Talk About An Organized Pantry

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My pantry is finally finished! Well... I might have one more itsy bitsy project I want to do in there but that can wait. For now it is finished.

When Stranger installed the cabinets we realized we didn't have the right shelves (or enough shelves) for the tall cabinets so I couldn't put anything away in them until we finally made the long trek back to Ikea six weeks later. It was pure torture for me having stuff piled everywhere for that long.

We bought the new shelves on Thursday so of course I had to spend 8 hours on Friday organizing and getting everything put away. I learned something that day. When you are 7 months pregnant you don't have the energy you normally have and it's probably best not to try to work yourself to death just for an organizing thrill.

Now for the big reveal...

What looked like this for two years (except not usually that clean.)

Now looks like this!



The tall cabinets were supposed to stand on the ground but I had Stranger install them all the way up to the ceiling for two reasons. The first is so my grain buckets would fit under them, giving me more storage space, and the second is so I wouldn't have to clean dust off the top of them. Love it.





I got tired of wrestling with a small recycling container for our plastics so now that I have the space I hauled that big garbage can in from the garage. It is working so much better. Apparently we go through a lot of plastic containers around here.

I'll save the boring details of all the cupboards for another day but here are just a couple of my favorites.

My organized baking dishes. Notice how (except for the muffin tins) none of them are nested and they are only stacked two high on each shelf? That's why I needed lots of shelves. It makes it so much easier for us to pull out the pan we want and then to put it away again. I also store containers with the lids on so I never have to hunt for a lid.

I'm also in love with my Grain Station. We bought those square containers last week to organize all our various grains. I put the wheat in a bigger bucket because we go through it so much faster. This week I will treat myself to making labels for them. Fun!

I have my wheat grinder right there along with my nut and seed grinder. From now on it will be so much easier for us to cook healthy food. Stop by some time and we will whip up a batch of whole grain pancakes or freshly baked bread for you.

Sadly, now it's back to organizing paperwork for me.

I forgot I get to cross this off my Mom's Mission Impossible list!

What are you talking about this week?

*Important - Please link to your individual Talk About Tuesday post instead of your home page or else my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder will have to spend time fixing the links. Here is how you link to an individual post if you’ve never done it before: Right click on the date at the bottom of the post you want to link to (or the post title depending on where you blog) click “Copy Shortcut” and then paste it into Mr. Linky.

Talk About Tuesday

Welcome to Talk About Tuesday! If you are new, check out the Guidelines before posting. Thanks for joining us!

It's an organized pantry! Stranger spent an entire day finishing up the cupboards on this wall. Putting the drawers together and installing everything was more work than I could have guessed. I guess I'll let him take a break before he finishes the other wall. Aren't I sweet? Actually he's been at work. That's where he goes when he needs to rest. Sometimes I wish I had a job where I could go to rest and take a break from Motherhood.

I designed the pantry with some countertop space so I could make hidden messes on it. Now if I can just keep it cleared off so I have room to make the messes I can't wait to make.

It's also a perfect spot for my wheat grinder. The bonus is that I can shut the door and hopefully not wake up the neighborhood livestock because it's loud! I like keeping all of it in a container to catch spills and make it easy to move. I had a friend who kept her wheat grinder in the garage which is another great idea to keep the noise and mess outside. Except when it's -20 degrees. Freshly ground wheat is just not worth freezing your tootsies off.

This is one of the upper cabinets. I'm still trying to decide if I want the doors installed. They will look nice but they will create one more step in putting things away and it's not like people are going to be hanging out in my pantry thinking about how nice it looks, right?

This is the pasta and rice drawer. I love big drawers!

I gathered up all the stray plastic tubs and bottles and threw them in another big drawer.

Persistence was the lucky one who got to organize all of it.

She got rid of at least half of it. She did a great job! BTW, this isn't stuff we use on a daily basis. I use pyrex for leftovers and I keep it in the kitchen.

Did I mention how fun it was to organize all my new cupboards and drawers? Good times.

What do you have to talk about this week?

*Important - Please link to your individual Talk About Tuesday post instead of your home page or else my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder will have to spend time fixing the links. Here is how you link to an individual post if you’ve never done it before: Right click on the date at the bottom of the post you want to link to (or the post title depending on where you blog) click “Copy Shortcut” and then paste it into Mr. Linky.

Talk About Tuesday

Welcome to Talk About Tuesday! If you are new, check out the Guidelines before posting. Thanks for joining us!

