Organizing the Pantry

No real menu plan this week... tonight J is making some chicken dish and later this week he's making spaghetti fritattas. Should be interesting. It's always nice when he has a work break, because he gets a lot done around here and cooks. :D He's very good about getting stuff done, esp. chores and cleaning the house... Me, not so much!! I need to be motivated and do better when someone else is doing it too.

So I try to get some cleaning and picking up done while he is out mowing the lawn. It's a very good motivator - he's out there working and sweating and I'm here sitting like a blob lol Ok, guilt. So on Sunday while he was out mowing the lawn, I finally tackled my pantry. As you can see below, it is tiny. And all of my spices were on several shelves, just buried and a mess. It was so hard to find them, and items would topple out as I was rummaging around. I have been looking for a spice rack for awhile but hadn't found anything that would work.

BEFORE

So as an easy solution,  I bought a plastic box on clearance at Target to put my spices in, so I could quickly find them when I needed them. I was so worried about the sides being high enough that I didn't think about the length... yup it was too long and didn't fit LOL Luckily, we had a smaller box in the give away pile that worked!

AFTER

Now, all of my frequently used spices are in one place, so I can just pull the box out and have them all there. And my baking stuff - sprinkles, extracts and baking cups, etc - are all together in one spot up top. I also took all of the free samples and single use packages and envelopes that were all over and put them in the plastic jar in the bottom. So much nicer and neater and easier to see what is in stock!!