Summer Series 2019: Week 2

Week 1 can be found HERE.

Here we are at week 2 in our summer series and the first question we’re going to answer is, where to store our pantry items?  This is a good place to start with our questions because before we talk about what to store and how to store, we’ve got to have a place to store it.

Many of us don't have an official pantry room, or a basement, or a cellar or any other type of large area that could be designated as a pantry.  What are we supposed to do?  Where are we supposed to put our pantry items?  Does this mean we can’t have a pantry?

No, it doesn’t!  I personally do not have any of these; in fact, my entire house is only 925 sq feet!  But I haven’t let that stop me, what it means though, is that I’ve had to get creative.

The first thing I did was to declutter my house with a heavy hand.  I have very few things in my house that don’t serve a purpose.  I have very few knick-knacks and do-dads (I do have some sentimental items.).

Bottom line, the clutter had /has to go!

Some things I have done, or am using are …

… baskets to put vacuum sealed items in such as dehydrated foods, small food packages, etc.  These baskets are incorporated into my décor.

… sturdy bookcases turned pantry shelves.  You could add doors to the bookcases if you wanted to hide what was on your shelves but personally, I find shelves of food filled jars a beautiful site that goes well with my farmhouse décor.

… sliding bins that store under the bed.   You can store 5 lb bags of flour, meal, etc in these bins.  (Don’t forget to put the flour, meal, etc in the freezer for a few days to keep any insect eggs from hatching.)  Once my flour, meal, etc is out of the freezer, I let it come to room temperature, wrap it in cling wrap several times and add it to a bin.

… furniture pieces that can be emptied of  ‘stuff’ and filled with pantry items.  I have an old pie safe and an old jelly cupboard that are homes to beautifully canned items.  What about dresser drawers, they can easily become places to store pantry items once they're decluttered and emptied out.

… under the kitchen and bathroom sinks are also good storage places for smaller lidded bins.  Just think of what pantry related items you could store in those.  You might even have room to stack one on top of the other giving you more storage space to work with.

… closets that can have shelving added to it and used as a mini-pantry.  We have a small 2½ foot by 2½ foot closet that we did this too.  You’ll be surprised how much you can get in an area this small.

… lower kitchen cabinets are great places to store pantry items.  That’s what we’ve done.  We’ve left the upper ones for dishes, cookware, etc, but the lower ones, well, they are now part of our pantry storage system.

… the floor of closet's are a good place for short, lidded bins.  Don't forget about shelving in the top of the closet either, lidded plastic bins or baskets will work there too.

These are a few of the things we do or have done, but I had to be willing to let go of the ‘stuff’ and clutter before I could utilize these areas.

By doing these things, we've been able to keep the size pantry we want organized and ready for use.

Okay, now it’s your turn, what are your answers to this question? 

Until next time, 

patsi      

Sharing 42 years' experience of frugal living and pantry building (if you include my frugal childhood, well that would add a few more years to my experience!)

A Working Pantry

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