We keep an extremely well stocked pantry, fridge, and freezer. We have a good supply of just about everything we care to have on hand. The pantry shelf is 10 inches deep and holds 3 cans back to front. So I keep the canned goods supplied in 3's. Ocassionally, I make a point to rotate the back to the front, just to make sure nothing gets forgotten. This way we always have fresh food in stock and nothing has to be thrown out.
I have a horrible time remembering to do this, however my pantry is quite deep and I try to set it up for I can see all the cans and what they are. Also I use to rotate (if I remembered) and I found it to work well but I have stopped doing it and I just look through the pantry every 2 months or so an make a list of whats in the back and what needs used.
My dad goes through the larder and uses a marker pen and writes the year on the top of the can. That way it's easier for him to see what is near expiration and what is fine to store at the back. I often do a sort through and see what I need to eat up, and then make meals around what is close to expiration or has done already.
We have a food cabinet here that we call cupboard. It has 3 racks that carry canned goods and other food items that can be stored like pasta and other kitchen needs. The trick is to practice FIFO - first in, first out. When we come home from the supermarket, what we do is to take out the old stock and place the newly bought goods inside and the front area will have the old stock. That way, we can prevent the expiration of food stuff.
We keep extra supplies in the laundry room on a few shelves. The shelf is not stocked to the top so we go thru what is on the shelf quickly removing the need to keep up with expired dates.
I don't to keep many canned food though I usually have rice, beans, and noodles. I have to be careful to rotate the oldest to the top or it won't get eaten. The canned goods I get I usually finish off in a month or two. Though it's interesting that you keep things in threes. Why do you keep cans in threes instead of an even number like four or six?
I have lots of canned food as well nicely shelved just like you. One difference I think I might have is that I really don't care about the dates because remember they all last for decades. I still place the newest in the back, but sometimes I just don't bother with that, and will eat from wherever. I know they last many years because I set aside some canned meat, and waited 2 years to eat it, and it was fine.
Yes, I have a huge food pantry with many shelves and it is easy for things to get lost in there. I clean and organize in their fairly often so I can actually see what I have. I also have thought about putting a light in there so I can easily see what I have. One thing that is frustrating and wasteful is having to re buy items you already have.
This is a good idea. I don't do it, though, because I am not much into canned goods. Canned goods are not really cheap where I live. Fresh food is often cheaper. The only food that I regularly stock is instant noodles. Everyone in my house loves eating instant noodles. We will have, at any one time, at least a dozen packets of instant noodles in the cupboard. Right now we have three new cartons. We don't have to rotate anything at all because they will get finished very soon.
I always make sure that when I buy new canned goods, I put the new ones at the back so that the old ones come to the front to get used up first. Somehow this didn't happen with a can of tomatoes I found last year that was 2 years out of date, but otherwise I tend to be pretty good at that. I don't like to end up wasting anything so I try to make a point of rotating whatever I buy so that nothing will get unnecessarily wasted.
