The Pantry

I think my response last week when I read that Michele had assigned the pantry as this week's area to clean and organise was something like "Not the pantry." I find it difficult to keep clean. I don't have a real pantry but rather cabinets where I store food.

I have a cabinet above the counter where I store spices and dry items. There are some cans there as well.

I went through my spices and got rid of some jars -- I had duplicates of some things. I then filled some of the containers with beans and organised the top shelf. I put a few jars in there with nuts and split peas. At least now I don't feel like things will fall out when you open the door. I did discover that I don't have that much tuna fish and sardines. I like to keep those on hand for lunches. That cabinet was relatively easy to do. I think I did it while fixing dinner one evening. I felt like I had accomplished something.

The next cabinets were going to be my challenge. These are two cabinets with tall shelves. I have added some wire shelves to give me extra room but it is still a challenge.

I might not look like it was organised and it might not last long but I did organise it. I also found some items in there that I will put on our meal list and get rid of.

I store onions, potatoes, and butternut squash under the sink. I have two bins and that works nicely.

I keep my fresh fruit in a big blue and white bowl on the counter. I love my blue and white bowls from Thailand. I think I bought this one of my girls shopping weekends years ago. These are great for piling all the fruit in. Every now and then we do get fruit that sits around too long. I cooked a few pears and an apple today and made pear sauce that the kids enjoyed. Miss K was asking for more.

As a bonus, I will share my refrigerator. I just opened the door and took a photo. Some days I dream of a big refrigerator but you know I made it through both Thanksgiving and Christmas with this refrigerator so I think I can do it. Some days it is a task to get things to all fit in. Some days I stuff it in, close the door and warn everyone to be careful when they open the door.

I made progress in the pantry. I took my photos before the grocery order for this week arrived. I will say knowing what I had made it easier to order things.

I really hope next week is an easy assignment. Something like under the bathroom sink or maybe hall closet.

Beth

Packing

We are moving today. We have been in the missionary house here for almost three months. It has been a blessing but it is time to move. Someone else had reserved the house for June. Thankfully someone from church has asked us to house sit. Since we are in the middle of packing and moving, I thought I would share one of our favorite packing tips.

I don't even really remember when I bought these or why but we have loved them. They make it so easy to be organized. We use Eagle Creek Pack it Cubes.

The other year we were traveling in China and spending one or two nights in one city and then going on to the next place so being able to keep things organized was great. I knew which cube had Miss K's clothing and which ones had J's. It was easy to get things out and still have the suitcase neat.

My husband really like the Fold-it because he can fold his pressed shirts when he travels and they look good when he unpacks. He was also disappointed that we did not bring that one with us.

I had a picture of the cubes packed and ready to go but I am having a problem loading it.

If I were to do it again, I would buy them so each of us had our own color. That is my dream.

I have just purchased these when I could and so we have a bunch of different colors. I even found one at a thrift store recently.

Beth