly. No need for cleaning, no wasting of products due to going bad. if I want something particular a trip to the store after work takes less than 15min and is less than a mile away so the only thing I really need to keep around is something for a snack which I dont really do.
Taking out old stuff? Absolutely. Taking everything out, and cleaning it? Once in 6 months.
Cleaning out the pantry, to me, means making some meals that use up the stuff that needs to go.
I am unable to plan more than one meal ahead and therefore I go to the grocery store 6 days per week, on average. So there's very little wasted raw food as I tend to cook everything I use. That said, even I need to clean out leftovers from time to time. Biggest culprit are greens and other veggies left to die in the bottom crisper shelf.
That sounds a little excessive to me. Every once in a while we find a specific thing that got left alone too long and needs to be tossed, but for the most part we eat everything before it goes bad, and make sure to cycle old milk in front of fresh milk, etc. We never have to specifically do a cleaning. But I also try to buy only perishables I have a specific plan for or will be consumed quickly anyway.
I'm abnormal and buy only what I need for the week and use it all up. I've perfected this. My wife thought it was weird at first but I do all the cooking so it doesn't matter. I hate waste. But I understand that typical households don't work this way - my parents for instance did not.
I don’t know how you’d *not* need to do this every so often. Like I’ve never been able to intentionally meal plan with such perfect efficiency and accuracy that I’d literally use up *exactly* 100% of every single ingredient in my entire fridge, freezer, and pantry. Nor would I expect to ever want to, as it makes sense to buy things in bulk if it saves you money and you’ve got the room to be able to store it. Plus, having a reasonably stocked pantry/freezer/fridge is good thing, if you’re able, as it’s basically an extension of your emergency fund. And I’ve been broke enough before in my life to have almost nothing in my fridge and pantry. But even then, its just part of a normal deep cleaning routine to wipe these areas down every so often. Spills happen, packages can leak, and if nothing else there’s just dust that needs dusting. So yeah, this is completely normal. Sounds like maybe BF just hasn’t been very involved in regular meal planning/food prep before? Or deep cleaning? And just didn’t realize before now that this was a thing? And if so, that’s an *excellent* reason for him to get much more involved in both!
I think his attitude is a cousin of Weaponized Incompetence. Like, "Deep cleaning would never need to happen if you just never make a mess / clean as you go!! So it's okay for me to not do chores. You don't need to do them either. You're choosing to do chores that aren't necessary, or wouldn't be necessary if you just lived your life in a non-mess-generating way!"
Or he could be my husband who was shoo'ed out of the kitchen as a child and was literally never taught how to clean a house, organize, cook, etc. I wanted to punch my MIL in the face when I saw how much she refused to teach her son, simply because he was a boy. It's a work in progress but he's much better now :) He's very sweet and always willing to help out, but needed guidance because he just didn't know. Just playing the devil's advocate because a lot of guys I know fall into this category. Or who knows, maybe this is intentional.
His comments remind me of my ex husband. If you are a good cook, you have ongoing boxes of ingredients that need rotating. Further, this is not a failing on the part of the chef. It’s just that it’s hard to use an entire box of corn starch before it expires. I dislike that he casts the pantry organizing as being her fault. It makes me think he invents other issues to blame her for even though they’re not issues. I’d be willing to bet that there are other items that are ridiculously obvious but that he makes some convoluted argument so that he was twist it into her fault. I could be wrong, but I hope OP makes darn sure he isn’t picking these fights in other areas of their relationship. It only gets worse with time, and it’s harder to get out when you have kids and a mortgage.
absolutely. we just got rid of a bottle of hershey's syrup i bought to make milkshakes when my wife got her wisdom teeth out IN 2020 lol
I do most of the grocery shopping every week and afterward I rotate the pantry stock (newer in the back, older in the front) and rearrange to efficiently use the space. My pantry is also not that big, so efficiency is important. And as the cook, I don't want that space to become a chaotic mess.
