The Pantry- Project:Simplify

This week’s hot spot was already on my to-do list: the pantry! I actually clean out the pantry on a regular basis (although it’s how to tell from my before picture!) so I didn’t need to throw anything out, just need to reorganize everything. What I REALLY have been needing to organize/clean out was our lazy susan. It is where all of our spices live and is just a mess.

I did the pantry in a short amount of time. I put things back on the correct shelves and in their proper spots. Basically the bottom shelf contains all cooking wines and vinegars, canned goods and teas. The middle shelf is all of my husband’s baking items. The top shelf is for all bagged items (like dry beans, pasta, etc.), boxes and canisters. I have the bread items up there as well.

The lazy susan I did in one afternoon. I took everything out so I could clean off the shelves which were pretty yucky with spilled spices. Once the shelves were all nice and clean, I put all of my husband’s baking supplies back (mostly fondant tubs) and then set to work looking through the spices. Most were still okay to use but some were expired so I threw those out. I separated them into spices used for baking and cooking and then made a list of all of the spices we had along with expiration dates. I put these on little post-it’s and stuck it on the inside of the cabinet. Hopefully this will make it easier when I’m menu planning to see what I have on hand. I found 2 of 3 or 4 spices. Oops!

I didn’t need to clean out the fridge because I just took all of the shelves out a week or so okay and cleaning them in the sink. I routinely go through the food, weekly pretty much. Since we grocery shop once a week, and meal plan that way as well, we generally have a pretty empty refrigerator by Sunday so it’s easy to see anything that needs to get tossed if I missed something during the week.

How about you? Does your pantry need a makeover? Tell me about it in the comments. One week left of Project: Simplify!