I revamped my pantry!!! Woo hoo! It seems like I’ve been working on this project for months and I am finally finished! I’m calling this phase one. At some point in the future I’d like to paint the walls and cover the wire shelving, but for now I was lucky enough to get this much done.
I’m lucky that I have a pretty big space. My pantry is an L-shape walk-in type, with two walls for storage. Here are some BEFORE pics of the mess:
My main goal was to transfer all the random opened bags of rice, nuts, seeds, pasta, grains, beans, dried fruit, etc. into glass jars. I also wanted a designated spot to put the paper plates and silverware that were taking over the pantry. (I don’t even know where it comes from, plastic cutlery seems to just appear in my pantry.)
We always have a lot of beans and canned tomatoes on hand so the cans needed to be organized as well. For only three people, I think we have way too much food in our house! I tried to cook through it last year during my Pantry Challenge, but we still have a lot, especially since I eat mostly from the fridge and not from the pantry.
So how did I do it? I pulled everything out of the pantry first. I tossed what I didn’t need or what I knew would never get eaten –like the 3-year old soda we keep for “guests,” the pumpkin butter I thought was so cool in October, and spice packs that pre-date my marriage. Then I consolidated like items and transferred what I could into my glass containers.
I re-purposed a few baskets and big bowls for what didn’t make it into a jar and then I attempted to label the jars with chalkboard paper. Of course it didn’t turn out as I imagined. I didn’t like the look at all with the stickers on the jars; the chalkboard paper didn’t lay flat on the face of the round jar and I just thought it looked messy. I tossed that idea but was sad because I was really excited about those labels.
I found my jars on Amazon and also at my local Home Goods store and TJ Maxx. The large jars are Bormioli Rocco Fido glass canning jars. They’re made in Italy and are large enough so you can easily empty a box of pasta into one of them. I got a really good price on Amazon for these! The other jars are Ball Mason Jars and you can find them on Amazon as well, in a ton of different sizes. I found the smaller jars at Home Goods to store items I don’t have in large quantity like cocoa nibs and goji berries.
Here’s what it looks like now:
The two boxes with the chalkboard front on the floor are from TJ Maxx. I got the plastic stacking bins (mine are not stacked) for the potatoes and onions from the Container store, along with the clear handled storage baskets and the stacking baskets with handles for snacks.
The expanding shelves for the canned stuff is from the Container store too but I think you can find them at Target! I moved some cookbooks onto the top shelf and then was able to clean out another cabinet in the kitchen which was nice. I have a lot more space now than before, mostly due to consolidating and throwing stuff away. Once you do this you can really see what you have on hand, it will definitely save me money at the grocery store and, since I can see what I have, I’m a little more inspired to cook!
So that’s it! It’s still pretty clean after a few weeks living with it, but I find that I need more jars so some bags have crept back in. Gotta make another run to Home Goods!
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Happy organizing!
