And all my food shoved into ONE overflowing cabinet.
Scary! Are you ready to see my pantry "After" photos? Here you go ladies and gents!
My New Pantry!
Isn't she beautiful? Ok, so it may not be the picture-perfect magazine cover pantry we've all drooled over, but I was able to fit ALL of my food, spices, and much more in the new pantry! And it's working perfectly for us! Now let's go through how I got everything organized.
First to be organized: The Spices! I knew I wanted to utilize the back of my pantry door, so I picked up this ClosetMaid Door Rack from Lowe's and easily hung it on the back of the door. I call this a NHR Project ("No-Husband-Required").
Here's how I filled my door rack from top to bottom:
1) Vitamins. On the top shelf they are safe from my kiddo's curious fingers and also properly stored. Heat and moisture from the kitchen and bathroom are no good for vitamins and medications!
2) Grilling Spices and Home-Made Spice Blends. I keep the grilling spices all together so my husband can easily find them when he's ready to grill us up something yummy. I also store spice blends such as taco seasoning that I make myself in plastic baggies on this shelf. Don't forget to label them!
3) The next two shelves are for Savory Cooking Spices.
4) Followed by two shelves of Baking Spices and other Baking Supplies such as sprinkles, food coloring, and extracts.
5) The last two shelves hold my common cooking ingredients like Salt & Pepper and Oils & Vinegars.
And here's how I organized the shelves of my pantry:
1) This is one of my favorite pantry features! Do you ever get home from the grocery store and throw your bananas on the counter because you don't know where else to put them? Or what about your onions, garlic, and potatoes? I hated tossing them up in a cabinet, only to have them roll right back out on top of me! Here's how I organized them: The closet I used for my pantry is very deep, but my shelves are only about 12" deep. So I utilized the extra space by purchasing these white plastic baskets from Target and used Command hooks to hang them from the wall! No holes in the wall if I change my mind, and I now have a place to store all those random fruits and vegetables!
2) The top shelf of the pantry holds all my baking items and sweets. This includes the kid's candy jar, jars of flour, sugar, baking powder, etc., and another one of these white Target baskets in a smaller size to conceal and organize small items such as pudding and Jell-O mixes, marshmallows, and chocolate chips. I picked up some Martha Stewart chalkboard labels from Staples to label the baskets. The second shelf holds all our breakfast items. These containers from Wal-Mart hold all our cereal (the boys and I LOVE all kinds of cereal) and oatmeal. All our muffin mix and instant oatmeal packets are organized in an acrylic container. And another white basket holds syrup, peanut butter, pancake mix, and jars of dried fruit and almonds for oatmeal.
3) On the floor of the pantry sits extra mason jars and another white basket with extra food storage containers.
4) The third pantry shelf holds our snacks. I have a clear container just for the boy's snacks such as fruit snacks, granola bars, and peanut butter crackers. It's easy for them to grab what they want at snack time. Next to boxes of crackers and a jar of Goldfish sits another white Target basket for popcorn, chips, peanuts, and protein bars. And last but not least, the fourth shelf holds meal ingredients. I used these food storage containers from Wal-Mart to hold ingredients such as rice, bread crumbs, noodles, and croutons. Nothing drives me nuts more than 100 half-used boxes laying in the cabinets. This way everything looks neat and organized and it's easier to see how much of the ingredient you have left. I also store canned food on this shelf along with a handy dandy white basket filled with soup mixes, broth granules, and spaghetti sauce.
And lastly, on the other side of the pantry I have hooks to hold my grocery bags.
Whew! That was a lot of info! I hope you got some good ideas!
There was one last thing that puzzled me on finishing my pantry... how to label the food storage containers. I use a lot of different types of rices and noodles, so I knew I needed labels to keep them straight. But the Martha Stewart chalkboard labels I used for the baskets would be too expensive to use on all those containers, and regularly washing the containers would mean replacing them often. I needed something that wouldn't cost much to switch out after each use and wouldn't leave a sticky residue behind that I'd have to scrub off.
(insert Light Bulb Moment here)
Washi Tape!
I headed straight for Target and picked up 4 pack of their washi tape for $4!
I just cut off a small piece, stick it on the container, and label it however I need. It's super easy to peel off when I need to wash the container and super cheap to replace!
For ingredients like noodles and rice I also include the cooking instructions on the container.
And do you know what the best part of my new pantry is? When I'm all done cooking and tired of staring at all that food, I can close the door and it all disappears!
I am one happy Momma! So here's some Before/After pictures for you:
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