Sometimes our lives are so hectic that before we know it, clutter can begin to take over. While clearing out some of my paper clutter, I found an article from Good Housekeeping that talks about how long you should keep foods. Some of us are guilty of keeping foods way too long. In our minds, we think that because we spent good money on certain items, such as spices, they should be kept for an infinite amount of time. This way of thinking about anything, not only food, can get us into big trouble.

Below are the rules I found for how long foods stay good.

* Baking powder/soda – 18 months

* Semisweet chocolate – 2 years

*Unsweetened Chocolate – 18 months

* Coffee – 2 weeks after opening

* Flour – 1 year

* Peanut butter – 2 months after opening

* White sugar – 2 years

* Tea bags – 18 months

In The Refrigerator:

* Sour cream – 2 weeks

* Eggs (in shell) – 1 month

* Pork chops – 3 to 5 days

* Ground meat – 1 to 2 days

* Roasts – 3 to 5 days

* Steaks – 3 to 5 days

* Bacon or hotdogs – 1 week

* Lunch meat slices – 5 days

* Any fish – 1 to 2 days

In The Freezer:

* Bread – 3 months

* Butter – 9 months

* Ice Cream/Sherbet – 1 month

* Precooked meat/fish dish – 3 months

* Precooked poultry dish – 6 months

* Bacon – 1 month

* Hotdogs – 2 weeks

* Roasts – 1 year

* Ground Beef – 1 year

* Pork Chops – 4 months

* Steaks – 1 year

* Nuts – 3 months

* Fruit pies – 8 months

* Vegetables – 1 year

* TV Dinners – 6 months