What To Do With Your Food Before Moving

What To Do With Your Food Before Moving

When planning an upcoming move, whether it’s a local, or long distance relocation, thinking about what to do with your food is often overlooked until the last moment. Make sure to add it as a task on your moving checklist, maybe even schedule a dinner party ahead of time, where many of the ingredients already in your kitchen can be used. If you’re using any Moving Apps, you can set yourself reminders, if needed.

What Food Do You Have?

Before you begin to Pack your Kitchen look through your cupboards, pantry, fridge and freezer, anywhere you keep food and take inventory of everything you have. Make a detailed list either digitally or manually by category, and include all perishables, non-perishables and any beverages. Next to each item, write the expiration date.

What To Do With The Food?

Depending on the timeline of your move, and the amount of food in your kitchen, start planning how to reduce the amount of food before moving day. If you plan to ship some of the food you already have, bear in mind the expiration dates and how long your belongings will be in transit.

Eating the food - For the remainder of time that you’re in your home with access to the kitchen and cooking utensils, consider meal planning and using ingredients that you currently have. Any perishables (food items that decay and go bad quickly) should be consumed on an immediate basis. If there are other people in the home that are moving with you, let them know the plan to reduce the amount of food before moving day.

Pack what you’re taking – If you will be taking some of the non-perishable food items with you to your new home, consider packing them early so you can see exactly what is left. When packing food items, remember to use small and medium boxes so that they don’t become too heavy. Cans and glass can acquire weight quickly. Resealable Ziploc bags are great for things like flour, sugar, oils, and spices etc… as they can help prevent spillage. Resealable containers can also be useful. If you’re moving locally and plan to move any perishables, using a cooler to transport these items is advised.

Donate – Non-perishable items that will not be used, or moving with you, can be donated, as long as they have not expired. These donations will help hundreds of people across the country to receive nutritional food. Feeding America is the nations largest domestic hunger relief organization.

Friends and family – Get creative and plan a farewell meal that incorporates all, or most of the ingredients in your kitchen, maybe even a potluck to ensure you don’t buy any new food items. If this is not an option, some of your friends and family members will gladly help you find a home for some of your food and beverages.

Throw away – As a last resort, having to throw away some of your food might be necessary. This might be required if any items are expired, as they cannot be donated. For fruit and vegetables, and certain other food items, composting would be a good solution.

With all these options, there is so much that can be done with your food before moving day. One thing to remember though, you’ll need to plan what to eat and feed your crew on moving day, so don’t get rid of everything unless you’ll be ordering in on moving day.