Your Pantry

[Norm Matthews]

I was going to say I don't have a pantry but I guess I do after all. One is over the stove, one in a corner shelf, one over the main prep area next to the sink and one for mostly baking stuff.

[MokaPot]

I store a lot of pantry stuff in my fridge. Most recently, re-organized my fridge door (condiments shelves). Went kind of overboard with the Tabasco sauce. I use the empty Tabasco bottles to put in other stuff like vinegar.

 

 

 

 

[heidih]

1 hour ago, MokaPot said:

I store a lot of pantry stuff in my fridge. Most recently, re-organized my fridge door (condiments shelves). Went kind of overboard with the Tabasco sauce. I use the empty Tabasco bottles to put in other stuff like vinegar.

 

 

I love glass and bottles but how the heck do you put  new liquids in the tiny neck of Tabasco one?

[andiesenji]

My pantry is in utter chaos right now.  I stocked up on some necessary supplies that needed to be replenished chucked out a bunch of old stuff and began reorganizing.  I lifted a couple of heavy flour containers and felt a brief catch in my lower back and then tried to shift a tub on s bottom shelf that contains bottles of fruit syrups and wine I use for cooking.  Another tweak to my back and a few minutes later I had pain.  

I had to leave off trying to put stuff back where it belongs, just moved whatever I could from my baking bench to the shelves and so it has remained for several days.  

I have only done necessary baking, so haven't had to hunt for anything but it looks awful to me as I like to be organized.

[weinoo]

1 hour ago, andiesenji said:

My pantry is in utter chaos right now.  I stocked up on some necessary supplies that needed to be replenished chucked out a bunch of old stuff and began reorganizing.  I lifted a couple of heavy flour containers and felt a brief catch in my lower back and then tried to shift a tub on s bottom shelf that contains bottles of fruit syrups and wine I use for cooking.  Another tweak to my back and a few minutes later I had pain.  

I had to leave off trying to put stuff back where it belongs, just moved whatever I could from my baking bench to the shelves and so it has remained for several days.  

 

 

Be careful! And I feel your pain.

[gfweb]

My multifocal pantry.

Note the 30 year old "compact" fluorescent light bulb

 

 

 

Edited June 19, 2020 by gfweb (log)

[andiesenji]

When I said my pantry is in chaos, here is what I mean. Everything is jumbled together, and all the individual things have to be pulled out, sorted and put back where they belong.

My flour containers are stacked on the floor in front of my spice cabinet that has my ceramic baking dishes in the lower cupboard so I can't get at them, because the shelf that holds all the big Cambro containers is full or other stuff that has to be sorted and put back where they belong. Some belong in the freezer (whole grains and whole grain flours and etc.

It's frustrating, I stand and stare at it, wondering where to start but right now I can't shift anything until my back stops complaining.

 

 

 

 

[scamhi]

this is my Florida condo "pantry"

Flour and pine nuts, hazel nuts and flax seed meal all get kept in the freezer

[heidih]

OK missy! who lives near ya? This is a community right?

[Smithy]

1 hour ago, heidih said:

OK missy! who lives near ya? This is a community right?

 

Yes, I wish I lived near enough to @andiesenji to come help!  Although I'm certainly no paragon of organization - faaar from it - I could shift things while she pointed.

 

@scamhi, I envy your cupboards; one could actually find something in them! 

 

One can find things in my pantries too, provided one knows to look for them in the first place. That means my Other Half asks me rather than looking.  Here's our in-house mess, as opposed to in-the-garage mess (a refrigerator and freezer) or in-the-trailer mess (more dry goods).

 

Spices, oils, vinegars, live on a turntable:

 

 

More spices, a few canisters of bulk-buy items:

 

 

Crackers, cereal, things like panko and bread crumbs:

 

 

A cupboard of mostly canned goods we regularly use:

 

 

The unopened stuff, and more bulk purchases, and the home-canned goods that will fit all go into what we call the Armageddon Mini-Mart:

 

 

Alas, the Mini-Mart is now overflowing so there's more stuff in an adjacent bedroom with extra cookware and most of my cookbooks. There's half a flat of last year's salsa sitting in jars in there. And then there's the aforementioned garage.

 

No, I am no paragon.

[KennethT]

On 6/16/2020 at 4:26 PM, heidih said:

 Bit of mess just shows creativity

 

If that's true then I must be a creative genius!

[weinoo]

 

Neatest part of my pantry is the spice drawer. At the present time the rest is, how shall I say it, a fucking mess.

