These Pantry Items Are Probably Past Their Prime

From a trained chef and former restaurateur (and chronic ingredient hoarder), here are a dozen pantry items to check and potentially toss.

1. Spices and Herbs

Spices and herbs are often a trouble spot in pantries. Ground herbs and spices don’t hold their flavor for long, as those flavor molecules are volatile and tend to evaporate and oxidize pretty quickly. It’s best to replace them every six months or so. Whole spices retain flavor longer, lasting up to a few years, but of course, that means you’ll need to grind them yourself.

2. Flour

Didn’t think flour could spoil? Well, surprise! Whole-grain flours are the quickest to spoil because they contain all of the grain’s bran and germ. Those are filled with healthy natural oils, but unfortunately, the oils become rancid over time. If you won’t use your whole-grain flour within a couple of months, it’s best to store it in the fridge. White all-purpose flour keeps better, but after a year, it’ll taste musty and stale (and may breed bugs).

3. Oil and Shortening

Just like the oils in whole-grain flour, bottles of vegetable and olive oil can oxidize and become rancid over time. This is particularly problematic with premium olive oils or exotic nut oils, which we often deem “too good for everyday use.” Life is short, folks; use ’em up before they go bad. Rancidity can even affect solid fats such as shortening or lard. If you won’t use them quickly, refrigerate them to extend their shelf life.

4. Leavenings

Leavenings are the ingredients used to make baked goods rise, including baking soda, baking powder, and yeast. All three can lose their oomph in storage and need to be tested regularly or discarded. Six months to a year is about the limit for baking powder or soda (reduce that timeline to six months in humid climates). For yeast, check the “best by” date on the package. Larger jars or vacuum packs of yeast should be kept in the fridge once opened.

5. Nuts and Seeds

From the flax and chia seeds you toss in your smoothies to the walnuts, almonds, and pecans you bake with around the holidays, seeds and nuts have a fairly short shelf life. Ground flax, for example, goes rancid in as little as a month or two when stored at room temperature. If you routinely buy nuts or seeds in Costco-sized quantities, separate the amount you’ll use quickly and refrigerate or freeze the rest.

6. Oats and Other Whole Grains

Just like whole-grain flour, whole grains benefit from the same storage methods outlined above. Oats are relatively quick to spoil, for example, because they have a higher oil content than other grains. If you like to cook with alternative grains, they’ll also become musty-tasting and then rancid after a period of months. The timing varies by grain, so check the “use by” date on the packaging. (If you don’t have the original packaging, just “call it” after a year and discard what’s left over.) Rice varieties typically last for up to six months, while farro and amaranth last for up to a year, and quinoa lasts for two to three years.

7. Canned Goods

Canned goods are excellent pantry staples due to their long shelf life, but that doesn’t mean they last forever. The USDA estimates that low-acid canned goods (that’s most vegetables and prepared foods) are good for two to five years if they’re stored in a cool, dry area. Meanwhile, acidic foods (canned tomatoes, fruit, pickles, salsa, etc.) are good for 12 to 18 months. For home-canned foods, one year is the practical limit.

8. Opened Boxes

The pantry always seems to have opened but not-quite-finished boxes of snacks, crackers, cereal, and other dry goods. Ideally, the bags inside those boxes would be closed with a clip to keep them fresh, but that doesn’t always happen. Even if it does, moisture and air will eventually seep in, causing staleness. So check those boxes and discard anything that’s past its prime.

9. Specialty Coffee and Tea

The coffee or tea you depend on to kick-start your day probably gets used up pretty quickly. But what about specialty coffees, teas, and matcha powder? Unopened ground coffee retains its flavor for three to five months from the roast date but loses freshness within a month or two after opening. Whole-bean coffee is better than ground, lasting around a year in unopened, vacuum-sealed packaging, but it should be consumed within a few weeks once unsealed. Not sure if those beans are still good? Grind enough to make a cup, and see for yourself.

Opened teas (loose or bagged) don’t hold their best flavor for very long, either. Although the flavor will be slightly degraded, loose leaf tea is safe to consume within one to two years, and tea bags have a shelf life of about six to 12 months. Unopened matcha powder lasts for around one to two years, but once opened, it should be used within two to three months.

10. Outdated Box Mixes and Side Dishes

When does a convenience product become an inconvenience? When it’s taking up unnecessary space in your pantry. Most of us have a handful of box mixes in the pantry for cakes, biscuits, or preseasoned side dishes such as instant pasta and rice, or prepared scalloped potatoes. If you use them regularly, that’s great, but if not, consider them space hogs. Examine those labels and toss anything beyond its “best by” date.

11. “Orphan” Ingredients

OK, I might need to explain this one. To me, orphan ingredients are mostly those you buy for a specific recipe and never use again. This category includes things you bought because they went viral and sounded interesting (a Trader Joe’s snack item, perhaps), or unused gifts from friends and family who know you love to cook or bake. If it’s been more than six months and you still haven’t found a recipe to work them into, well … they probably need to go.

12. “Mystery” Items

This is a catch-all category covering anything from unlabeled cans to bags and containers of random grains, and (this is especially relevant if you bake) bags of unidentifiable white powders. I frequently shop at bulk-food stores, so I’m often guilty of hanging on to these types of items for too long. If you can’t identify something, let alone remember when you bought it, it should be trashed.

The Flip Side: Pantry Items You Don’t Have To Discard

There are a handful of items a lot of people do toss from their pantries that represent the opposite issue. Properly stored honey never expires, but it does crystallize. Don’t throw it away — you can easily turn it back into a free-flowing liquid.

Peanut butter and natural nut butters separate, but there’s an easy fix for that. (Discard them if they smell rancid, though.) Brown sugar tends to harden into a lump, but it’s easy to keep that from happening or reverse it when it does.

And what’s more tragic than wasting chocolate? Chocolate with a white film on the surface isn’t moldy or spoiled — that’s just the cocoa butter crystals “blooming.” It’s still completely safe to eat the chocolate and its flavor will be unaffected. Generally, dark chocolate lasts about two years, milk chocolate one year, and white chocolate six months.