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

Published 10 Sep 20267 min read

Two mistakes empty a pantry. The first is throwing food away because of a date on a label, when a "Best if used by" date marks the manufacturer's estimate of peak quality, and food stored properly should still be safe after it. 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 all fade faster than they would in a cool, dark cupboard. This page names the four things that damage pantry food, walks the shelves from the bottom up, and gives, for twenty-eight staples, how long each keeps unopened and opened and where it should live. Three of them have pages of their own: the olive oil shelf-life guide, the honey storage guide and the chocolate storage guide.

The four enemies

Light speeds the loss of freshness in olive oil, and spice guidance says to keep spices away from it too. Heat speeds the reactions that turn fresh into stale, as a rule of thumb roughly doubling their rate with each ten degrees Celsius, which is why Ohio State calls the cabinets above the range too warm for food. Air is why the extension charts write "tightly closed" or "airtight" beside pasta, rice, tea and spices. Moisture shortens storage times on its own, lets yeasts ferment honey, and, as condensation, blooms chocolate. A cupboard that is dark, cool, dry and closed guards against all four.

Dates, decoded

Manufacturers print "Best if used by," "Use by" and "Sell by" voluntarily, and the FDA describes these as quality dates: the manufacturer's estimate of how long a food keeps its best quality. Stored properly, a food should still be safe, wholesome and of good quality after that date. "Best if used by" is the phrase the FDA supports for a quality date, meaning the product will be at its best flavor and quality until then. Industry groups recommend "Use by" for perishable products that should be eaten by the date on the package and discarded after it. The Arkansas extension chart makes the same point from the other side: pantry foods kept past the recommended time will probably still be safe, but their flavor, texture and nutritive value decline. On olive oil, a harvest date, where the producer prints one, is more useful than a best-by date, because it lets you count from the beginning rather than guess from the end.

How to read the tables

The times below come from three university extension charts, from Ohio State, Clemson and Arkansas, with USDA guidance for tins and producer guidance for olive oil, honey and chocolate. The Ohio State chart assumes a cool, clean cupboard at about 70°F. These are quality windows, not safety deadlines. Where the sources disagree, the table gives the range between them. Spices show some of the widest gaps, and for those Ohio State's advice is to check the aroma at the times listed and replace them once it fades.

Bottom shelf: tins and jars

Item	Unopened	After opening	Keep it
Tinned tomatoes	Twelve to eighteen months	Two to three days, covered tightly, refrigerated	Cool, dry cupboard
Tinned beans, chickpeas	Two to five years	Two to three days, covered tightly, refrigerated	Cool, dry cupboard
Tinned fish in oil	Two to five years for best quality	Two to four days, in a clean covered container, refrigerated	Cool, dry cupboard
Pickles and olives	Pickles: twelve to eighteen months	One to two months, refrigerated	Cupboard, then refrigerator

Middle shelf: oils, vinegar, condiments and sweet jars

Item	Unopened	After opening	Keep it
Extra virgin olive oil	Twelve to eighteen months from harvest	Two to three months	Cool, dark cupboard, away from the stove
Salad oils (vegetable oils)	Six months to a year	One to three months	Refrigerate after opening
Vinegar	Two years to thirty months	About a year	Tightly closed; slight cloudiness does not affect quality
Prepared mustard	Two years	Six to eight months	Cupboard; may be refrigerated
Honey	Properly stored, it should not ferment	The same, lid tight	Sealed, at room temperature, 64 to 75°F; not the refrigerator, as cold speeds crystallization
Jam and jelly	A year	About a year, refrigerated	Cupboard, then refrigerator
Syrups	A year	Refrigerate to extend	Cupboard, then refrigerator
Peanut butter	Six to nine months	Two to three months; longer refrigerated	Cupboard

Top shelf: dry goods, spices, chocolate and tea

Item	Unopened	After opening	Keep it
Dried pasta	One to two years	The same, in an airtight container	Cupboard
White rice	One to two years	The same, tightly closed	Cupboard
Brown and wild rice	Six months to a year	The same, tightly closed	Cupboard
Dried beans and peas	A year	The same, airtight	Cool cupboard
Whole spices	One to two years (Ohio State); four to five (Clemson)	The same, airtight	Away from heat and light
Ground spices and herbs	Six months (Ohio State); two to three years (Clemson)	Replace when the aroma fades	Airtight, away from heat and light
Salt	Indefinitely	Indefinitely	Airtight
Granulated sugar	Two years (Ohio State) to indefinitely (Clemson)	The same	Covered tightly
Chocolate	Eighteen months to two years	The same, wrapped	Around 57 to 61°F, wrapped, in a sealed container or tin, away from the stove and sun
Cocoa	Eighteen months (Clemson) to indefinitely (Ohio State)	The same, airtight	Cupboard
Loose tea	Eighteen months to two years	The same, airtight	Airtight container
Nuts, vacuum-packed	A year	Two weeks	Cupboard
Nuts, other packaging	Three to four months	Two weeks	Freeze for longer storage
Dried fruit	Six to nine months	Refrigerate after opening	Cool, airtight
Crackers	Three to eight months	The same, box tightly closed	Cupboard
Bread crumbs, dried	Four to six months	The same, dry and covered	Cupboard

Signs worth knowing

Rancid olive oil smells of old nuts, crayons or putty, and it has lost the peppery cough of fresh oil. Crystals in honey are natural: glucose precipitating out of a solution that holds more sugar than its water can keep dissolved. Fermentation is different, caused by yeasts, and it does not occur in honey with a moisture content below 17.1 percent. It is what happens when water gets into the jar. A white bloom on chocolate is cosmetic, and both kinds of bloom are safe to eat.

What the refrigerator helps

Cold helps a specific list. The Ohio State chart says to refrigerate salad oils after opening, and notes that jam and syrup keep longer refrigerated and that peanut butter keeps longer cold. The Arkansas chart puts opened pickles and olives in the refrigerator, covered tightly. For nuts kept longer than a few months, extension guidance points to the freezer. Honey is where the sources part ways. The Arkansas chart says to store honey refrigerated, but the National Honey Board recommends a sealed jar at room temperature, because temperatures between 35 and 60°F hasten its crystallization. Chocolate is the delicate case, because cold chocolate unwrapped in warmer air collects condensation, and that water causes sugar bloom. Chocolate out of the refrigerator is better left wrapped until it has warmed.

Five habits that do most of the work

One: nothing above or beside the stove; extension guidance warns off storage near ovens, hot pipes and heating ducts. Two: buy olive oil, nuts and ground spices in quantities you will finish inside their opened windows above. Three: first in, first out, with the newest jar behind the oldest. Four: move opened tins into a clean covered container, and dry goods into sealed glass, metal or rigid plastic. Five: smell and look before you throw away; for quality-dated food, signs of spoilage tell you more than the date.

The shop is at 263 Josephine Street in Cherry Creek, Denver, products ship across the continental U.S. from theambrosianpantry.com, and the starter pantry guide is the place to build the cupboard from. The kitchen side of a mile-high house is in the cooking at altitude guide.

See also: what is a pantry staple, with the federal storage times for canned goods, dried pasta and rice.