Edited June 20, 2020 by weinoo (log)

[blue_dolphin]

I'm hoping that posting these photos will give me a nudge to sort things out and post some "afters."  

My main pantry lives behind these doors and has become ridiculously overcrowded.  Luckily, it's all hidden from the casual visitor....well, it would be if I had casual visitors anymore! 

To the left, in the photo above, in the adjacent family room, you can see a buffet that I currently use for liquor, cocktail glasses, etc.  If I can find another place for that stuff, I could use it for auxiliary kitchen storage.  My Paragon induction burner and Phillips grill could live in there, along with some plastic bins or tubs of baking ingredients.   Let's see if I can do something about that.

 

Below, you can see the overcrowding.  

I'm pretty sure that every section contains some thing that doesn't belong so I really need to pull everything out and get it back in order.   When taking this photo, I spied a can of pineapple juice in the wrong place.  It's something I've been looking for but sadly had a best-by date in 2014 🙄

On the left side, the top shelf has large bottles of vinegar.  Going down from there on the pull-out sections:  1. pasta,  2. more pasta with canned tomatoes, 3. vinegars (I recently counted 25 🙄)  4. sauces,  5. canned and jarred goods, 6. rice, grains & beans

On the right side, the top shelf has 5 lb flour containers.  Going down from there are 1. sugars, honey and sweet baking ingredients,  2. speciality flours & starches, 3. oils and a few vinegars too tall for the the vinegar section,  4.  nut butters, misc baking ingredients,  5. cocktail bitters,  misc canning & pickling supplies, 6. nuts & dried fruits 

Apron hanging at the ready inside the left door.  

 

Here's a photo with a pull-out pulled out:

 

Above the oven is this deep cabinet that's not well used because I can only reach the stuff in the front

Crackers & salty snacks on the top shelf,  cereal & sweet snacks on the bottom.   Both shelves have some random items that belong over in the pantry cabinet but got stashed here due to overcrowding. 

 

I believe we have covered spices before.  This section has only become more overcrowded since I last photographed it.

 

All in all, a rather ridiculous amount of food for one person, no?   The cookbook shelves are also out of control and need either a serious purge or purchase of another book shelf. I justify it all by saying that I don't have too many other hobbies and I have to eat anyway!

 

My house is a 1966 mid-century modern and the kitchen was an unfortunate remodel done in 2009, just before I bought the house.  It's relatively functional but the shaker-style cabinets and the warm red/orange color are completely wrong for the house.  Back up in the first photo, you can see the cooler wood tones of the open wood ceiling and the dark-stained posts and beams that are exposed throughout the house.  I hate that orangey color!  The granite countertops are also not appropriate for the house but their color is less offensive. 

I'd hoped to reface the cabinets with something from Semihandmade but leaving my job early left me without those handy dandy bonus checks that could fund it - darn!  At some point, that fridge is going to die and replacing it may force me to address the cabinets as well.  

 

 

[heidih]

@blue_dolphin  I would happily explore/play in your pantry "as is" 

[Porthos]

18 hours ago, Smithy said:

...  what we call the Armageddon Mini-Mart:

Love the name!

[MokaPot]

2 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

I'm hoping that posting these photos will give me a nudge to sort things out and post some "afters."  

My main pantry lives behind these doors and has become ridiculously overcrowded.  Luckily, it's all hidden from the casual visitor....well, it would be if I had casual visitors anymore! 

To the left, in the photo above, in the adjacent family room, you can see a buffet that I currently use for liquor, cocktail glasses, etc.  If I can find another place for that stuff, I could use it for auxiliary kitchen storage.  My Paragon induction burner and Phillips grill could live in there, along with some plastic bins or tubs of baking ingredients.   Let's see if I can do something about that.

 

 

@blue_dolphin, very advanced storage systems! How about putting a floating shelf above your buffet and storing your liquor there? Your buffet surface would then be clear for auxiliary kitchen storage.

 

[blue_dolphin]

8 minutes ago, MokaPot said:

 

@blue_dolphin, very advanced storage systems! How about putting a floating shelf above your buffet and storing your liquor there? Your buffet surface would then be clear for auxiliary kitchen storage.

 

 

The location would indeed be good for that.  Not sure I could fashion shelving that would be both attractive and earthquake safe and the cats would surely figure the shelves were for them.  And I'd miss the art I currently have in that spot but I do have other options.

