Spring Clean Your Kitchen: Refresh Your Space, Protect Your Health
Spring cleaning is a great time to declutter your home and create a healthier environment. Your kitchen is a great first place to start! In 2024, the average person spent 1.24 hours—or 74.4 minutes—per day eating and drinking, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics American Time Use Survey. Creating an organized and clean kitchen helps support healthier eating habits, reduce food waste, increase motivation to prepare meals, and reduce the risk of foodborne illness.
Start with a pantry audit.
Begin by removing everything from your pantry and checking the best-by dates. Discard items that are past their best-by date, stale, not safe to eat, or anything you are unsure of its quality. Pay special attention to oils, nuts, and whole grain flours, which can go rancid over time. If you store nuts and whole grain or any nut flour in the pantry, move that over to the freezer in an airtight container asap!
Remember that the best-by date is not an expiration date! It is only an indicator of when the product will be at peak quality. Foods can be safe to consume after the best-by date as long as there are no indications of spoilage. However, when in doubt, throw it out!
As you restock, organize foods so the healthiest options are most visible and accessible. Placing these at eye level helps us reach for them more often than the less healthy options. Consider grouping items by category, like whole grains, canned vegetables, beans, lean proteins, and snacks, to make meal planning easier and to prevent unnecessary purchasing of items you already have on hand. The “first in, first out” method is recommended to ensure that older items get used first.
Check your refrigerator and freezer.
Refrigerators should be set at 40°F or below, and freezers at 0°F. Use a refrigerator thermometer to verify temperatures. Even if your appliance has a built-in thermometer, it is recommended to use a second portable one as well. This second thermometer can be moved around to see where the coldest and warmest areas of the appliance are, and comes in handy when the power goes out to monitor the internal temperature and identify when it becomes too unsafe for food.
Working on one appliance at a time, remove everything from the refrigerator or freezer. Check the best-by dates and examine foods for evidence of spoilage or freezer burn. Even items with long shelf lives can degrade in quality or safety after opening. Wipe down shelves with warm, soapy water and dry thoroughly. Cleaning should happen at least monthly, or more frequently as spills occur. Move contents back into your refrigerator and freezer, organizing foods so that the healthiest options are the most visible and accessible, and following the first-in, first-out principle.
Deep clean with safe, non-toxic cleaners.
Many conventional cleaning products contain strong fragrances, phthalates, parabens, and other chemicals that can harm your health and the environment. Not to mention that cleaning products can be expensive! Fortunately, effective cleaning doesn’t require harsh ingredients or a big price tag, and you may already have non-toxic cleaning ingredients in your pantry or refrigerator!
Common household cleaning ingredients: baking soda, borax, hydrogen peroxide, lemon/lemon juice, salt (Epsom, kosher, or rock), white vinegar, and olive oil.
Some less common household cleaning ingredients: castile soap, citric acid, washing soda, and tea tree oil.
If you decide to purchase products instead of making your own, shop for products that have simple ingredient lists and third-party certifications that prioritize safer ingredients. Also, remember that ‘clean’ does not have to mean heavily scented! Fragrances, when used in the short term, can cause respiratory issues, while long-term use can act as an endocrine disruptor.
To learn more about green cleaning methods for your home, read this publication by our colleagues from New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension https://pubs.nmsu.edu/_g/G315.pdf
The Environmental Working Group also provides consumers with information on the safety of a variety of products, ranging from household and cleaning products to food and water and personal care products. Explore https://www.ewg.org to learn more.
Contact us with your food, nutrition, and food safety questions at foodhelp@jocogov.org or 913-715-7000.
by Chelsea King, Nutrition, Food Safety and Health Agent, 2026