Cost of living crisis: Major culprit straining your household budget

Many cost of living increases are beyond our control, but this one is literally within our grasp.

Many cost of living increases are beyond our control, but this one is literally within our grasp.

Food is a major culprit straining the household budget as inflation pressure hits.

Enough to give anyone a tummy ache, the Consumer Price Index has risen 7.3 per cent in the

12 months to November 2022, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reports.

Food, on its own, has seen an increase of 12 per cent in the same period.

The hike has to make us think about food waste as well as cost — too many groceries disappear into the back of the pantry, unseen, forgotten and unused. Many cost of living increases are beyond our control, but food we buy and waste is literally within our grasp.

Nobody enjoys cleaning out a pantry; it’s a hard chore and a guilt trip.

But if you need inspiration to don the rubber gloves, consider the latest federal government data, which reveals we annually waste a whopping 7.6 million tonnes of food. That’s 312kg per person, equating to at least $2000 per household that we put out with the bins every year.

Excessive groceries cause most pantry problems.

Khloe Kardashian Home Kitchen Tour: her insanely organised pantry. Picture: Supplied

Resist hoarding now we’re in the post-pandemic phase. The Mayo Clinic and other health advocates suggest that decluttered, organised spaces can have a positive effect on overall wellbeing – but if you do hoard, keep one of everything in the pantry and store spares in airtight tubs elsewhere. Just don’t forget to use them.

It’s all about good sight lines.

For fixed shelves, there is nothing better than an adjustable shelf organiser. Madesmart has a great range of organisational goodies like adjustable mini shelves (not cheap, but good) as well as the lazy Susan for about $15.

Cabinet lighting is useful for deep recesses.

Retrofit battery operated units after a trip to Bunnings. Door shelves are handy – but always, always attach with great care to avoid a screw poking out the front.

If you’re cupboard claustrophobic, spend a little more and leave cute curated herbs on display.

Start from scratch.

Empty your pantry completely (and tally everything past its use-by date), then clean, measure and organise. It’s a good time to change shelf heights to suit your family’s needs – are the kids old enough to get their own cereal and snacks? Can they reach them?

Sort into sensible sections. Cereals, grains, pasta and rice make a perfect cupboard club. Help the household understand and maintain your system by labelling shelves or drawers using general terms like ‘Breakfast’, ‘Condiments’ and ‘Jars’, then sub-categorise.

Poor packaging creates yucky shelves and means we throw out affected food.

Decant or repackage everything you can into canisters with good seals, thus defeating bugs and reducing waste. See-through/glass/plastic canisters beat designer stone/tin because you can see contents, inspiring the cook and leading to food use.

A one-litre glass canister with a bamboo screw top is as cheap as $8 each, a 200ml cereal container as little as $6.

Browse the gorgeous, innovative Joseph Joseph brand. Or try Oxo – its containers feature in the celebrity pantry of Khloe Kardashian. The altar of organisation, her latest redo is a sight to behold.

Although on a massive scale, the core elements are the same: containers, categories and slightly obsessive labelling.