Pantry Overhaul

So, my project for Labor Day was to totally clean out and reorganize the pantry. It was a HUGE mess. As you can see by these two pictures.

I pulled everything (well, almost everything) out and checked expiration dates. I think the oldest I found was 2003. Pretty embarrassing that. Stuff that was expired was of course thrown out. Stuff that was close to expiring, and I knew I wouldn’t use in time went into a box for a local charity. Also into the charity box went random stuff that was bought for a recipe I never made. You know what I mean – the three cans of tomato soup that were supposed to go in something and now you can’t remember what. Below is what my counter looked like at one point.
Not long after I took the above picture, I ended up going to the hospital to be with my friend Katie. So, when I came home that night, that lovely sight was waiting for me. It took me several days to get to where I had hoped to be at the end of Monday night. But, I am now done.

Now so pretty…..

I got the awesome brown baskets at Walmart in the seasonal area. They are nice and deep and hold lots. I used one to hold all the chips that took up half the shelf before. I used another one to hold all the different kind of baking chips, and yet another to hold the various lunch boxes that we have.
I used the top shelves that I (short person) have to use a step stool to reach to put baskets of all my paper goods – one for paper plates, one for paper cups, and one for party napkins. The VERY top shelf (that you can’t see in these pictures) holds all the storage containers I use when I bake during the holidays.
The MOST exciting part and a major goal of the operation was to get the floor clean and have no storage on the floor. Success!!!

So, what do you do to organize your pantry?

9 thoughts on “Pantry Overhaul

  1. I am in a pantry clean out mode. I've decided to try and plan from the pantry for the next couple weeks. Thanks for your inspiration to clean things up!

  2. OK, I love that I'm not the only person who uses a label maker to label stuff in their pantry.Great job! I am in the process of saving my pennies for a storage solution from The Container Store (aka my happy place!) that will help us utilize some of the "dead" space in our pantry.You've made me excited about getting that project crossed off my list!

  3. Beth – I too am trying to cook from the pantry. And then NOT FILL IT BACk up. Except for awesome deals of course.Allison – check out Walmart before you totally go full container store. If you look at the bottom picture, you'll see these clear containers with the blue lock things. They are FABULOUS and from Walmart. The plastic is even pretty thick. I will be getting more of those and they have them in MANY sizes.

  4. Wow! Looks awesome! You really got rid of a lot of stuff and are well organized. I need to tackle some storage closets myself.

  5. Label maker and containers. Sigh. Three words that make my heart sing. Pantry looks great. My equivalent project is my hall closet!I too love the bin collections at Walmart. But I do occasionally think to myself as I'm buying one that hmmm, this is a "rich people" problem…buying stuff to hold my stuff…

  6. Pingback: Pantry Challenge Goals « h o u s e o f h i l l s

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