Organize

Peace of Mind in the Pantry

January 18, 2012 Lady

Unloading groceries with a toddler who is trying to open everything while you are trying to get it all put away can be somewhat challenging. Especially if your pantry is a disaster like mine (used to be!). If this task isn’t done quickly, you might have nibbles in your apples and holes in your yogurt. I would dread putting the groceries away, as there never seemed to be anywhere to put it all. So, I simply shoved items wherever they fit, though they were somewhat near like items. That is, until I recently saw a few pictures on Pinterest of these beautifully organized pantries with bins and containers and labels, Oh My!

This is what my pantry used to look like:

I kid, I kid. I didn’t take any before pictures and just grabbed these photo from the internet, so you will just have to use your imagination. It probably looked similar to this, though on a smaller scale:

Not horrible, but things were just kind of scattered in there and I was never quite sure what I had and would end up buying multiple items of the same thing, while others went bad. So, with a few key items I was able to transform our pantry into a place that glimmers, shines, and where angels sing from above. And it didn’t cost me an arm and a leg, either!

First, I went to the Dollar Store and purchased about 4 of these bins:

From Wal-mart I bought this set of four little containers for under $7.

I also bought a couple of space savers that I can’t find pictures to online, but you will see them in my final pantry pics.

And the best finds came from Ross! From there I got two cereal canisters (I already had two I could use) four containers with spouts for flours and sugars, and a three-piece pasta container set. (All pictured later.)

And the most exciting part of all!!! I ordered chalkboard labels from Etsy! There are TONS of choices out there, but I wanted the most bang for my buck, so I bought this 26 piece set for $12.99, including shipping! They come in various shapes and sizes and are erasable to write again and again!

Chalkboard stickers- Click here

My last purchase came from Michaels. The chalkboard marker.

So, after a couple hours of sorting, organizing and labeling, this is what I came up with!!!

The door organizer I bought a couple of years ago and stash most of my baking supplies in. Such a great space saver!

We put a little portable pantry inside of our main pantry for our daughter’s “stuff”. This holds her snacks, dishes, bibs, etc., as well as extra napkins, paper plates, cups, etc.

Flours and sugars storage (Ross)…

More baking supplies. I also used some old Tupperware I already had to save some money!

This is where the sorting took place. One basket for various oils, one for the miscellaneous stuff, another I labeled “sauces” for things like ketchup, syrups, peanut butter, etc. (Dollar Store).

The yellow basket I already had and in it are all of our “drink” items. Coffee parts, sweeteners, teas, hot chocolates, juice packets, etc.

The next shelf up holds most of our “snacks” and ” boxed goods.” That little space saver on the end is from Walmart. MmMmM Cheetos, a pregnant mama’s sinful snack.

A little basket for our spices (already had), canisters for our pasta (Ross), and a great space saver for canned goods (Walmart).

Canisters for our oats and oatmeal (Walmart) and cereal containers from Ross. The little bin on the end I already had and use that for garbage bags, tinfoil, Saran Wrap, etc.

Up above are the items we don’t use every day and they are out of our rambunctious toddlers’ reach!

The end product!!! It’s not magazine-worthy, but it works great for me and I actually enjoy putting our food away now. The husband is pretty pleased, too! AND, I am able to put our groceries away in a matter of minutes and know just where everything is. Hallelujah! (And the angels continue to sing…)