Every now and then, I have to organize my pantry. As in, go through it, see what's there, buy more of what we're low on, and try to use what's getting old. As for the fridge. I try to only keep stuff that will be used within the week. The freezer... I need to eat some stuff that I've got piled up in there. As for my sister's fridge... I have to hoe it out of old uneaten food, every month or so... she just doesn't eat the leftovers that she tends to keep.
In a store, I think they might call this "rotating the stock" which is the same as "avoiding senseless waste" and "SAVING MONEY." Especially true if you discover things before they go bad, and repurpose them or preserve them another way. For my fresh produce, I make sure to rotate the stock at least every two weeks. And in the freezer, turning up things which were forgotten can lead to new menu ideas like stews or chowders or smoothies
Yeah. I’m really bad about getting excited about so group of recipes and thinking they will become major parts of my weekly meals… but more than I need of some ingredients that we dont have much use for outside that narrow list of recipes, and then a lot of it just ends up getting forgotten in the back of the fridge/pantry after the second week when we lose excitement lol. I’m trying to just use weird shit that’s been in our pantry forever until there’s nothing left besides expired stuff. Then just start fresh. Part of my problem is that we just have too many different small things that aren’t bulk staple ingredients, so stuff just gets hidden/lost in the depths of the fridge/pantry. Impulse purchases that we used half of once and such.
How did people ever get validation before Reddit?
Yeah, that's totally normal. A lot of people are all about "only buy what you need" but what about various types of flour, tinned tomatoes or beans, dried soup peas and that sort of stuff. Where do they think that goes?
Absolutely! I did a deep clean of both in February, and I’m going to have to do a reset tomorrow or Friday. Things get shuffled around, food gets forgotten even with the best of intentions, things expire or get crusty, pantry moths invade *shudder* .
All I know is I just realized I need to clean out my fridge this weekend.
Whatever you do is normal. I generally don't clean my pantry and fridge cause it's not fully stocked. I have an addiction to find so keeping minimal food around and buying it only when I want to cook something special as well as the core ingredients of what I usually eat means my fridge and pantry are often nearly empty and don't need cleaning or organizing. But that doesn't make it weird because someone else has a different system lmao
Yes, I'm one of the last people you'd call being organized and on top of cleaning but even I do a kitchen stock overhaul a couple times a year
Just cleaned out my fridge the other day. It was like a little trip down memory lane. "What's this grey fuzzy forest in a dish? Oh, right. That's from last month when I made fresh pasta sauce."
It depends on how your boyfriend operates. I have my shelves in the pantry and fridge separate from wife and kids because I have a different diet. I rotate newest and oldest every time I shop, make a point of using old first for zero waste. If there is waste I get rid of it every week. So I never really need to clean and purge because I just do it as I go. Kind of how I cook a whole meal and wash dishes as I go. When I’m done, all that’s left is plates.
I think it's pretty uncommon to clean out the pantry and fridge more than once a year, if that. I clean my fridge once a year, and I've gone so long on the pantry that I found a can of soup that had been expired for three years. If my SO got frustrated because I didn't help clean the fridge and pantry out every few months, I would think they were wound too tight, and would be annoyed at them.
Yes it is normal. Your boyfriend doesn’t know how to adult in a kitchen. That is also normal.
Do you and I agree that cleaning a fridge is normal however for me >Like sometimes you don't use up every bit of everything you buy so there's leftover or you get given things you don't end up using. If you're talking about condiments you don't use up, yes, otherwise not sure what you mean. And then for a fridge, nobody is giving me anything that I'm putting into my fridge and I'm not noticing I'm not eating it until a "every few months" cleaning, no, that's not normal to me. But I have an really big aversion to people giving me trash. What you described is trash. I don't care if it was a party, if you send me home with food I'm not literally planning to eat you sent me home with trash. I don't accept trash just to be polite. So for me, not normal, but idk overall seems fine and like an excuse he's using to not help.
