The Pantry Project!

After the office was in order, it was time to tackle the "oh so scary" Pantry!!! This is what it looked like before I decided it was time to do the overhaul. Once again I did extensive research (in a wonderful and perfect little world called Pinterest), and then drew a sketch of how I thought it should be organized best. The most important thing for me is practicality. So I decided to divide the pantry into 3 sections. The "Breakfast" shelf, the "Lunch" shelf, and the "Dinner" shelf! I know, its like rocket science! ;)

The baking goods would go in a separate cabinet all together because to be honest I do not bake very often, and when I do my family just smiles and pretends to enjoy the goodies. So the baking stuff was going to move to a far away place where I would not be confronted with the fact that I am not a good at it. ;) But I digress, the next thing to do was to clean it out!!

After I went through each box and threw out expired, and non-utilized goods, I began categorizing each item into these 10 categories:Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Salty snacks, Sweet snacks,Baking, Baby food, Fruit, Drinks, and Cans. Once that was done, it was time to organize it all!!

I Found all the organizational products I needed at Target. The day I went they had their wicker baskets on clearance, and great tin and wire baskets in their dollar section. I was totally stoked about that!

Canned goods-categorized, broths and powdered drinks.

I wanted a place where the kiddos would have easy access to fruit! So I created this space on the bottom section of the pantry where little hands could reach in and grab some fruit whenever they wanted. 

The baking lazy susan! The hubby installed this for me in a deep corner of our kitchen that I don't visit much! ;)

I used chalkboard cut-out labels that I had purchased a few months back from World Market in San Antonio, and a bistro chalk pen from Hobby Lobby (my new favorite way to label things these days), to label each container/basket. The very top shelf houses items we don't use much like hot chocolate packets, and the shelf below that, is the breakfast one, then the dinner shelf, followed by the lunch shelf.The drawer has all of our paper goods like napkins,paper plates, cups, and utensils.

A closer look. I have deep shelves so I had to utilize the space as much as I could. For example behind the rice and noodles is more pasta, and cracker containers.

Ta-Da!!! The final product! It has been about 3 weeks since I completed this project and it has been working wonderfully! It has made grocery shopping, and meal planning so much easier since I can actually SEE everything I have! As soon as I arrive from a trip to the grocery store, I empty boxes and place items in their proper container. Doing this has forced me to keep things tidy and in order. It does take a little longer to unpack the groceries, but in the end it saves me so much time when Im searching for the foods I need! And that's what it's all about for busy mommas- saving time on these types of things to enjoy the more important things in life-and that is one of the many reasons I love to organize! :)