I suppose we can file this under "My Exciting Life" because I mean, obviously this is how I CHOSE to spend 2.5 hours of my day off this morning...
My husband, God love him, seemingly cannot help himself when it comes to over-buying dry goods and recognizing that our storage space for such items is finite. I shouldn't complain as he does all the grocery shopping and cooking. And I appreciate every single bit of that; I do.
But...
The state of our pantry was deplorable. It was dark and crowded with stuff crammed in everywhere.
Well, the only reason it was dark is because there was so much stuff crammed in there that we couldn't reach the light switch. The one we keep forgetting we have because there is just SO MUCH stuffed into this little closet.
A good blogger would have had a "before picture" - I am not a good blogger. Instead, I grabbed the step stool and jumped in head first.
I surmised that some of the "systems" I set in place were not being used properly and were just taking up valuable real estate. So I removed the organizer for the freezer bags, foil, cling wrap, etc. I also removed the cute, little container that was supposed to hold his tea bags. He never used the cute, little container. Instead, he would just set a box of tea ON TOP of said container. *sigh*
I set about re-organizing what I could and making notes for possible solutions. And now, here is where I introduce the evidence, if you will, of just how much this pantry is over-stocked, while cautioning you to keep in mind that there are only TWO of us living in this house.
- 11 cans of artichoke hearts
- 7 unopened boxes of rice
- 2 boxes of opened rice
- 5 unopened jars of peanut butter; 2 of which expire this year
- 2 jars of peanut butter (to be fair, one is crunchy and one is creamy)
- 13 cans of tuna
- 16 cans of clams - 5 are minced and 11 are baby clams
- 3 opened bags of corn meal
- Too many cans of tomatoes (diced, crushed, paste, whatever) to count
- Ditto for the pasta, bagged rice and beans
- Far too many bags of chips/snacks. Most of which just held stale crumbles (those were tossed)
I do love peanut butter but even I can't possibly be expected to eat 2 extra jars before the year is up. I have decided to whip up a BUNCH of peanut butter cookie batter to freeze and request that chicken dish he makes with some peanut sauce to fix that problem.
As for the tuna - which we haven't had in forever - I guess we need to start having tuna salad for lunch more often.
He likes to claim that "in the event of an emergency, we won't go hungry." And he's right; we won't. But we are sure going to get tired of eating pasta, peanut butter, clams, tuna and artichoke hearts in a hurry.
Here's the "after" photos; which still look like a hot mess.
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Love this! You did a great job and it looks bright and neat and organized.
ReplyDeletePantries are a tricky dynamic in relationships, clearly. My husband loves to see a full pantry and fridge, and it makes me feel squeamish. I LOVE opening the door to an almost-empty fridge and he hates it. When he travels for work (regularly), I try to use everything up so I have a near-empty fridge while he's gone. And then I send him to the grocery store for 2 things and he comes home with 20 things. We also have an upstairs pantry (quite small) and then have shelves in our basement for overflow. I want basically everything to go to the basement, but my husband hates the extra step of shuttling things up and downstairs - it's good exercise, I say! - and likes to see a full pantry. Again, when he's out of town, I surreptitiously move things downstairs so the pantry looks much less cluttered.
I love tuna and would gladly take your 13 cans because we use several cans a week. Same with peanut butter.
You lost me at artichoke hearts. I have never bought a single can in my life.
I also have a "Tea" canister and I do use mine and love it. My husband bought it at the DollarStore a few years ago as part of my Christmas gifts and I absolutely love having something dedicated to holding various and sundry individually packaged tea bags.
Also, that is a lot of clams!!!
No kidding that's a lot of clams! I'm more curious about the artichoke hearts though...
DeleteI think it looks great! And now you know you have plenty of survival food when the Apocalypse hits! We have much less than you have, but then again, we don't stockpile much, not having the space.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is we DON'T have the space. But if it's on sale, it's on his radar...if we need it or not.
DeleteOooh! I like a good organization project. My pantry is currently very organized, as I'm preparing to list our house for sale at the end of the month. Nothing like a hard deadline to get a person moving! But I did realize during the pandemic that I was just overbuying things when they were available. I have really gotten better at that, but currently have four jars of vegan mayonnaise, so maybe not perfect.
ReplyDeleteI love an organization project too - in fact, I keep opening the door just to revel in how tidy it is - for now. His over-buying has been going on well before the pandemic - but I'm sure that didn't help the matter.
DeleteYou did a great job considering the volume of food you had to deal with. Ours used to be an overstuffed mess as well. BUT last year we had pantry moths. If you’ve never heard of them you are so lucky and I hope you don’t. They generally come home from the grocery store in flour or other dried goods. It’s a nightmare to get rid of them! I had to discard all open packages. Wash everything else and after 6 months finally brought in a fumigator. Now all my dried good go into the freezer when I bring them home (3 days) then are stored in sealed glass jars. So it’s a neat today space with all the lovely jars lined up and labelled. I never want to go through that again!!
ReplyDeleteUgh, I have heard of pantry moths and hopefully we will somehow avoid ever getting them (or ants!). If I had my way, everything would be decanted into sealed containers but he absolutely refuses claiming then we don't know how old everything is (insert eye-roll here).