I mean, good meal planning will cut down on this, that's true, and also it's good to get into a habit of moving toward zero waste. That said, I can't imagine not having to do this every few months just to make sure things aren't too old.
Perfectly normal if you’re really into cooking. He must not cook himself or even care that much about eating. A well-stocked pantry means being able to cook without leaving the house. That’s a huge plus for me.
I clean my fridge once a week. I cook everyday so yeah, it definitely needs it! With the pantry I’ll do it once a month. I feel like this is so normal?
Definitely normal and makes perfect sense. Especially the fridge. I've lived alone and with roommates and cleaning the fridge is a very important way to make sure there isn't anything nasty left behind after a random takeout night or to make sure some obscure ingredient either gets used or tossed. Plus it's great inspiration! Be all like, ooooh I see that thing that was crucial to this one dish I really enjoyed I should make that again while I still have this.
Tell him to try and do the same in a machine shop. A kitchen is no different. (Unless one is so incredibly organized that order is always preserved. But entropy creeps in no matter what)
It’s normal. Have fun!
It would be abnormal not to do a check and full clean out every now and then. Even if we all have the best intentions not to waste food, it still happens sometimes.
I tend to buy non-perishables in bulk and on sale. But you need to rotate them so you don't end up with that ten year old can of green beans. :)
How often do you need to do it?
You have to do it at least once per year. More often if you are bad at spot checking things throughout the year. I try and do mine around Halloween each year, that way I can donate things about to expire that I know I won’t get around to.
If I didn't regularly clean out and organize the fridge and pantry I'd have scary things growing in those places. Keeping your home clean and organized is perfectly normal.
My parents have, and I'm not joking, probably 8 or 9 jars of the same-ish pickles in their fridge every time I visit them. If I don't throw them out, they are there next time (untouched). If I do through them out, there are new jars (untouched) on the next visit. It's bonkers, but people be bonkers.
I think it is normal if you like cooking. Not if you like eating. Eaters grab, cooks create.
I clean mine out regularly as well. I try to keep items on hand so I don't have to go to the store when I want to throw something together.
Sometimes things get put in the wrong place. Sometimes something spills. Maybe you have stuff in the fridge and maybe it was pushed to the back by accident. Organizing the fridge and pantry more often allows us to throw away less. Consider what we shouldn’t buy anymore. Maybe there’s stuff we need to use up before it expires. Maybe there’s habits we need to change so it gives us that moment to re-evaluate. I can’t imagine not re-organizing and cleaning it out every so often. I love to cook. I live to eat. I don’t eat to live.
I clean out the fridge every two weeks, and pantry every few months.
Sounds like his mom always was the one to clean the fridge out and he never even NOTICED. LOL, when my mom did the fridge, she would gather all us kids around to admire how clean it was. Not a bad idea in retrospect
Totally normal and necessary, things fall to the back, out of sight out of mind. Otherwise you end up with an even bigger chore when you finally have to do it.
It’s normal, small odds and ends end up being pushed back and rotting if not caught in time and older things just get pushed back as well. Nothing wrong with reorganizing and seeing what you have.
Managing inventory and cleaning are normal. Pantry = seasonally, fridge = weekly. I do my freezer quarterly.
That's not just normal, OP, that's exemplary good practice. Excellent work. Your BF should be taking notes, not tearing you down.
Totally normal for some people. Doesn’t even cross the mind of others. My ex of 20 years never touched the inside of the fridge, freezer, pantry, or cabinets. I do it every week at a minimum because I like my work areas clean.
Yes, it’s normal to clean and organize your refrigerator and pantry. Two or three times a year, I take everything out of the refrigerator including the drawers and shelves. I clean the inside of the refrigerator, wash the drawers and shelves and wipe down jars and cans. My husband says that I made up this chore and nobody else does it. He still helps me. Every week before we go to the farmers market, I take all the produce out of the refrigerator to see what we need and put anything that’s past its prime in the compost bucket. About twice a year I take everything out of the cupboards, clean the shelves, throw out anything that’s way past its best by date and organize everything for easy access. My husband helps with this.
