52 Weeks to an Organized Home Week 3-Organize Pantry Spices and Food Storage

This project is actually a natural segway for me, given that I tackled my Lazy Susan cabinet which is primarily used to storage can goods, as part of last week’s challenge. I usually sort through my pantry periodically but it seems to be in a continual state of chaos. This is especially unsightly because my pantry is completely open to the rest of kitchen (though I hope to remedy that eventually.)

I modified this challenge slightly. Since most of our pantry is visible and not more than one or two items deep I decided to dispense with the inventory. I know that I wouldn’t keep up with such a list so I’m focusing on keeping things organized. I threw out old food (mostly ancient granola my husband kept promising he was going to eat and some forgotten chocolate cookie crumbs). Then I organized items based on frequency of use and kind of item; putting frequently used items on lower shelves and grouping baking supplies together, etc.

My future action item regarding this portion of the challenge is to get large buckets to store my flour. I buy flour at Sam’s Club in 25 lb bags which I store on the bottom of my pantry. (You won’t see them in the picture because they are under the kitchen table, pushed up against the wall, along with infrequently used appliances like the ice cream maker.) I know that storing flour in bags is just asking for trouble, but I couldn’t find large enough buckets to store flour in. I have a few smaller containers that I use once the flour level has dropped below half in the bags, but nothing that will whole an entire 25 lb bag. The ones I find online are very expensive and that doesn’t even factor in the shipping costs. So for now I’ll have to continue with my ill advised methods, and keep looking for a long term solution. Fortunately, 25 lbs of flour doesn’t last a really long time at our house anyway.

I also organized the spice cupboard. I can’t reach the top shelf without a stool so I put rarely used items up there. Then I organized the two remaining shelves with the most frequently used items in the front, and trying to categorize a little bit. I also threw out any spices that hadn’t been used in several years or that we concluded we don’t like or give my husband indigestion. Now the trick is just keeping things as organized as they are at the moment. On we go to Week 4.

Pantry After