If only you were a little bigger...then I would love you more

Oh pantry.  When we were house shopping, my dream kitchen would have a large walk-in pantry.  But we found the dream house with only a little tiny pantry.  I know I shouldn't complain.  At least we have a pantry.  But I just think that we would have more space in other places (i.e., cabinets, counters, etc.) if you were a walk-in.  My all time favorite pantry is the one at my grandparents house in southern VA.  It was HUUUGE! And red.  And had a light.  It was so big you had to have a step stool to reach some shelves.  But alas, as it stands, right now we have a tiny pantry.

So it is a huge problem for me and my CDO-ness when it gets crowded and unorganized.  Saturday morning I spent some time at one of my favorite stores, Target.  I can't walk in there without buying something.  And well, I bought stuff.  Roughly $320 of stuff.  Granted this wasn't all for the pantry.  I also got some new sleep shirts, a maternity dress, some baby outfits, and organization for other rooms.  So don't think I'm that crazy.

But here is a list of some of the items I bought for the pantry:

1.  Lazy susan.  Just one.  That's all they had.  I was disappointed because I wanted to use these in a cabinet too.  But that's ok.
2.  Ice cube bins.  I bought three.  Little did I know, that would not be enough.
3.  2 small baskets.
4.  A wire shelving thing.  It's hard to explain but I'll point it out in the pictures.  I also only bought one.  I wanted to see how it would work before I got more than one.
5.  Dog food bin.  We don't have a dog, but we buy our dry cat food in bulk and it was taking up tooooo much space in my pantry.
6.  Tupperware thingies.  (Great vocab over here).  Storage containers for flour, cereal, etc.

I also went to the dollar store and bought some other little bins.  They weren't as strong as the ones at Target but they were only a dollar and weren't going to hold too much.

So first things first.  I took pictures of the pantry.  Everyone always needs a before look.

Then, I started taking out EVERYTHING (well, except the spices, they were pretty organized already). Silly me thought I could fit it all on the island.  Well, that didn't work and all the stuff took over the island and an entire counter.

Then I went through and threw out all the old food.  I had hoped it wouldn't be that much, but well, I was wrong.  Here are some of the things I threw out:

1.  Three UNOPENED boxes of crackers - 4 months old.
2.  Three bottles of dressing.
3.  Soup.
4.  Opened boxes of crackers.
5.  Chips (two bags) - opened but old and stale.

Just tossing these thing created three bags of trash.

Then I started planning.  And consolidating.  And getting rid of boxes and using storage containers.  There was minimal moving once I started placing things in the pantry and thankfully I finished in one day.  Which also included a lunch with my aunt and mother.  I also reorganized the baking cabinet.  This included tossing old items and reorganizing.  But more on that later.

So I used the lazy susan for canned veggies (Hubbs first question, well what if we get more?....My response, we should use what we have first.  I'm tired of throwing out old food....I continued my rant but it's not important.)  I then used the wire shelving thing for soups.  On Sunday I bought another one and used that for cream of soups and condensed soups. 

I put all sauce mixes into an ice cube bin.  I also used one of those for popcorn.  And grouped my vinegars in one as well.  Who knew I had four different kinds of vinegar?

I then used a basket for snacks and condiments.  Flours got poured into storage containers.  I already had old Folgers containers for flour and bread flour but needed something for self-rising and wheat.  Used some storage containers for already popped popcorn and rice (not already cooked).  I also used some wicker baskets that were left over from our wedding to store our onions and potatoes.  I read online that this kept them fresh longer.  Plus it looks super cute.

With the baking cabinet, I put cake/brownie mix (after tossing a few) into a basket so that I can easily pull it out and pick one. I also put cookie mix in one. I then put decorating items in a Tupperware container. I took out the old hand mixer for donation. And then just generally reorganized things so that they fit better.

Not pictured here are the lazy susans I purchased on Sunday and used for oils and sauces in another cabinet.  That one really got cleaned up and they are much easier to find now.

All in all I think it turned out really well.  Now the hard part will be keeping hubbs in line.  Until next time, when I tackle the next organizational nightmare.