Practical pantry design...

Our new kitchen is 12 x 9.

And it's a square that opens up to nothing but the door to get into the kitchen.  Saving grace is that there is a window, because I am a smidge claustrophobic.  The new kitchen is a far cry from our current one. The pantry in our current home is pretty huge- hence the name "super pantry".

The two double doors to the right are the pantry...

I want our next pantry to be a bit less cavern like.  I adore vintage items, but vintage cans and jars not so much.  Our current pantry is so deep (and tall) that I forget what is in the way, way back and tend to just grab from the front.

The solution...a narrow pantry that goes across the entire wall, only as deep as the length of a cereal box.  This way I can see what I have on hand and not have anything go to the back abyss.

via: atticmag.com

 Part of downsizing is going to be cutting out waste in every area of our spending.  I am guilty of stock piling the pantry in the event of a zombie apocalypse.  By being more mindful of what I purchase and keep on hand I can avoid the vintage pickle jar scenario.

I'd like to make a grocery store run every other day to encourage eating more fresh veggies and fruits-  more in keeping with the European style of doing that requires shopping each day, rather than one trip for the entire week.  So many times I would do the shopping, only to find that we didn't eat two or three of the meals I had planned for the week.   Then I would plan the next week, forgetting what I had left over, and it would just snowball out of control in the pantry.


So to recap:

• grocery shop more often, but buy less each visit
• check what is in the pantry to avoid buying it again
• more fresh fruits/veggies instead of packaged goods
• staples such as olive oil, chicken stock, garlic and rice on hand

Maybe a few cans, you know, in case the zombies show up ;)

Pantry plans...

One of the areas that I would like to be more intentional in my purchases in our new place will be the pantry.  This house has a "super pantry" and is capable of holding quite a bit of stuff.  The only problem with that is that I tend to buy things, shove them toward the back (with every intention of using them) and then forget they are there.

Hello four year old bottle of pickled jalapenos!

But this next house is going to be different.  For one thing I already know the kitchen will be smaller and storage will be at a premium.  Also, I am trying to steer our eating to more "clean eating" or "slow food" methods of cooking.  That means lots of fresh ingredients- as in daily visits to the market.

Have I mentioned that the grocery store sends me into panic attacks?  I'm not even kidding- no windows or clocks, endless aisles and crowds?  They don't make enough Xanax to get me through that experience.

So I send my husband instead.  Which, if we are going to need to visit the market daily, or every other day is not going to be practical.  (or fair, the man works 12 hour shifts!)  I am going to have to suck it up like a buttercup and go to the market myself.

Gulp.

This is the lower half of our pantry.  It has slide out drawers which I divided up with chips/snacks on the top shelf, cereal and breakfast items on the second shelf, rice and pasta on the third shelf, and storage bags and paper products on the lower fourth shelf...

The upper half holds all of our canned goods and my baking items.  It's a huge pantry and I can get a lot into it, but I want to keep it more intentional and only have what we need on hand in the next pantry.  More streamlined...

via Remodelaholic- Faith, Trust, & Pixie Dust

I will keep the stock items on hand:  Olive oil, chicken stock, diced tomatoes, garlic and pastas.  I can make a lot out of those key ingredients.  I am also going to be better about freezing less.  I tend to put things in the freezer and forget about them.   Then months later I am trying to identify frost bitten items CSI style...

That's the fun in moving without another house on the horizon.  I have lots of time to plan and rethink how I am doing things now and how I would like to do them differently.

Simplify.  That is my mantra.