Tell me if this is you..
You plan to make pasta for dinner.
You come home from work; start dinner only to discover you don’t have any pasta.
OK plan B you can make what????? You can’t find anything. There are cans, boxes, bags and containers in a mish mash.
You are sure you bought some mussels. Great you can make mussels marinara. Where are they? You just have to find them; they should be in the freezer. Nope there are not any mussels. Lots of chicken, but you don’t have time to make chicken.
In a rush you order pizza instead and go to the grocery store after dinner, soccer and dance.
Budget and diet blown!
Tired, rushed and frazzled you go to the grocery store to buy food. But you don’t know what you have or what you need. You know you don’t have pasta. By the way last week you favorite store had pasta on sale.
I ask this because this has happened to all of us. But if you organize your pantry you can save money and time.
Time because you will be able to see at a glance what is running low and know what you have.
Money because if you know you are low on something you can purchase it on sale. Did you know grocery stores run sales on a cycle? They do. Soda is always on sale near a holiday in the summer months. Sugar is always on sale near thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter because of the holiday baking.
OK lets talk about organizing your pantry. Think about what you use.
If you will take a little bit of time now you can save time later. I reorganized my pantry in less than 1 hour.
One shelf for canned goods. Put like items together in a row try to put the newest cans in the rear. Boxes on another row and so on.
Also keep your cereals and other frequently used items in airtight clear containers to keep them fresh and to easily see when you are running low.
I have an Ikea cart that holds my potatoes and onions. When I am ready to cook I roll the cart over to the sink to wash and peel. Also, I don’t have to search the bottom of my pantry to find the lost rotten potato that is stinking up the place.
I also have a running shopping list. When I open the last jar of mayo I put mayo on the list. I can then watch for a sale and not run out.
Here is a link from Your Own Home Store showing grocery sale cycles. Grocery Sale Cycle
I love your comments.
#dinner #pantry #organize, #grocery #momslife #beeorganized #overwhelmed #disorganized #family #realmom #motherhood # truelife; #mom #kids
I like the running grocery list. I will have to adopt that.
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That works. I do it on my phone because I always have my phone with me. Nothing worse than forgetting the list.
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Loved this! It is absolutely spot on !
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Thank you.
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Ok, I don’t have a walk in pantry, but I have a large area with deep shelves and a pull out organizer.
My issue is the depth of the shelves. I barely use the available space because items placed towards the back are difficult to see and reach. So, everything’s kind of stacked in the front of the space.
I’m in the process of trying to figure out a way to utilize all that generous space and get it organized.
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How about pull out shelf’s or pull out basket racks?
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That’s a good idea.
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I WISH I had a pantry. What I do have are two shelving units with doors that i put up over the laundry equipment. They are deep and wide so they work well as a pantry. I do have it organized extremely well though and found some cola stackers at a dollar store to use for all my veggies. These are lovely clear plastic items where a can rolls towards the front ..canned veggies fit beautifully one these. I simply put the newest items on the top (it’s a 2 shelf unit) and they roll down the back to the front of the bottom unit. I never use the newest items first this way. I also, since I live in a 1901 cottage with NO CLOSETS have multiple cabinets throughout the house for storing items away from sight. I have one in the corner of the kitchen that I use with all my stackable plastic bins.
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Suze, you are amazing. Love your organizational ingenuity.
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My issue is the height of the shelves: my SO puts ingredients he sees I haven’t used in some time up on high (where he sees them but I don’t 🙂 ) and at that point I totally forget about them for years… I’m so glad I decided to follow your blog, apart from the regular great advice, you also make me laugh at my obvious non-organized mindset haha …. With your help we’ll slowly but surely turn that around, right?
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Thanks Bea. I am glad too. I am vertically challenged I have a step stool in my pantry. I might suggest Rev-A-Shelf’s Pull-Down Shelving System for your upper shelves.
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I only wish I HAD a pantry.
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This is me all the time now ever since baby no.2 came along I can’t organise or plan my shopping properly. I will have to take your advice on using a running shopping list.
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It really does help.
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