I’m linking up today for the first time with Shay and Erika for their monthly “Let’s Look” post. I’d like to start by thanking them for hosting this link-up. This month we’re looking at our pantries. So let’s have a peek!
We’ve lived in this house for almost 18 years. When we moved in, there was no pantry. Just the one in the attached mother-in-law’s apartment which we didn’t use when we first lived here. But about 3 years ago we had a complete kitchen remodel done, and that’s when our pantry was born!
Let’s open it up, shall we?
You can see it has a stationary shelf at the top. Then there are 5 pull-out drawers. Let’s get up-close and personal.
On the left side of the shelf I keep my electric griddle. I have some platters stored on top of it. To the right of that I have a cast-iron griddle, my pizza stone, a 9X13 glass dish, my stuffed jalapeno cooker, and a basket-woven tray.
Then on the right side of the shelf is my nicest pie plate and on top of it is a box containing a two-tiered Christmas dish.
On to the drawers:
The top drawer holds a variety of placemats on the left side. To the right of those I store tablecloths in the back and napkins in the front. On the right-hand side of the drawer I keep supplies for my vacuum sealer.
The second drawer from the top holds snack items, breakfast items, and spices. The snacks are mainly on the left side: raisins, crackers, chocolate syrup, candy, microwave popcorn, etc. The breakfast items are mainly on the right-hand side: instant oatmeal (for Big Eagle), quick cook oatmeal ( for me), grits, bread, honey, syrup, peanut butter. The spices I keep in my pantry are the ones I use less often than others. They’re in the blue plastic basket in the back on the right.
The spices that I use more regularly are kept in this pull-out right next to the stove. Very handy!
But back to the pantry.
The middle drawer is where grains, dried beans, pastas, baking needs, oils, and some canning supplies are kept. The first three are on the left. Powdered sugar, brown sugar, flours, Bisquick, and granulated sugar are all in Tupperware containers. In the far back right are pickling salt, pickle crisp, pectin, and stuff like that for canning.
The fourth drawer holds backstock, paper goods, and supplies for the dog. None of the foodstuffs in this drawer have been opened yet. Boxes are on the left, then cans, then pouches and jars. When an item is opened, it is either used up or placed into one of the two drawers above this one. The dog’s supplies are on the very right of the drawer.
Annie LOVES her Greenies!
But hang on…we have one more drawer.
In the very bottom drawer I keep my baking pans, baking dishes, foil baking items, cooling racks, and a tray.
Now this pantry looks a WHOLE lot different when family visits! Then it is full to overflowing, and the semblance of order goes down the tubes. But such is life. I much prefer my family to visit and have things somewhat chaotic than to have a place for everything and everything in its place.
One last picture. This is the pantry in our mother-in-law apartment where my sweet mom lives. I keep my homemade canned goods there. Some empty jars are in the boxes on the top shelf. Then we have pears, pasta sauce, salsa, tomatoes, beets, dill pickles, candied jalapenos, a jar of syrup left from the candied jalapenos, and a jar of grape jelly that my friend Juli made. My vacuum sealer and a stock pot are on the bottom shelf.
So that’s a look at my pantry! Next month the “Let’s Look” topic will be “Your Favorite #OOTD”.