Organize Pantry with Color-Coded System

 Heloise, the queen of hints, recommends using a color-coded system to organize our pantries in this New Year. This is a new concept for me.

 First, get rid of items which have expired, check all the way in the back of shelves where we are prone to push seldom or never used items. She writes:

"Put GREEN veggies such as beans, peas, spinach and pickles together.
 Then gather RED canned items, like tomatoes, sauces, salsas, ketchup and kidney beans.
Shades of YELLOW could include pineapple, pears, applesauce and corn products.
WHITE items would include mayonnaise jars, sauerkraut and potatoes."

I like beets, so I could combine them with other PURPLE items like plums, raspberry pie filling, kalama olives, etc.

This color grouping might encourage children to find ingredients for dishes the parents or grandparents prepare. For spicy beans, for example, it would be fun to combine all the RED items plus ground meat and a chopped onion of one's choice for a zippy chili for the cold days and evenings.

Youngsters might enjoy organizing canned goods by color also if they help clean and sort out the pantry if you make it a game. Good luck on color-coding your pantry!