Hey friends! If you follow me on
instagram, you saw that my sweet little boy was in the hospital this week for pneumonia. Never a fun time in the hospital, but we are so thankful to be home and so thankful he is on the road to getting better! I wanted to say thank you for all the prayers, comments and messages that truly lifted my spirits. Thank you, thank you.
I had planned on being a part of this fun series but had to bail for good reason at the last minute, so I'm linking up my post now. Lisa from
Shine Your Light asked me to be a part of this series a while back and I knew it would be such a good motivator to get ready for the upcoming holidays. No matter how much I plan, they always sneak up on me and leave me saying I'll do it next year! For the next several weeks a talented group of ladies is sharing ideas to get you ready for the fun season ahead! This week we are kicking it off in the kitchen!
Last year, when we moved in our home, we focused on a few things we wanted immediately improved in the kitchen- new cabinet doors, new appliances, faucet, lighting, hardware- all the good stuff! Our kitchen turned out just the way we envisioned it, which was important because we spend a lot of time in it. One thing that got pushed to the wayside was the pantry. We sort of did the whole "stuff things here and there" with out much thought into where things went. I knew when Lisa asked me to participate in this fun series, I had to tackle our pantry once and for all! It was embarrassing to have any guests over if they asked where the napkins, crackers, birthday candles were...most of the time I didn't even know the answer to where things were! I've shown you a sneak peek of the "after" now lets take a look at the SCARY "before"...brace yourselves.
My plan of action was to pull everything out. Yep, it all has to come out. We had almost two trash bags full of expired food, or food that I had bought for the kids they ended up not liking, so they were just taking up space (i.e. I'm looking at you raisins!). Most of you won't need to go to this extreme, but we took organizing once step further in our pantry and changed out our shelves for a shallower depth. Ours were way too deep at 18" and 20", which inevitably means things got lost and stuck behind other food. Stephen kept the same support system from the original shelves and switched out the shelves to 12" depth. We also added one more bracket on each shelf for more support and no sagging, which we had before.
When I began to plan my pantry, I did a lot of searching on
The Container Store and was smitten with so many of their organizational baskets, but in the end I ended up doing some searches on
Amazon and found similar products at prices that were a little more wallet friendly. I recommend if you are organizing your pantry you make a list of the main items you have, and then what sort of container you would like them to be organized in. I didn't want anything "loose" because I knew that would lead to clutter. Here were my categories:
Wire Bins for most frequently used foods with expirations
-Bread
-Fruit/Veggie Packs
-Chips
-Crackers
-Fresh Fruit
-Breakfast
Smaller Wire Bins
-Party Supplies
-Salad Toppings
Plastic Bins for bulk items (found at TJ Maxx)
-Overflow water and drinks
-Pediasure for my son
-Juice bottles
-Napkins/Cups/Plates/Plastic Silverware
Clear Pop Top Containers
-Cookie Cutters
-Pastas
-Baking supplies
Clear Shelf Bins
-Coffee/Tea
-Baking supplies
-Drink Mixes
-Dressing/Dip packages
There were a lot of items in the pantry that shouldn't have been in there that I found other places for in the kitchen...the mixer, serving pieces, recipes boxes, etc. This cleared out a lot of clutter as well, and made way for lots of organized storage.
Once I had everything in place, I was ready to start labeling! This part was so gratifying, by the way. I bought
this pack of assorted chalkboard labels that comes with a chalk pen. It comes with 72 labels so you can say I am set with labels for a while! I'm impressed with no smudging so far. If you want to change the label, just wipe it with a wet paper towel. They also can be repositioned and moved if you need to as well. The chalkboard clips on the baskets came from Michael's and tied it all together! These wire baskets were such a great investment for our pantry. Side note- the sides flip up so they are actually stackable in case you need that as well. We don't need that option but I love how my essentials are so accessible.
I have collected most of the
OXO containers and the clear shelf bins for a few years, I just never utilized them in the right way. Most of mine I found at TJ Maxx and occasionally would buy a specific container or bin at
Bed Bath and Beyond with a coupon!
One of my favorite tips- a large mason jar for corralling cupcake liners!
Once I had everything organized it was easy for me to see what I had and what I might need for the upcoming holidays. I like to make sure I have the ingredients for some of my favorite holiday recipes on hand in case I have a few extra hours for baking. Hiding deep in my old pantry was a container of baking powder that I searched for a few weeks ago and never could find! And this is why I needed to organize this mess!
A few commonly used pantry essentials I made note of:
Flour
Sugar
Brown Sugar
Chocolate Chips
Salt
Vanilla
Baking Powder
Baking Soda
And, since I am already thinking ahead to some of my family favorite recipes, here is the link I have shared in the past:
Christmas Apps + Sweet Treats where you will find recipes for Buckeyes (seriously, best sweet treat ever), Oyster Crackers (don't blame me when you are shoveling handfuls in your mouth during Happy Hour..they are addictive and so good) and my favorite cheese ball!
This was such a gratifying project, I can't even describe how good it feels to have organized our pantry. Thanks for reading and following along! Join us next week as we tackle the bedroom!
