Helpful Measurement Conversion Chart

What Food Lasts How Long?

Here are the expiration dates for some unopened pantry items:
-Beans (dried): 1 year
-Cake mixes: 15 months
-Canned goods: 2+ years
-Chocolate: 1 to 2 years
-Condiments (most of them): 1+ year(s)
-Confectioner's sugar: 18 months
-Cornmeal: 1 year
-Evaporated milk: 1 year
-Flour: 1 year
-Pasta: 2 years
-Rice: 1 to 2 years
-Soup mix: 2 years
-Spices (ground): 1 year
-Spices (whole): 2 to 4 years
-Sugar (brown and white): Indefinitely
-Vanilla: 5 years

Pantry Essentials List

Try to keep your kitchen stocked with recipe basics:

-Fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables.
-Recipe and soup starters such as garlic, onions, carrots, and celery.
-Healthy staples like brown rice, white Basmati rice, whole-wheat pasta, quinoa, and wild rice.
-Whole wheat bread and tortillas for healthy sandwiches and wraps.
-Beans such as lentils, black beans, chickpeas, black-eyed peas, kidney beans, etc.
-Frozen corn, peas, and other vegetables to add to recipes or for a quick vegetable side dish.
-Frozen fruit and berries to make smoothies or frozen desserts.
-Dark greens for salads, plus salad add-ins like dried fruit, nuts, beans, and seeds.
-Fresh and dried herbs and spices.
-Healthy fats and oils for cooking, such as olive oil and canola oil. You can also try specialty oils -like peanut, sesame, or truffle oil for adding flavor.
-Unsalted nuts for snacking, like almonds, walnuts, cashews, peanuts, and pistachios.
-Vinegars, such as balsamic, red wine, and rice vinegar for salads and veggies.
-Strong cheeses, like aged Parmesan, feta or blue cheese for flavor in salads, pasta, and soups.
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Here's an exhaustive list: * indicates optional or make yourself options

Oils, Vinegars & Condiments
-Oils: extra-virgin olive oil, canola oil
-Vinegars: distilled white, cider, balsamic
-Dijon mustard
-Ketchup
-Barbecue sauce*
-Worcestershire sauce
-Reduced-fat mayonnaise*
-Reduced-sodium soy sauce
-Prepared pesto*
-Salsa*
-Hot sauce

Seasonings
-Salt
-Black pepper
-Dried herbs and spices: ground cumin, cayenne pepper, chili powder, crushed red pepper, rosemary, thyme leaves, oregano, Italian seasoning blend, ground cinnamon, ground ginger
-Curry Powder
-Bullion (chicken esp.)
-Vanilla extract

Canned Goods & Bottle Items
-Canned tomatoes, tomato paste
-Reduced-sodium broths*
-Canned beans: cannellini, kidney, chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
-Chunk light tuna and salmon

Grains & Legumes
-Assorted whole-wheat pasta
-Regular and instant brown rice
-Whole-wheat couscous
-Regular and quick-cooking barley
-Bulgur
-Rolled oats
-Dried lentils
-Quinoa

Baking Products
-Whole-wheat flour, whole-wheat pastry flour. (Store in the refrigerator or freezer.)
-All-purpose flour
-Baking powder
-Baking soda
-Unprocessed wheat bran
-Quick-rising yeast
-Cornstarch
-100% maple syrup and or molasses
-Sucanat (sweetner better than white sugar)
-Raw Honey
-Nuts, Seeds and Dried Fruit
-Walnuts, pecans, sesame seeds, almonds
-Dried apricots, dates, cranberries, raisins
-Peanut butter (natural)

Refrigerator Basics
-1% or skim milk (I fequently use plain yogurt instead)
-Reduced-fat sour cream (I just use plain yogurt)
-Fruit juice (esp. lemon)
-Large eggs
-Cheese: sharp Cheddar, feta, Parmesan, mozzarella
-Nonfat or light vanilla yogurt
-Italian Dressing*

Freezer Basics
-Frozen fruit
-Frozen vegetables: edamame (soybeans), broccoli, corn, bell pepper-and-onion mix, peas, spinach
-Low-fat ice cream, frozen yogurt and/or sorbet
-Ice cubes
-Fish and chicken (and turkey burger)

When to throw which foods away?

Here are some rough expiration dates for some unopened pantry items:
not to be confused with bulk food storage type items that are packaged properly to last longer
Beans (dried): 1 year
Cake mixes: 15 months
Canned goods: 2+ years
Chocolate: 1 to 2 years
Condiments (most of them): 1+ year(s)
Confectioner's sugar: 18 months
Cornmeal: 1 year
Evaporated milk: 1 year
Flour: 1 year
Pasta: 2 years
Rice: 1 to 2 years
Soup mix: 2 years
Spices (ground): 1 year
Spices (whole): 2 to 4 years
Sugar (brown and white): Indefinitely
Vanilla: 5 years


Here's Ziploc's list of foods and dates... (mostly perishables)
To view this list larger, click on the picture. IT will take you to a full page of it, but then hold ctrl and type + (do the same to shrink, but - instead of +)