My Kitchen Pantry

As embarrassing as this is, I have to show you the “before” picture of my kitchen pantry.  How do things get this messy?  It became the room that we just tossed stuff in.  You couldn’t even walk inside.  Moan. After hanging onto the door frame and stretching long and reaching in, nearly breaking my neck, I decided it was time to clean it.

Here is the “after”:

Ok. So I’m a little giddy over this.  I threw out all the expired food (2013, really?) and donated all the “near” expiration dates and those items I had multiples of (way too many garbanzo beans).

I finally sorted and organized piles of recipes I had cut out of magazines or printed off the internet. Years ago, when I was swamped with 3 little children, I hired my friend Linda to sort and organize my recipes.  She created these fabric covered binders which I use ALL the time.

All the food items are now organized alphabetically.

Shelves are labeled so hopefully, other family members will know where things are located.

I reduced my cookbook collection significantly, only keeping those I use or cherish.

Cleaning out this room made me realize we don’t need to buy Ziploc bags for a long time!

Beverages are now organized and in one place.

My sweet husband polished all the copper Martha Stewart cookie cutters I purchased long ago.  The salami and cheese ball are fake, but fun to use when staging for a party.  The miniature utensil rack was a gift I received several years ago from my sister, Joanie.

There are 9 foot ceilings in our home and I used the upper sections for hanging large platters that don’t seem to fit anywhere else.

The original pantry had one door that unfortunately would swing right into the adjacent door to the basement.  We resolved that by putting in two narrow swing doors with metal mesh screens.

Since I am not cooking on a daily basis for a large family, my husband and I decided to be more European and buy things as we need them.

I was inspired to clean this out after seeing one of those amazing pantries on Instagram.  As much as I sometimes complain about too much screen time, technology does have its benefits.

Have a wonderful week!