Speaking of bandwagons, we are now official Ikea groupies. I see and hear about a lot of Ikea on the web but we just got our own store last spring. We've been there a few times to be amazed by the vastness of it all and to see if, once we entered, we could find our way back out again. Let me just give you a word of warning if you've never been there before. Don't take children and use the bathroom before you get started because once you're in you're not coming back out again until you've seen it all. Not even if you wanted to.

Well, this time we weren't just window shopping. We actually came home with cabinets for our pantry.

I know!

This and now this? We'd better watch out or we are going to be seriously organized one of these days. The great thing about Ikea though is that everything fits through the door! They are amazingly good planners that way.

I don't know if you can tell but that is three carts full of boxes. Two in front and one behind on the left. At least all those boxes make me feel like we got our money's worth. Now if I could just get Stranger to stop running off to work so he can stay home and put the whole thing together for me. Why would anyone not be excited about that? I know I'm excited to watch and offer useless advice if he needs it. I'm nothing if not helpful.

What do you have to talk about this week?

*Important - Please link to your individual Talk About Tuesday post instead of your home page or else my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder will have to spend time fixing the links. Here is how you link to an individual post if you’ve never done it before: Right click on the date at the bottom of the post you want to link to (or the post title depending on where you blog) click “Copy Shortcut” and then paste it into Mr. Linky.

Organize Your Pots and Pans

My sister was visiting last week and she helped me decide where to build the shelves in my pantry and also where to hang my pot rack that's been sitting in a box in the corner for a year and a half. I had it hung in the kitchen in my old house but I got tired of the eye clutter so I wanted it in my pantry this time.

Well, look at that! I finally got it hung up!

I keep the pots we use every day in a drawer under my stove and the pot rack now holds the pots that I use less often.

Organizing never fails to make my heart race.

Sometimes for reasons it shouldn't.

When you are organizing the pots on your pot rack its probably not a good idea to let your toddler sit directly under it and play with her dollies. You know. In case you were to accidentally knock one of the pots off.

It might not actually fall on her and crush the life out of her but it would definitely give you and her a proper scare.

Organize Your Pantry

I did some amazing organizing today and there wasn’t anything lazy about it. Can I just give myself a pat on the back for unpacking these boxes that were piled in my pantry? Yes, I know we have been in our new house for 8 months. Shut up! I've been waiting to get some shelves built in there but as you can see, that's not happening any time soon so I had to improvise.

I know I said I was going to do this but I had a brain cramp and cleaned out my pantry instead which may or may not have looked like this when I started. I'm not addmiting to anything.


I’ll get to that other thing soon. I promise.

I may or may not have gotten this far on Saturday.


Then I went crazy and did this today.

Isn't it pretty! I want to go in there and eat dinner on the little stool so I can soak it all in. Now I have a spot to grind my wheat so I won't have any more excuses for feeding my family white bread. I wanted it in my pantry so I could shut the door and hopefully shut out some of the noise in case people were sleeping. I know some people keep theirs out in the garage but I'm way to lazy to walk out there! You can't see it but that is my deep freeze on the left there. The garage was too far for that too so I designed a spot for it in my pantry.


Off the subject...See those little clay pots? Those are for baking muffins and cakes in! I made dirt cupcakes in them for a party once. Aren’t they adorable? They are real clay pots, just without the drain hole in the bottom. I get them out every year for Christmas breakfast. You can find my Coffee Cake recipe here.

Since we wash dishes by hand every day we don't need a lot of extras in the kitchen so I store them here. Don't ask me why I have all those plates. I never let anyone eat on them. I make guests use paper! Except for the important guests. So if you're eating on paper plates at my house you can pretty much figure you aren't important enough for my plain old ordinary white dishes. Either that or I love you enough that I want to spend time visiting with you instead of washing dishes.

Another Pantry Photo

Organize Your Pantry

I did some organizing in my pantry today. When I have anything in the kitchen that comes in a box, I throw the box away and use a clothes pin to close the bag. Well, we don’t go through bags of chips very quickly so they are always going stale. Today I transferred the chips, cereal, pasta, beans, tea bags, etc. into gallon sized re-seal able plastic bags, hoping they will stay fresh longer. The bags will be easier than using a clothes pin that can fall off, allowing the contents to get dumped in the bottom of the snack drawer. I just wash the bag when it’s empty and use it for something else. Do you know the fastest way to get a baggie dry after you’ve washed it? Fill it with a dry dish towel and before the next meal, it will be dry enough to store.

Updated - This has worked wonderfully for us. There is no more mess and snacks stay fresh forever!

More Kitchen Organizing

Baggies
Baking
Baking II
Cereal
Dishwasher
Dishwashing
Fridge, Vacuum, and Garbage Cans
Grocery Shopping
Pantry
Pantry II
Picnics
Recipes
Scrub Brush