DeleteI laughed at this, because it sounds very familiar! We have SO MANY boxes of pasta in our pantry -- and we don't even really eat pasta! Several of the boxes have maybe a third of the box left, and I cannot and will not eat combined shapes. I need my bowl of pasta to have ONE shape.
ReplyDeleteThe artichoke hearts are so funny! I wonder what rarely-used ingredient is hanging around my pantry, waiting for me to never use it?
The photos you shared look very neat and tidy. Good work!
I totally get not wanting to eat combined shapes of pasta; it seems unappealing for some reason. What I can't understand is how we have five or more boxes/bags of the exact same shape of pasta for each type.
DeleteI also concur on the depravity of mixing pasta shapes. But maybe the stockpile makes sense, considering the empty store shelves that happened a few times during the pandemic!
DeleteI buy artichoke hearts for a Mediterranean chicken sheet pan meal, but even I only have two jars at a time.
ReplyDeleteHaving a well-stocked pantry and freezer makes me feel good. I like that feeling of preparedness and choice. I do end up a bit overstocked on some things now and again, but I manage to get balanced. I have a small house, so my pantry is in the basement. That makes it hard sometimes to keep an eye on what I've got. If I were truly organized, I'd keep an inventory. (That's not going to happen.) You did a terrific job.
I agree that a well-stocked pantry/freezer is a must; but there has to be line drawn somewhere. And he continually steps over that line.
DeleteI try to keep our pantry tidy, but it's somewhat of a losing battle in my experience. I did read a helpful hint about something that had never dawned on me before: only use bins with straight sides because they can nestle up beside each other closely whereas the bins with sloped sides create some empty space on the shelf. Since I bought straight-sided plastic bins, life has been more organized... at least in the pantry.
ReplyDeleteNow that is a GREAT tip! I never thought of that either.
DeleteMy pantry is NOT perfect. I organize it from time to time. The thing that still happens regularly is that someone will eat the last, say, protein bar and then neglect to throw the empty box away. Mind blowing. We have a light in ours too, and I often forget about using it. The doors to our pantry are often left open, which I don't enjoy. I don't have a system except for a plastic bag holder that is a total mess/doesn't attach properly to the wall anymore. Otherwise, I keep the boxes of cereal on one shelf and the boxes of bars on another. They lie on their sides and we rip open the top. so they are all nesteld in together. When they are emptied out, I'm apparently the only one capable of rebuilding the 'wall' of nestled boxes.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with that peanut butter surplus.
As long as we live with other people, I think the state of our pantries are all going to be in a state of chaos for much of the time.
DeleteMy pantry is in pretty good shape right now but that's only because I cleaned it out a couple of weeks ago! I think the lazy susans are a great idea! I have a couple in our fridge and they are very helpful!
ReplyDeleteGood to know, Beth! I was wondering if they would work better than the bins.
DeleteYou did an excellent job, in my opinion. I also forget to take a before picture, so I completely understand.
ReplyDeleteBecause our pantry is small and has wire shelving, everything falls through the gaps. Of course, we've never changed it, and it's been this way since we moved in in 2005. I used to enjoy organizing things, but as I've gotten older, I've lost the motivation I once had, which is disheartening.
I get it Kari. But I find once I start on an organizing project, I can usually find the will to push through. And you just gave me an idea for a future post - so thank you!
DeleteI had a giggle at all the artichokes. Was there a shortage at some point? Are they rare? 😳
ReplyDeleteWe don't have a real pantry. We used to, but when we redid our kitchen with a more streamlined, open feel I lost it. I was worried it would be terrible, but I use three large drawers and since there's only two of us, I keep things to a minimum. There's no room for a hoarding possibility. Best of luck Gigi!
I love this post! I actually have a post in the works very similar to this, as I too have a lot of pantry items! I also did what you did and kind of inventoried everything (and lined them up in the cupboards so I could see what I still have) and then have been trying to make meals based on what I need to use up! I guess it is easy to just grab the same groceries every time you go to the store, or in my case, if it is on sale, I will grab a few! I told my friends during the pandemic that I could have survived (and still can) for at least three months on the food that I already have in my kitchen, not to mention a box in the garage full of camping foods (instant potatoes, rice, soups, etc.) It is both overwhelming and comforting, if that makes sense!
ReplyDeleteFor organizers, I just try to keep things in the same area by category but I have seen some good clear plastic bins that I would probably use if my pantry were bigger. I do use a bunch of clear plastic tubs in the garage, and I like being able to see what is inside without having to take the lid off. While the ones in the pantry would be lidless, I still think clear is the way to go. I do have a bunch of clear jars that I keep most of my dry goods in, and that has worked well for me.
Organizing is my favorite thing ever. And yet, my cabinets are chaos. To be fair, I have a TINY kitchen and we go through everything very fast. For spices, the best thing ever has been the holders that attach to the back side of the doors. I have a lot of vacuumed sealed canisters for pastas etc. that hold multiple boxes. Because our cabinets are so small I cycle through them often. If something's expiring in a few months it goes to the food pantry.
ReplyDelete