Sort the pantry bag the day you bring it home

You are home with the bag or the box. Some of it is what you hoped for, some of it is not what you would have chosen, and some of it you can already tell will not last the week: a bag of squash, a loaf near its end, a pack of something you have never cooked.

Sort what you were given the same day: eat or freeze the fresh food first, put the cold things in the fridge, and throw away anything with mould, a badly damaged tin, or perishable food that has sat warm.

None of this is a complaint about the pantry. Many people say that food banks now give out fresh produce, meat and dairy as well as tins, and that is good news. It is also why this page exists: fresh food has a clock that a tin does not. Some people say that food banks are often short of stock, that a spoiled item can still get through even when staff check dates, and that staff encourage you to take more when they can. Some people also say that food banks receive a lot of stock from grocery stores that would otherwise go to waste. One person says staff sort and freeze what they can, but that checking can be thin when there are many clients and little help.

Three piles, and the bin

The fridge pile. Milk, eggs, meat, cheese, yogurt, anything cooked, and cut produce go in the fridge as soon as you are in the door. The USDA says perishable food should never be out of the fridge for more than 2 hours, or 1 hour if the air is above 90°F, and that cold food should be kept at 40°F or colder. The trip home counts toward that time. One person says milk and fresh produce can fail because of temperature abuse in transport or storage, not only because of age, so time out of the cold matters as well as the date.

The freezer pile. Whatever you will not eat in the next few days can go in the freezer, and each of the ideas here comes from one person. One person freezes grated squash, and another strains the liquid out of grated zucchini and uses it in batters for breads, muffins, quiche or frittatas. One person freezes tomato paste in tablespoon-sized dollops on parchment paper so a single spoonful can be taken out at a time. One person cooks what came in the bag into a batch of soup and freezes it for later. For wrapping, one person pointed out that thicker freezer bags let in less air than ordinary storage bags, which means less freezer burn, and one person pushes the air out by lowering a bag into water before sealing it. Freezing does not kill bacteria, so it does not rescue doubtful food. It only holds food as it is.

The cupboard pile. Dry goods and tins can wait. The USDA’s storage chart gives low-acid tinned food such as beans, corn, carrots and soup 2 to 5 years in storage, and high-acid food such as tomatoes, fruit, juice and pickles 12 to 18 months. One person warns that acidic tinned food can damage the tin over time.

The bin. Mould is where the USDA gives the clearest rules, and two people’s warnings point the same way. One person warns against taking bread with visible mould, and another that mould on produce cannot always be cut away because some moulds have roots that run deep. The USDA agrees on bread and baked goods, and on soft fruit and vegetables, which it says to throw away. For firm vegetables such as cabbage, peppers and carrots, and for hard cheese, it says a small mould spot can be cut off with at least 1 inch around and below it, because mould struggles to get into dense food. It says to throw away soft cheese, shredded or sliced cheese, yogurt and sour cream, jam, luncheon meat, bacon, hot dogs, cooked food including cooked pasta and grains, peanut butter and nuts that have mould, because moist or processed food can be contaminated below the surface. It also says not to sniff mouldy food, and to check anything nearby that the mould may have touched. If you are unsure whether a vegetable is firm enough to trim, bin it. That costs a little and settles the question.

Tins get the same treatment. The USDA says to throw away a tin that is leaking or bulging, and one with a deep dent, meaning a dent you could lay a finger into, because a sharp dent on a seam can let bacteria in. A small dent on an otherwise sound tin is not a reason to throw it out. Do not open a bulging tin to check.

A recall is the other way a safe-looking item stops being safe. In the US, FoodSafety.gov lists recall notices from the USDA and the FDA and says a recall is very specific: the brand, product name, dates and codes must all match for your item to be part of it. If they do, do not open or eat it, and return it or dispose of it as the notice says. If they do not all match, it is not part of that recall. In one discussion about a recalled product, a first reading that any code containing a certain number was affected was corrected: only a stated range of lot codes was. Read the whole notice, not the first number that looks the same.

For what the dates printed on the food mean, there is a page here called Check which date it is before you bin the food. It matters most for chilled food, and for anyone in the groups listed in the safety box.

Vegetables you have never cooked

A bag of squash or eggplant is only a problem until you have a plan for it. One person fries salted eggplant. Another roasts thin rounds of squash with oil, salt, pepper and hard cheese until crisp, or bakes it into bread and muffins, where its taste is masked. Another grates it into sauces, and another hides it in soup and chilli for picky children. One person steams pasta in broth, or adds eggs and vegetables to instant noodles, so that what the bag brought turns into a meal. For washing, the FDA says to rinse produce under running water and not to use soap, detergent or a commercial produce wash, and to cut away any bruised or damaged parts before you eat it.

If what you got is poor

Some people say the quality, quantity and kind of food varies by place, by season and by organisation, so one bad visit is not a verdict on every pantry. One person says stock is uneven from week to week: one visit can be poor and the next full of fresh produce. One person warns that by the afternoon often only tinned goods remain. Being given mouldy or rotten fresh food and having to throw it out takes away the point of going, and one person calls that infuriating. Some people push back hard on being told to be grateful for it anyway.

If the same place keeps giving you food you cannot use, another pantry may be a different experience. To find one, 211 in the US, the Feeding America food bank finder, and the USDA National Hunger Hotline are listed below, and in the UK the Trussell find-a-food-bank page is. How a particular pantry handles a complaint, and what rights you have over the quality of charity food, are not covered here.

Who this page is not for

If you have no fridge, no freezer or no way to cook, most of the ideas above will not help you, and this page does not have a different plan for you. One page here, The pantry is for weeks like this one, says to take what your household will actually eat. If someone in the home is pregnant, or the food is for a baby, an older adult or anyone with a weak immune system, the date rules on the other page are stricter and the safety box above tells you to start there. If anyone has a food allergy, this page does not cover how to handle it: the label is your guide. One person says that when a partner controls the money or the car to stop you getting help, legal help may be needed to secure basic needs; that is a different problem from sorting a bag. In the US, the National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233, free and open 24 hours; in the UK, the National Domestic Abuse Helpline run by Refuge is 0808 2000 247, free and open 24 hours; if you are in danger now, call 911 in the US or 999 in the UK. And if shame is what has kept you from going at all, the same page about the pantry is for that.

The pantry gave you the ingredients. The sorting, done the same day, is what turns them into a week.