 

Behind that pantry/fridge/oven wall is a hallway.  There's a closet with shelves, 3 ft wide, 2 ft deep, aka the linen closet, though I have cat food, light bulbs, tools and all sorts of junk in there but no linens.  That's one option but the deep shelves make it annoying to find bottles in the back.  I have a lot of bottles - as my non-cocktailian, Tito's-drinking brother remarked, "you've got more weird bottles in here than anyone I know, but nothing to actually drink! 🙃

 

But immediately next to that, behind the fridge and oven, lurks another hallway closet that was designed as a laundry closet.  6.5 feet wide by 32 inches deep with low 7 ft ceilings due to ductwork running above..  A previous owner moved the laundry out to the garage but the hookups for water, electricity and gas remain.   I use it for wine storage & mops & brooms but it's not well utilized. If money were free flowing, I'd convert that closet into little wet bar with a wine fridge and an under cabinet ice maker that would allow me to have plenty of ice without hogging up all the freezer space in the kitchen.  

Lacking the funds for that, I can still put some Metro-type shelving in there to accommodate my liquor collection.  It's right around the corner from that buffet, so I can still use the top surface as my cocktail making station. Just need to get my butt in gear and do it!

[weinoo]

I suggest putting your next can of pineapple juice in the back of the cabinet above the oven. That way, you'll remember where it is when it comes time to throw it out!

Edited June 21, 2020 by weinoo (log)

[patti]

Our pantry has gotten more disorganized during the pandemic, which makes no sense, since we’re both at home and have time to organize. 
 

I took some close-ups, but they made me want to go in and arrange things properly, and we can’t have that, so I’m not posting them. 
 

Spices. The rack on the upper shelf can be pulled down for easy access. 
 

 

Oh! We added these door racks during the pandemic, so at least I organized SOMETHING. I had no idea we had three boxes of Morton’s salt till I put them on this rack. 
 

 

 

If I pulled out the four drawers, you’d see that ... well, I’m not pulling them out. 
 

 

 

 

[gulfporter]

One of the big buying points for this house in 2017, was the 4 foot wide, double-door, walk in pantry at one end of the kitchen.   

 

After we bought the house, we rented nearby for a month while we had some renovations done.  During that time we stocked up on hard-to-find items we knew we'd need  having owned a Mexican home before, mostly hardware-type supplies. 

 

Since we came into the house from the garage next to the kitchen, and to stay out of the workers' way, we stashed these supplies in the pantry.  

 

Well, here's what the "pantry" still looks like.  You won't find a lick of food in it, but if you need to borrow an extension cord just give us a call. 

 

 

[kayb]

7 hours ago, patti said:

Our pantry has gotten more disorganized during the pandemic, which makes no sense, since we’re both at home and have time to organize. 
 

I took some close-ups, but they made me want to go in and arrange things properly, and we can’t have that, so I’m not posting them. 
 

Spices. The rack on the upper shelf can be pulled down for easy access. 
 

 

Oh! We added these door racks during the pandemic, so at least I organized SOMETHING. I had no idea we had three boxes of Morton’s salt till I put them on this rack. 
 

 

 

If I pulled out the four drawers, you’d see that ... well, I’m not pulling them out. 
 

 

But don't you LOVE the pull-out shelves? 

 

7 hours ago, patti said:

 

 

[patti]

9 minutes ago, kayb said:

But don't you LOVE the pull-out shelves? 

 

 

Absolutely! We’ve lived in this house for 28 years and the first 23 were with a cramped and poorly functioning kitchen. We remodeled five years ago and it is a pleasure to cook in our new kitchen. The pull-out shelves are a dream.
 

One of  my favorite features of the kitchen, though, is that instead of lower cabinets, I have drawers everywhere except under the sink. 

[ElsieD]

When we moved into our condo, one of the first things we did was install drawers where there used to be cupboards.  We also added more cupboards, sized to what we wanted.  That included vertical spice drawers and a drawer that my breadmaker sits in.  I particularly like that one because I don't have to lug it anywhere.  Just pull it out, use it, and slide it back in.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

We have a small walk-in pantry that is now in its most svelte form as it has been taken over by  pantry moths and we have tossed anything not in glass.    (They eat through plastic as an hors d'oeuvre.)

[ElsieD]

14 minutes ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

We have a small walk-in pantry that is now in its most svelte form as it has been taken over by  pantry moths and we have tossed anything not in glass.    (They eat through plastic as an hors d'oeuvre.)

 

I had those once.  Nasty things.