Pantry Procedure

Organizing a pantry is not that easy, and keeping one stocked is even more challenging. My husband built this pantry for me 26 years ago, and for the first time I have done a complete cleanout. Emptied it, shelves washed, all surfaces painted, items consolidated where possible, and voila! Happy me. A few suggestions that help me:

1. If an item is taken out of the pantry, immediately the item is put on the grocery list and replaced next visit to grocery.

2. Utilize Rubbermaid turntables. These have been in existence for decades. I had several but have added several more. Best price I found was at Lowe's. Also, run those oldies through the dishwasher. You will be amazed.

3. Arrange canned goods with a bit of order. This time I arranged my cans left to right like this: tomatoes; twin turntable of canned soup/rotel & pimientoes & tomato paste & sauce; 2nd twin turntable with tuna & water chestnuts/mandarin oranges (stock item for a particular grandchild); peanut butter; beans and anything else. My hope is that by arranging this way, perhaps my brain can remember if I am low or out of something when I am at the store and have a sudden inspiration to cook an item not on my list.
4. Pegboard: If you have an area that cannot accomodate shelves, using pegboard is another way to organize your stuff. This time I did a little shopping to see if there were any improvements in hooks in 26 years. For sure: Walmart had a BULKPACK assortment. Rusty could even do some organizing in his shop. ( He is not excited). My favorite new hooks are the 4" ones which have taken care of 5-6 rolls of various types of tape, cord, and string. This tape rearrangement has freed up a substantial amount of room in my utility drawer by hanging tape on the pegboard.

4. Line shelves with "DUCK" brand shelf liner. It will keep your surfaces looking nicer longer. I did not do this the first time, so my shelves were rather disgusting.

5. Recycled plastic peach baskets are helpful to keep those pesky but necessary little packages of things tidy AND together: Lipton Onion Soup Mix, Crystal Light, Jello, Good Seasons Italian Dressing Mix, Knorr Spinach Dip, yeast. More baskets used for chocolate chips/baking chocolate/ grandchildren chocolate/HONEY's chocolate. More baskets used for cocktail napkins.

I actually have some WHITE space on several shelves now. That makes me very happy. I wonder how long I can keep it this way.