A well-organized pantry cupboard with tins on the bottom shelf, jars and bottles in the middle, spices in a tin box and bags of pasta and beans on top, doors open, in soft light

How to Store Your Pantry: A Shelf-by-Shelf Guide to What Keeps, What Doesn't, and Where Everything Should Live

Two mistakes empty a pantry. The first is throwing food away because of a date on a label, when the date is a manufacturer's guess about quality and most of what it is printed on is fine for years. The second is keeping food where it looks good rather than where it keeps, so that the olive oil by the stove, the spices above the range and the chocolate on the sunny counter are all ruined before the date arrives. This is one page for the whole cupboard. It names the four things that damage everything, walks the shelves from the bottom up, and gives, for forty things a serious pantry holds, how long each keeps, where it should live, whether cold helps, and the sign that it has turned. The individual pages, on olive oil, honey and chocolate, go deeper on the three that get searched most.

The four enemies

Light drives oxidation in fats and fades aromatics; it is why oil, nuts and spices belong in the dark. Heat speeds every reaction that turns fresh into stale, roughly doubling with each ten degrees Celsius; it is why the shelf above the stove is the worst place in the kitchen. Air is the oxidizer itself; half-empty bottles, loose lids and open bags are how food meets it. Moisture lets mold and yeast grow, clumps dry goods, blooms chocolate and softens crackers; it arrives from humid air, condensation out of the refrigerator, and wet spoons. A cupboard that is dark, cool, dry and closed defeats all four, and most pantry storage advice reduces to finding that cupboard.

Dates, decoded

"Best by" and "best before" are quality estimates and mean nothing about safety for shelf-stable food. "Use by" is the date most likely to imply safety, and it appears on perishables, not pantry goods. "Harvest" or "packed on" dates, where a producer prints them, are the useful ones, because they let you count from the beginning rather than guess from the end. When in doubt, the nose decides, and the table below says what to smell for.

Bottom shelf: tins, jars and the heavy things

Item Unopened Opened Keep it Refrigerate? It has turned when
Tinned fish in oil Five years or more; improves for the first few Two days, in a sealed jar under its oil Cool cupboard Only once opened Bulging tin, sour smell on opening; otherwise no
Tinned tomatoes, beans, chickpeas Two to five years Three to four days, decanted Cupboard Once opened, in a jar not the tin Bulging, rust at the seam, off smell
Jarred vegetables in oil (artichokes, peppers) Two years Two weeks, kept under the oil Cupboard Once opened Mold above the oil line, fizzing
Olives in brine Two years One to two months under brine Cupboard Once opened Soft, slimy, or a white film that smells wrong (a thin white film that smells clean is harmless yeast)
Capers, cornichons, pickles Two to three years Six months to a year under liquid Cupboard Once opened Cloudy soft brine, soft vegetables, mold
Pesto, tapenade, sauces in oil Per the jar, one to two years One to two weeks, oil poured over the surface Cupboard Once opened, always Mold, sour smell, darkening
Passata, tomato paste in a tube Two years One week (jar); one month (tube) Cupboard Once opened Mold, fermented smell

Middle shelf: oils, vinegars, condiments and sweet jars

Item Unopened Opened Keep it Refrigerate? It has turned when
Extra virgin olive oil Twelve to eighteen months from harvest Three months Dark cupboard, away from the stove Optional for large tins; not for the daily bottle Smells of crayons, putty, old nuts; no cough
Nut and seed oils Six to twelve months Two to three months Cupboard Yes, once opened; they go rancid fast Paint-like smell
Vinegar (wine, sherry, cider) Indefinite Years Cupboard No It does not; a cloudy "mother" is harmless
Aged balsamic Indefinite Years Cupboard No It does not; may thicken
Mustard Two years One year Cupboard, then refrigerator Yes, once opened, to keep the heat Dried out, dull, lost its bite
Hot sauce (vinegar-based) Three years One to two years Cupboard Optional; keeps color better cold Darkened, flat; rarely unsafe
Chili crisp Eighteen months Six months, oil covering the solids Cupboard Optional Rancid oil smell, mold on exposed solids
Soy sauce, fish sauce, garum, colatura Two to three years One year or more Cupboard Soy: yes for best flavor; fish sauces: optional Darkened and flat (soy); they rarely spoil
Honey Indefinite Indefinite Cupboard, dry spoon Never It does not; crystals are normal; fizzing means water got in
Jam and marmalade Two years Six months to a year Cupboard Yes, once opened Mold, fermented smell
Maple syrup Indefinite One year Cupboard Yes, once opened, always Mold on the surface (skim and boil, or discard)
Caramel, dulce de leche Per the jar, one to two years One month Cupboard Yes, once opened Mold, sour smell
Nut butters One year Three months (natural); six (stabilized) Cupboard Yes for natural, once opened Rancid, paint-like smell
Cocktail bitters Indefinite Years Cupboard No They do not
Cocktail syrups One year One to three months Cupboard Yes, once opened Cloudy, fermented

