Pantry Project

I've been wanting to clean out my pantry for a  year when we tidied it last January.  I waited until this year, after my no-buying year, so I could buy some containers.  I tried to shop around and get containers that used the shelf space well and were a better price. I went to the container store, Target, Wal-mart, Homegoods, and Marshalls.  Most of them are from Target & Wal-mart.  Marti helped me measure and map out the pantry so we knew what sizes we would need.  We started to gather containers with the idea we would try a few and return what we didn't like.

Nice autocad map of my pantry with all the measurements made it easy to look for the right size containers and sketch out different sections for breakfast, dinner, baking, appliances, cleaning, cans, snacks etc.

Since it had been a year since a real clean-out and knowing this was coming up, and storing the new containers it was worse than usual for sure!  I guess that is ideal in a before picture!  ;-)

BEFORE- Right side as you come in the door

BEFORE Top shelves on the right side

BEFORE- Wall straight back as you come in the pantry- notice all the new containers sitting on the floor

BEFORE Wall on the left behind the door

BEFORE More of the left wall top shelves

BEFORE

First, on Wednesday, I took everything out and loosely sorted it into categories all over my house.  It was hard to have everything be a wreck for a few days.  It's always shocking how much is in the pantry.  Usually I would organize one shelf at a time to cut down on the chaos. That's why I've never painted it until now, emptying the whole thing is scary!

 Then Matt caulked the baseboards that he installed a few years ago and I cleaned the shelves and painted on Thursday and Friday.  It took 4 hours to put the first coat on and 3 hours to put the 2nd coat on.  I talked to all my sisters, mom, mother-in-law and listened to the book Winter Sea to make it go by more quickly.  Abby and Olly helped me a bit on Thursday afternoon.  Everywhere I went I was covered in paint!  

Marti helped me start to decant things like oatmeal and snacks into bins.  It was impressive how many packages and boxes we threw out in the process that take up extra space.  I did declutter a bunch of food storage that had expired that are not part of our regular menus.  I'm trying for 3-6 months of the meals we usually eat and only the long-term storage that will keep and be eaten.  We need more pantry space as the kids get older and I can't give a whole shelf to things that are expired or not being used.

Here are the AFTERS!

AFTER Back Wall- Bottom shelf appliances, 2nd shelf up snacks (small handle bins from Container Store, sealed snack containers Wal-mart), 3rd shelf up specialty baking, chips, snacks (white wire baskets Target), Top shelf Serving dishes and stockpot- I moved my grandma's china to the cupboard and the juicer parts to a top shelf bin

AFTER- Bottom shelf on right, added oats and cocoa to bins (from Wal-mart), still deciding what I want to do with the cereal. Anyone have cereal bins they love?  So many have tons of wasted space. Bread basket (wire basket from Target)

AFTER- Right side middle shelf canned goods sorted by type- Large pantry bins with higher shelf from Wal-mart $5 each, Turntable with olive oil and popcorn salt, & butter- Homegoods

AFTER- 3rd shelf on the right, Dinner supplies sorted by type, sauces on the 15" turntable- clear containers from Target-$12 each, my priciest ones

AFTER- Top shelf- all Matt's special snacks, cereal, drinks, and appliances- clear bins from Wal-mart $5 each

AFTER- Left behind the door- bottom shelf- dog supplies, cleaning supplies (white baskets from Wal-mart), griddle, 2nd shelf- bread maker, mixes, baking supplies (white wire baskets from Target $8 each), 3rd shelf- baskets with surplus supplies like extra peanut butter, flour, oats, etc. I already had these baskets, may switch out for matching ones later

I made the labels myself with badge holders I already had and brown twine or else laminated with packing tape ;-)  I might try to find a rolling cart or two to go under the shelf to hold snacks or baking supplies so I can wheel it out for Friday movie nights or when we're baking.  So far all the regular rolling carts are 1-2" too tall.

  I made sure I went to costco and the grocery store so I was fully stocked before I started organizing.  You want to make sure it can hold the largest amount you usually have and still be organized.  

I spent a lot of time rearranging things in different containers or different shelves before I took the tag/stickers off. The can shelf was the hardest, I tried 3 different containers before I decided on the ones I did.  I tried to group like things together, things we use most often lower and closer to the door.  The things I use least often at the top, Matt's most often used items are at the top.  I tried to make the shelf directly back and on the right the prettiest and most used items, and the shelf behind the door less-often used, or less attractive while still being organized.

 It makes me so happy to have it done!  I'm hopeful it will stay pretty tidy with only a little clean-out occasionally now that I have better organization in place and got rid of the excess things that were taking up space. 

Whenever I see organizers I follow or pretty pictures of pantries on Pinterest (say that 5x fast!) I was curious how much it costs to do this so I kept track of my expenses.  My items are obviously from the middle of the road Wal-Mart, Target, etc (not dollar store but not container store or other nicer places).  One organizer I follow who chose higher-end containers spent $1,300 on a recent panty project they did!  Yikes!

Here's the price breakdown, it was not cheap.  Using the nicer paint and doing 2 coats added on a lot, but since I hadn't ever painted I wanted to do a good job. What's your estimate for all those containers?  Matt guessed $60- ha!   Time-wise I started on Wednesday afternoon 2/3 and finished painting and putting most of it back by Saturday evening 2/6 but I spent a good chunk of time before and after that going to stores looking at containers and was still rearranging until 2/19.

Pantry Organization 2021			Each	Total
6 Large Pantry Bins	Canned Goods	Wal-mart	4.57	27.42
2 Gallon Jar	Pancake Mix	Wal-Mart	13.97	13.97
2 Canister- 19c,	Snacks, Pasta	Wal-Mart	9.88	19.76
2 Canister- 23 c.	Oats/Cocoa	Wal-Mart	12.38	24.76
4 pc Canister	Craisins, Popcorn, Pasta, rice	Wal-Mart		24.88
2 Med White Baskets	Cleaning Supplies	Wal-Mart	2.97	5.94
4 Large Clean Bins	Matt- top shelf	Wal-Mart	4.87	19.48
Clear Turntable	Oils	Homegoods		7.99
Small Canister-oxo	Baking Soda	Homegoods		4.99
Clean bin	Carn. breakfast	Homegoods		6.99
Broom hook		Target		7.99
White metal mesh basket	Potatoes/Onions	Target	8	8
3 Large White Wire baskets	Baking/Bread	Target	8	24
3 Tall White wire baskets	Chips/ Baking	Target	8	24
2 Shelf Liner		Target	8.99	17.98
Shelf liner		Target		9.99
Large White Turntable	Sauces on diner shelf	Target		10
4 multipurpose clear bins	Dinner shelf	Target	12	48
			Container total	296.26
2 gallons White Dove Paint	2 coats (4 hr-1st, 3hr- 2nd)	Benjamin Moore	59.99	119.98
			Total after paint	416.24