Cleaning out our Pantry

We start our Whole30 on Friday. One of the success tips that they give on the website (www.whole9life.org) is to clean out your pantry and fridge. Get rid of the stuff that will be beckoning.

I will be real honest – as I emptied (and I do mean EMPTY) our pantry today while the kids were napping I put a lot of stuff in boxes, but my hope is that after the Whole30 a majority of what was put into those boxes will permanently be put into a trash can (or donated somewhere).

 

Some stuff that was already opened I decided to just toss now – things that never should have made it into our pantry to begin with (like Lay’s Potato Chips or Marshmallow Fruit Loops (yes they make those. (I know, right?!))).

You’ll notice that included in what is left in our pantry are a few items that are not Whole30 approved (these have their own shelf) and they are for our toddler. We have decided to keep dairy and Gluten-Free breakfast cereal in her diet, mainly because she isn’t a fan of eggs or sausage yet – and we aren’t really sure what she will eat for breakfast if that’s all we serve. Should she take to the Whole30 breakfast foods easier than we expect than we will likely eliminate the cereal as well, but for now, we are going to allow her to eat the gluten-free cereal and milk for breakfast with fresh fruit and the rest of the day will be Whole30 approved. (And I DO know that the cereal in the photo has added sugar, etc. but this is still a HUGE improvement and we feel that this is the best option for our toddler at this point.)

I totally forgot to take a “Before” pantry photo – but picture a very over-crowded pantry that had cereal, breakfast bars, crackers, instant oatmeal and instant cheese grits on the top shelf, pasta, bread crumbs, rice, quinoa and lots of chips (tortilla & potato) on the second shelf, every oil, dressing and condiment known to man on the third, and baking ingredients on the last.

And now here is what we have left:

For anyone wondering – the below is NOT “dried” fruit it is freeze-dried fruit – it is basically fruit that is crispy and dry. It has nothing added to it and I imagine is Whole30 approved. (The boxes to the right are different teas).

So yea, there isn’t much left. Which is a wake-up call in itself I suppose.

Next post will be about restocking our pantry – it still looks pretty empty and I imagine that it will because everything else we will be buying is “fresh” and required to be in the fridge or the fruit/veggie bowl. Check back for the “Restocking” post later!