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Have you found it hard to find food in your pantry lately? In fact, is it hard to find anything at all in there lately? The pantry goblins have caught up with you finally, and it is now time to reclaim that precious pantry space and declutter your pantry now.

First of all, make yourself a cup of tea or coffee. This gives you time to think when you take a sip. You don't want to overwhelm yourself here or you will stop before you even begin. Let me take you through the journey of decluttering the pantry by telling you how I decluttered my pantry recently.

It had been a long day of spring cleaning, and I really did not have any more energy to spare. However, later in the evening, when I went hunting for that block of chocolate "I just knew was in there somewhere", I realized I would have to finally deal with the pantry gremlins.

Where to begin? Let me start by saying I did NOT empty out the entire contents of my pantry onto my benchtops. That would have left me rocking in a corner somewhere. So what did I do? Simple. I knew there were tins of food in there that had never been used, would never be used, and probably were out of date by now anyway. So, I started there. Six tins of expired beans later, and I was off to a rocking start. Losing some nasty tinned soups was next, although I kept the tomato and the laksa soups (mmm). That gave me a bit of room on that shelf to move some items around, and pluck more out at random.

Old flour, herbs, spices all were thrown away. I made pancakes once with old flour and cardboard would have been tastier, so I didn't want to repeat that mistake. Half eaten boxes of cereal were tossed if the use-by date had passed. Experimental items bought on impulse and yet never got experimented with also got their marching orders. I've learned it is better to purchase what I need rather that what I think I may use one day in the future. Great intentions sure, but give yourself a reality check. Like my bread maker. I made a few loaves, went and bought sacks of bread mix, all different varieties, then promptly became bored with the whole affair.

You really have to ask yourself why you are hoarding items in your pantry that you secretly know will never be used. Do yourself a favor and get rid of them. If the items are still in date, then drop them off to your nearest charity that hands out food parcels, they will gratefully accept your donation. It's a win-win situation - you reclaim pantry space and don't feel guilty about wasting food, and the charity gets the help it needs for those less fortunate.