How often do you give your kitchen cupboards a good clean and clear out?

[Igglybuff]

I was rummaging in one of our little used kitchen cupboards (contains flour and cake baking stuff) and saw a couple of tiny (no more than a millimetre) things crawling about

So I quickly cleared everything and attacked the cupboard with cleaning products.

It got me thinking - how often should I give my cupboards a deep clean? How often do you do it?

errr when I rummage and find things crawling about

Not just me then

Honestly? either when I move house, or whenever I see things that shouldn't be there (crawling bugs, mouse droppings, rats, that kind of thing)

DISCLAIMER: the rat in me kitchen (drawer) was due to next door's renovation work, not me.

sounds like flour weevils

they come in the flour when you buy it

annoying, phew! I thought it was my fault. Although we've been here 4 years now and haven't cleaned the cupboards since moving in

doing mine today, only because we are having some work done in the kitchen and I needed to clear the open shelves, so had to make room for things in the cupboards.

They were last done when we moved in 18mo ago . To be fair, I have not found any creatures, living or otherwise, although the bag of out of date stuff is growing worryingly large.

BTW - does anyone know if vodka goes out of date?

No your vodka should last forever (ish)!

every few months

Since I did mine this week, I have discovered that it is definitely not since 2007

When I check my spice rack and find the Cumin is about 5 yrs past its sell by date!

Whenever I am in a bad mood, so usually just before my period - once every 28 days.

Do spices go off?? Oh dear I'm sure I've got some really old stuff kicking about in mine.

Vespasian monthly?

I do a lot of baking so my cupboards are very full and get a lot of use. I am also quite clumsy.

I am quite anal about them, all my baking ingredients are in neatly labelled jars. I have laminated checklists on the inside doors of my cupboards so people put things in the right place and we know when we need to buy something.

I have a spice draw, everything has to be in alphabetical order.

Vespasian have you thought of counselling.

Vespasian I'm hiding this thread from DH. He would love you - laminated checklists??? Alphabetical spice drawer? Neatly labelled jars?

How do you find the time?

When I feel like it. In fact I did them last week because the mood to do it took hold of me. As I have a small kitchen I like to make sure that I am not storing food that is way past its use by date.

Igglybuff
Spices don't go off, they simply lose flavour. Five year old cumin will have very little taste, especially if it is already ground.

The rest of my house is not that organised.

Thanks bun