Lea, I also mark my cans with a marker when I am getting low on an item I use a lot, for example, canned tomatoes. I stock up on them when they are on sale and one can gets the number one marked on top of it. I use that one last, I know that it is the last "one".

I am getting ready to do a total clean out myself. We've had some items for quite a while and so it is time for them to go. I am going to donate a bunch of the items to charity that are not expired. The rest I am going to throw in the trash. I am going to totally redo one cabinet at a time until I get all of this madness under control.

It's funny to see how we all have things set up. Since SO moved in this past fall, the organization is different. though he may be great with organization in the garage, the kitchen and pantry are another story.

The over the range microwave died shortly after I bought the house 4 yrs ago. I had been using a table top model sitting on a 2 shelf cabinet that held my "bar" items. A fabulous sale over Thanksgiving let me purchase a new one for well under a hundred dollars so SO installed it, the table top model went to the basement kitchen and his old one was given to a friend who's unit was on death's door. I had a similar style cabinet, but with 4 shelves in the basement. So I switched them out. The 4 shelf cabinet now holds snacks, rice, pasta, ramen noodles, canned tuna(we eat a lot of it) and the like. I have a tall narrow pantry that holds canned/bottled items I use all the time....canned tomatoes, soups, gravy(at 19 cents a can it was cheaper than I could make!), tomato sauce and paste, and boxed cereals including oatmeal that I use for granola.

the bottom shelf of the pantry is a mishmash of things I use often and they are the backups. SO stays away from this part not wanting to see what's there. He knows that if the mayo or a certain dressing is almost out in the fridge, I have already picked up the back up and it miraculously appears in the fridge to replace the empty!.

In the laundry room there is one open shelving unit for the bulk on sale purchases. Here i store the canned soda, garbage bags, paper towels, kleenex, gatorade (for SO's son), and some bulk itmes that won't fit inside(my shopping trip for organic diced tomatoes for instance from Costco. Couldn't pass up 48 cents a can since we use so many and I bought10-8 packs,the limit)

I also do the same with the upright freezer, stocking as things are on sale, since I know the cycle of things I buy frequently. The end of last month I was able to restock the imitation crab meat when it was $1 each from the normal $3.

Fresh stuff, dairy and bread items are bought based on local sales. Since the spaces I have only hold so much, and I am the one doing the shopping, I do the rotating too.

When SO moved in, He made me a wall mounted spice rack made from a kitchen drawer. I knew the age onmy spices.....he did not. I must have thrown away 3/4 of his spices and hit the dollar store for replacements. He had stuff that was as much as 5 years old, and things he liked, like crushed red peppers for example, he had multiples of. Now it's all condensed and easily found.

The other thing I have done is purchased a couple of clear magnetic locker thingamajig holder from the dollar store. I have 2 on the fridge, one holds the take out menus of places we sometimes call. The other holds, pen, pencil, and notepad so if something runs out we can make a note for the next trip out.....and it keeps it off the counter too!

Wheretostart,
Sounds like you have an excellent plan. One advantage to us moving a lot was that we were forced to do this often. Since we don't plan to move for the foreseeable future, it's important to go through cabinets on a regular basis and plan to use things or toss.

cleaned out my pantry yesterday and this is what was expired:

3 small boxes of raisins (Dec'11)
1 box of plain gelatin ('10)
1 energy bar (June '11)
1 fruit cup with an unclear exp date (24 11)? or (Jl 04:14 15)?

I wouldn't stress over raisens at 6 weeks. But that's just me.

I use raisins WAY past their expiration date. If they're hard, then I toss.

The other thing to watch for is the phrasing. If it says BEST BY as opposed to USE BY or SELL BY then it's just a suggestion.

I gave the raisins to my friend that was here, knowing that she would use and appreciate them and she wasn't phased at all by exp date. They were left over from some treat bags and my girls don't like them. I get enough from the ones left behind in the trail mixes we buy...

My 8 yr old has been noticing the exp dates, so we talked about the what and why of "best before" and "use by" and "sell by". She said "I know, it's like the weather forecast it's just a prediction."

Maureen, if you have any houseplants, then, the expired box of plain gelatin can be used as a fertilizer for them (gelatin contains nitrogen). The plants won't mind that the gelatin expired a couple of years ago, and it will be one less food waste item to end up in the landfill.