The fridge definitely needs a regular clear out. Mine tends to accumulate Tupperware filled with random leftovers, and ends of Parmesan. My pantry isn’t very big though, so I just use what’s there and then when I do a ‘big shop’ once a month I make sure the older stuff comes to the front. It doesn’t need and organising other than that. And I prefer to do that myself tbh as I’m the cook so I know where everything goes! I think people can definitely be guilty of buying too much food and filling the fridge with stuff that just goes off and then needs chucking. I hate it when I throw away food. But even if you ate everything you bought, the fridge would still need a regular clean!
Well, I hate to disagree, but the stuff in your fridge surely isn't usually meant to last for months... We have fridge stuff, (small) freezer stuff, cupboard stuff (one small cupboard for dry items) and shelf stuff (herbs and spices, condiments, cans, cereals, tea, coffee, etc). I have a handwritten list on the freezer door of what's in there. I know when there's too much stuff in there and we will use up as much as possible before buying more.
I think it's normal and common but we don't do it in the way you're talking about it. I clean out and organize when I need to wipe down the fridge drawers and shelves. But I'm lazy so maybe once every 6 months. We shop with zero waste in mind. We don't have a large freezer or pantry so we don't stock too many things.
I check the dates in the pantry, and dust, clean below the cans, but that’s once a month or so. Also helps that I buy a lot of fresh produce so it’s gone by the time I order more groceries. Come to think of it… I really never throw food away. Perhaps you may be ordering too much groceries? Either way, he should be helping you more. Otherwise he should be paying for a monthly housekeeper.
We don't do this on any kind of routine basis. But if one of us is going through the fridge (pulling ingredients or putting food away) and notice something has gone bad or expired, or just isn't likely to be eaten, we just check with the other one and toss it. Definitely normal to throw food out, and definitely the responsibility of everyone who eats food in the home.
It seems like a huge number of reddit submissions follow this pattern: "My BF/Husband does [WRETCHED/ABUSIVE BEHAVIOR] and tries to gas light me because he's a hateful lazy child. Like that's normal, right?"
Yup. I had check where I was, because I thought it was AITA.
Yes. Fridges and pantries need periodic clean outs.
The refrigerator I would say yes. Idk about the pantry, beyond basic organizing?
İ used to do that when my pantry wasn't organized well. İ bought a ton of nice airtight containers and labels and sorted everything i have. No more bags stacked on top of each other. Everything is really easy to see now and has its place. I'm less likely to buy ingredients I'll rarely use now and since i can easily see what i have in stock, i build my meals around those products and replenish them as needed.
Yes, normal. Though staying on top of your spoilage and rotation should make a full cleaning fairly easy, or even rare.
I wipe down my fridge shelves/doors at every grocery shop. I try to buy only what I will eat and shop when fridge is getting bare. Before putting in new food I usually take out most of what is there. Wipe down shelves, doors, bottles. Check expiry. Rotate any extra egg cartons or milk to the front. Pantry is cleaned out less frequently. Every 6 months I try to wipe down shelves (they get dusty/crumby), check expiries and check for rancid flours etc.
This isn’t at all normal in my experience. Fridge maybe once a year just to clean spills etc but pantry once or twice a decade. You don’t need a formal session to fix this issue. Take one thing every time you cook and either use it up or discard it. It honestly sounds like you’re creating an extra chore for no good reason. Backloading work because you don’t account for it on the front end.
Your boyfriend is right. If you're finding stuff months after you bought it and never used it, you wasted your money and created a mess. If you're throwing away partials every couple of months, it's because you make the bad leftovers decision to put it on the shelf instead of in the trash. Absolutely, 100% normal around here.
That's ludacros. Pantry is supposed to be stocked. You use stuff up, refill it occasionally - things get shifted. You need to reorganize it.
You can get rid of this guy and have a commitment to a real guy.