Top shelf: dry goods, spices, chocolate, tea and candy

Item Unopened Opened Keep it Refrigerate? It has turned when
Dried pasta Two years One year, in a sealed jar Cupboard No Pantry moths; otherwise it does not
Dried beans, lentils, chickpeas Best within one to two years Same, sealed Cupboard No They do not spoil, but old beans will not soften; buy this year's
Rice, farro, polenta One to two years (whole grains shorter) Six months to a year, sealed Cupboard Freezer for whole grains in a hot kitchen Rancid smell in whole grains; moths
Whole spices Three to four years Two to three years Dark, cool, away from the stove No No smell when crushed
Ground spices Two years Six months to a year Dark, cool No No smell when rubbed; faded color
Dried chiles One to two years Six months to a year, sealed Dark cupboard Freezer for long keeping Brittle, faded, no aroma
Salt Indefinite Indefinite Anywhere dry No It does not; clumps in humidity, harmlessly
Dark chocolate One to two years Same, wrapped 60 to 68°F, in a tin, away from smells Only in a hot kitchen, wrapped airtight Dull, no snap, flat aroma; bloom is cosmetic
Milk and white chocolate Six months to a year Same As above As above Stale, soapy aroma
Cocoa powder, drinking chocolate Two years One year, sealed Cupboard No Faded aroma
Loose-leaf tea Black and oolong two years; green six to twelve months Six months, in a tin Dark, cool, airtight, away from smells No Faded aroma, flat brew
Coffee beans Weeks from roast, not years Two weeks Airtight, dark Freezer for long keeping, in portions Flat, stale
Nuts, raw or roasted Six months to a year One to three months Airtight, dark Yes, or freezer, for anything beyond a month Rancid, paint-like smell; bitter
Dried fruit One year Six months, sealed Cupboard Refrigerator in a hot kitchen Hard, sugary crust, mold
Crackers, biscotti, shortbread Six months to a year One to two weeks, sealed Airtight tin No Soft, stale, or rancid butter smell
Hard candy, pastilles, licorice One to two years Months, sealed Cool, dry No Sticky, fused, faded
Gummies, Swedish candy Six months to a year Weeks, sealed Cool, dry No; they sweat Hard or sticky, sugar crust
Pâte de fruit, caramels Six months Weeks, sealed Cool, dry No Weeping sugar, hardening

The refrigerator, honestly

Cold helps oxidation-prone things: nut oils, nut butters, nuts, whole grains, opened mustard, opened jam and maple. It hurts things that sweat when they come out: chocolate, hard candy, gummies. It does nothing for things that do not spoil: vinegar, honey, salt, bitters. And it is the wrong place for olive oil you use daily, for spices, and for anything that absorbs smells. The freezer is the better long-term home for nuts, whole grains, dried chiles, coffee and, wrapped airtight, chocolate. When anything comes out of cold storage, let it reach room temperature before opening, so condensation forms on the outside of the package rather than on the food.

Denver, specifically

A mile up, the air is dry, which is good news for everything on the top shelf: crackers stay crisp, spices and dried goods keep well, honey and candy resist moisture. The cost is that dry air and strong sunlight age open bottles of oil faster, that opened jars dry out and skin over sooner (jam, mustard, tomato paste, caramel), and that nuts, exposed, go rancid quickly. The rule here is lids on, oil in the dark, and the refrigerator for anything opened with fat or sugar in it. Our altitude guide covers the cooking side; this is the cupboard side.

Five habits that do most of the work

One: nothing above or beside the stove except salt. Two: buy oil, nuts and ground spices in quantities you will finish in three months. Three: decant opened tins into jars, and pour a layer of oil over anything that lives under oil. Four: a tin for chocolate, a tin for tea, a tin for crackers, so nothing absorbs anything else. Five: smell before you throw away; the nose is right far more often than the date. Everything in the tables is at 263 Josephine Street in Cherry Creek, Denver, and ships nationwide from theambrosianpantry.com, and the starter pantry is the list to build the cupboard from.

Sources & Further Reading

Back to blog