Monday, April 23, 2007

Four months later...

Remember when we moved in and I was bragging about my nice big pantry? In the almost four months since we've lived here, we've sufficiently made a disaster of our pantry. Picture the scene: there is no semblance of organization to the piles of half-empty granola bar boxes, four mostly-gone jars of peanut butter on four different shelves, cans of soup tipping off the box halves at a 45 degree angle, and a plethera of cough drops multiplying like bunnies (no, I don't think the cough drops belong in the pantry...) So today I finally tackled my pantry to organize it, something I knew was inevitable when I intially stocked it without labeling the shelves.

I used masking tape to label a shelf section for "breakfast," "snacks," "baking," "canned goods," etc. I even designated a place for the laundry basket. It's possible that I went overboard when I labeled "fire extinguisher," "onions," and "step stool," but at least there won't be any questions as to where those things go. I'm very proud of my accomplishment. Everything is organized and easy to find. How long should I expect to keep it like this?

In the process of pruning my pantry, I made two observations. First of all, almost everything I keep regularly stocked is some generic store brand. Don't get me wrong, there are some things that aren't worth buying unless they're the real thing (like Oreos), but peanut butter? canned beans and veggies and pie filling? Is there really that much of a difference? The second observation I made is that there is a serious mis-allocation of priorities. Check out whats wrong with these pictures. At least now I know I have the space and can call myself to repentance!

Snack shelf:

Year's supply of food storage:

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