Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Pantry makeover

Over the weekend, I came across my new favourite blog: The Prudent Homemaker (see previous blog for website). I was inspired by her pantry. It got me thinking about our pantry, or lack thereof. Those who have lived in an apartment know that space in very, very limited and apartment dwellers have to get creative when it comes to using that space. We were using our utility room as a pantry, but in the November we got a washer and dryer (oh happy, happy day!) and the things in the pantry had to be distributed to various cupboards. My cupboards were a mess. But there was no way I would give up my washer and dryer just to have my pantry back. Instead, I took a couple of hours yesterday and organized my cupboards. I feel so much better now! My cupboards are manageable and organized. I was amazed by what I found. Because I couldn't see what I had, I would buy more of something, without knowing that I already had one (or several!) in my cupboards. I have 4 bottles of Italian salad dressing! Who needs that much salad dressing? I couldn't fit everything in our cupboards but I found space in our closet for some canned goods. Here are some before and after pictures (I have no idea how to put them side-by-side. Sorry).


Before: My baking cupboard. Things were stuffed in wherever they would fit. Baking was a pain because it took so long to find what I needed.


After: I don't know if you see a big difference, but I can! I found that I have 13 packages of pudding. Don't ask me why. I use pudding once, maybe twice a year.




Before: This is our food storage/cereal cupboard. As you can see, a complete disaster! It is a deep cupboard, and I found the salad dressings hiding at the very back.




After: Now I can open the cupboard and immediately see what is in there.

Our new food storage cupboard!

2 comments:

SeƱora H-B said...

We keep a lot of our food storage in our coat closet. We put a bookshelf in there to hold pasta and canned goods. I just bought a coat rack to hang on the outside of the door because I realized our coats would end up on the floor if I didn't. So far, it's working great.

I'm with you on finding random junk at the back of cabinets. What am I going to do with 8 boxes of generic chocolate pudding?

Ambler Fam said...

Way to go!! I have to do this like every time I go shopping ha ha to keep it looking so organized.. I love it though!