Sometimes it feels like the art and science of homemaking are being lost in the shuffle of our ever-changing world. But, no matter who you are or what you do, we all have one thing in common; we all come home at the end of our day.  No matter who does the housekeeping, it still matters maybe, more now than ever.

Food Storage and Preparation

Get some fresh air in the pantry and light in the refrigerator!  People are slow to let go of FOOD clutter (yes, FOOD clutter) because they don’t want to be wasteful.  If something is stale or past its freshness date, consider it already wasted.  Get over it, get rid of it and buy more carefully next time.  Learn your family’s consumption patterns.  Try to apply some simple maintenance level principles such as having one spare item on less often used items, a week’s worth of perishables and a month’s worth of staples.  Here are some food shelf life guidelines to help you cut the FOOD clutter:  

Canned & Dry Goods Storage Guidelines, by Linda Ely
Fruit & Vegetable Storage Guidelines, by Linda Ely
Refrigerated & Frozen Storage Guidelines, by Linda Ely

For decades, home extension offices have been a wealth of information on everything pertaining to home, home farming/gardening, pest control and other basic family information needs.  Here are some excellent web sites:

Ohio State University Extension Office: https://extension.osu.edu/
University of Georgia Extension Office:  https://extension.uga.edu/topic-areas.html#e
USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service: https://www.fsis.usda.gov/

For more information, contact the extension office of your state university.  If you find a resource that you would like to share with others, please submit it to the web site administrator:  info@OrganizingMatters.com