Perfecting the Pantry

A choir of angels sing every time I open our pantry door.

Did you hear them? The problem is that they kind of go off key when they see the mess living inside.

I'm so blessed to have an abundance of storage in the kitchen - in fact, we have several drawers and cabinets that are currently empty. (Here's where I start dodging things you're throwing my way...)

These eight drawers are great but when they are not assigned a set purpose and organized accordingly, they result in a noisy, annoying arm workout every time I need to find something. I often will buy something, put it in a drawer, and then find it months later having forgotten that it was even in there. In fact, during this cleanup project I found three complete meals inside this heavenly chest of drawers! So... time to get this pantry into shape!

Before I show you the end results, here are some before pictures of the messiness.

To start this clean up, I emptied every drawer and put all of the items on our counter.

Those drawers hold a lot of stuff, huh!? With the drawers empty, I went through and wiped them all down, removing any dust, crumbs, and other random nonsense that may have ended up in there. Once they were clean, I tackled the wealth of items on the counter. I went through each individual item and tossed anything that was expired. For any items that were a year old or more, or items I had no intention of using in the future, I put in a bag to donate. Then, I dated each item with the current date so that I would be able to keep track of how old each item was and when it might be time to get rid of it. With the items slightly pared down, it was time to start filling the drawers.

I'm short. (When organizing, it's important to be honest with yourself about your shortfalls. No pun intended.) Without a stool, I can't see into the top drawer even on my tip toes so it didn't make sense to use the top drawer for something I'd need often. I knew I'd just get frustrated and end up shoving the items into another drawer. (See, honesty.)

 I decided to put our serving bowls and platters in the top drawer. These only come out when we have a large number of guests over for dining.

The second drawer from the top is still pretty high for me, though I can see into it on my toes. I decided to put my baking pans in this drawer (bread pans, cake pans, muffin tin, etc.). I use these items maybe twice a month and getting into this drawer to get them wouldn't be too much of a hassle. 

Under the baking items went our pasta and rice. I couldn't believe how many half opened boxes of pasta we had! Previously, the pasta had been in the second drawer and, since it was hard for me to clearly look into it, I seldom checked my supplies before heading to the grocery store. I can't count on one hand the number of times I blindly reached in for a box of pasta and grabbed it from the wrong end dumping noodles all over. I'm still finding random elbow macaroni from the last incident.... Moving pasta a drawer down seemed to make sense. 

The Mister gave me that slightly disapproving look each time he pulled an empty glass jar out of the dishwasher... until he saw the new pasta drawer! I used recycled glass jars to store all the half boxes of noodles to keep them fresh. The glass also provides a clear and quick view of how much I have when I am menu planning. And thank goodness for me they have lids!

The next drawer is our snack drawer. It holds granola bars, nuts, crackers, chips, and other snacks. Having all of these items in one drawer makes it easy to see what we have so when we're perusing the kitchen for a snack, it's that much easier to pick something. It also makes the lunch making process a bit faster.

The next two drawers hold all of our storage containers. I dedicated one to glass containers and one to plastic containers. I hope to phase out all of the plastic containers and replace them with glass, but right now our budget doesn't allow that. 

The bottom two drawers hold our canned goods and baking supplies, respectively. Prior to this clean out, our onions and potatoes were kept in the bottom drawer, usually in whatever bag they came in. When I went to clean out this drawer, there were so many pieces of onion peel in that drawer; I had to wipe it out three times. I recycled a basket that wasn't being used and designated it as the onion basket. I honestly love my new onion basket.

While a pantry made of drawers is nice, each drawers contents are obscured, making it hard for others to know where to find things. Who am I kidding? It makes it hard for me to remember where I decided to put things. So, I whipped up some labels. 

While I could probably use a daily arm workout, I appreciate the lesser stress and annoyance of having to open 3 drawers before I find what I'm looking for. If you're looking to clean out your own pantry or cupboards, I highly recommend the following:

• Be honest with yourself
• Start with a clean slate
• Get rid of any expired items
• Donate anything you haven't used in the last year or know you will never use
• Date any food items before putting them back in the pantry
• Storage containers can be free. Reuse glass jars and other containers instead of throwing them into a recycling or trash bin
• Label your shelves or drawers so it's easy for you and your family to maintain your hard work

Happy pantry organizing!!

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