My mom’s kitchen basically backs up to ours. She has an awesome pantry. I think I’m so jealous because I don’t have one at all. While we keep most of our food separate, we have a take-what-you-need-when-you-need-it policy. Whenever I need something in her pantry, it drives me crazy.
First of all, I’m not tall enough to reach most of it let alone root for things. Did you notice all the random plastic bags of things? Also, ask Mom how many times she’s knocked something breakable off the shelf while rooting and it, well, broke.
Since Mom had off this summer, and I am nesting, we decided to tackle the pantry.
We took everything out and tossed a bunch of stuff she didn’t even remember buying. The shelves and floor got a good wipe down.
Then came the shopping. We got a door rack and plenty of resealable, stackable, clear containers.
The coolest purchase was this large plastic tote from Ikea with a removeable tray. It was perfect for organizing individual bags of snacks and snack bars.
We put lesser used items up high and tried to organize items by use or type. Shoebox-sized containers are keeping small items like food coloring, well, contained. Cereals were put in resealable dispensers with the bulk stored in the back. Everything got a basic label thanks to my handy, dandy, label maker
We also rearranged the shelf spacing.
The spices and some taller bottles were relegated to the door. The finishing touch was a couple battery-operated touch lights.
So much better!
What have you organized this summer?
Love it! We still have a largely haphazard under-the-stair pantry with a lot of unusable space. One of these days…
BUT… I did FINALLY organize our kitchen cabinets so that now I can find the mixing bowls and the pots and pans that I need. It’s a good thing,seeing how we moved here TWO YEARS AGO and I still had stuff just crammed into cabinets from the mad rush to move in. I’m a little slow – just call me the tenacious tortoise. Maybe in about two more years I’ll organize the pantry!