On jars: decant if you enjoy it, but only what you use often, and always write the cooking time and the date somewhere on the jar. A jar of unidentified small brown grains is less useful than the original bag.
How often should I actually reorganise the pantry?
A full reset twice a year is plenty — I do one in early autumn when the cooking turns to soups and stews, and one in spring. Between those, the real maintenance is a five-minute pass before every food shop: pull anything nearly finished to the front, glance at dates on the top shelf, and write down what is missing. That small habit is what keeps the twice-yearly reset from being a full excavation.
What should I keep if my pantry is one small cupboard?
Choose depth over variety. Pick three or four dinners you genuinely cook on tired evenings and keep those ingredients properly stocked, plus the flavour-makers that rescue anything: good olive oil, vinegar, stock, garlic, dried chilli, mustard, honey, soy sauce. Skip the single-purpose speciality items unless a recipe is already in your week. A small cupboard with four reliable meals in it beats a large one with twenty half-started ideas, and it costs less in the long run because nothing quietly expires at the back.
