Have you ever got ready to make a meal and can't find the ingredient you're looking for. I recently needed beef broth for a recipe and knew I had recently bought some in those boxy looking packages they come in now. I never did find it so I changed dinner plans in mid-stream. I hate it when that happens! I was so inspired this morning when I woke up to a
sparkling sink and kitchen so I just went full steam ahead and started tackling other kitchen projects.
This old house had no cabinets when we moved in 15 years ago, so we had some custom made, but our kitchen is so chopped up it was hard to fit cabinets in. My kitchen has five doors and a fireplace. Five doors! One door leads outside, two of them lead to the dining room and hallway, one to the laundry room. The last one is to a little closet of sorts that I keep large pots & pans, my mixer, Turkey cooker, extra sets of glasses and dishes - most of which we could do without but choose to keep (which may be in a future organization tip). I've rambled enough so back to the subject. My cabinets have no room for food items so a few years ago we bought a little cabinet that I've dubbed the pantry.
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| Not big, but it hold lots of food. |
This morning when I opened the pantry door to get the packets of sweetener for hubby's coffee, this is what I saw, so I decided it was time for a clean sweep.
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| No wonder I couldn't find the beef broth last week! |
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- The first thing I did was empty everything out and line the shelves. I would suggest you do the same. It's much easier to sort if you've got it all emptied on a good work surface. I used my kitchen table since it was right there beside the pantry.
- Next, I assessed each item: I'm an impulsive buyer and don't even realize I have accumulated so many items. If you don't think you'll use it, you need to get rid of it. I made a box today to take to a Food Pantry in a nearby town.
- Keep like items together
Of the items you're going to keep, organize like items together in the same pile. That way, it will be easier to find what you're looking for. For example:
- Canned vegetables and beans
- Pasta and rice
- Flour, cornmeal, cake mixes
- Canned meats
- Canned fruits
- Soups
- Condiments, jellies, peanut butter
After I put everything back in, it looked much better.
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| Canned things on top - I love it when cans stack neatly. They should require can manufacturers to make them like that! |
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| Crackers, baking mixes, pastas, etc. on bottom. |
Since I was on a roll in the kitchen, I took time to sort my cook book shelves and straighten up my mantle. As you can tell, I collect vintage roosters and hens! Take a look......
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| Some of my collection on top of the cabinets |
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| A hen and chicks painting dated 1904 |
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| Fireplace with an Eastlake firescreen in front of it and more vintage stuff on the mantle. You can tell I'm a vintage junkie! The old kitchen clock in the middle belonged to my grandfather who was born in 1877. The clock is over 100 years old. |
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| Fresh flowers brighten things up! |
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| Even the cookbook shelves are decorated with vintage chicken paraphernalia |
Are you ready to take the Pantry Challenge? Give it a go - it's liberating!
That's so funny. I did the same thing to my pantry yesterday. I have one where the door was removed and never replaced - long story - and so my pantry shelves are open to the world, for the time being at least. I had friends coming over for lunch and it was a mess to look at, sad to say. After I finished I was well satisfied and my friends looked at the neat stacks of cans and boxes, loved having a nosy at what kind of things I had in there and said, "Wow, look how neat your pantry is?" I didn't have the heart to tell them because I wanted to leave them with the impression that I was organized ;) Truth is they know better, they are my friends after all. As my son would say, I am such a poser! When my husband came home he said he was surprised I hadn't alphabetized everything, funny man!
ReplyDeleteForgot to say how much I loved this post and your collections, and I think your blog is great. I need all the help I can get so I will be back.
ReplyDeleteThanks Denise! It's funny how much you get done when you hold yourself accountable. Now that I've committed to this blog, I know that I've got to produce some blogging material so I had better get it done. Thanks for your kind comments.
ReplyDeleteI have a Clock very similar to that one. It too was my GrandPas. He repaired a Victrola for a gentleman and the man payed him with the clock.
ReplyDeleteHe left it to me as I was always running in to hear it chime.