I love my house, and I love my kitchen, but alas, what I wouldn’t do for a pantry. I had a contractor friend we know look at our weird broom closet that sort of straddles the kitchen and laundry room– puh-leez, can we turn it into a pantry?– but there’s a weight bearing wall and yadda yadda, no deal.
So I deal with my cabinets, which frankly work just fine. I’m just envious of all those enormous walk-in pantries. Today, I got a burst of energy after a relatively large shopping trip to Trader Joe’s. This happens to me every few months, and then I clean out the refrigerator and various other spaces. Today, it was my main food cabinet. I took everything off of the top shelf (shameful secret: I only cleaned out one SHELF of one cabinet. But it’s a start.), cleaned the shelf, tossed a load of things, and realized, “Holy Crap, where did I get so much vinegar and oil????”
There were amazing things in that cabinet that I had completely forgotten I had. Some of them I tossed because I couldn’t remember where I got them and they looked, well, funky. (Does vinegar go bad? TLC tells me it does.) But even after tossing I had a plethora of oils and vinegars, and I knew I’d forget about them in about 3 hours and be pulling them out of there again in 3 months. It’s like Groundhog Day meets Top Chef. (And speaking of pop culture references, I cannot use the word plethora– EVER– without thinking of Three Amigos. ”Would you say I have a plethora of oils and vinegar??”)
What to do. I decided to make an inventory of the various delights in the cabinet. And I simply taped it to the inside of my cabinet. Low tech, yes. But it does beat pulling 20 some odd bottles out of the cabinet to see if I have champagne vinegar when I’m rushing out the door to the grocery store.
inventory and... the inventory
Inventory broken down by "oil" or "vinegar." "Soy sauce" gets its own category.
Do you have any special cabinet organization? Do you remember Three Amigos? And lastly, what should I do with raspberry champagne vinegar?
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Has the makings of a Top Chef quick fire challenge. I think that should be your next post–make the most creative thing you can with raspberry champagne vinegar. You have 30 minutes.
We have a cabinet issue too. The one next to the fridge is tall and deep and was supposed to have a whole pull-out system thing so that we could reach and see what was in the back. It may still happen, but right now I have to reach into the back blindly. I have like 6 cans of kidney beans and no tomato sauce. I do have a few lazy-susans in play (I’m not sure why Susan is so lazy), and this seems to help a bit. I like the list idea. And I do love doing the occasional “audit,” as we call it around here.
I totally appreciate your quest for kitchen organization! We don’t have a pantry closet either, so we placed a small scale armoire just off the kitchen. I doubt anyone can tell that’s where all our food is stored! I use the list technique in another closet, but it works great here!
I love the term “audit”! I have the same bean problem on the lower shelf of the cabinet I cleaned out. It’s so packed, I never want to dig around in there. So if I’m making chili, I’ll just buy more beans and then I end up with 11 cans of garbanzos.
Your quip about the lazy Susan made me curious, so I did a little searching and found this:
“The device has been around since the 1700s (its invention is attributed to Thomas Jefferson), and was called a “dumbwaiter” then. The actual origin isn’t traceable, but it is theorized that servants were called “Susans” around the 1800s and the revolving tables were made to as a replacement for a “Lazy Susan” or maid who didn’t want to work. Or a certain lazy maid named Susan became the reason for her boss’s using one such turntable in her absence.”
Not sure how reliable this info is, though.
I have a PLETHORA of chili powders! All half or barely used containers of it from the numerous times I’ve gone to make a pot of turkey chili. Each time just assuming I didn’t have enough chili powder and running out for more. I found this out yesterday when I finally did an “inventory” and rescued four opened containers of the stuff from the spice shelf!!!
You ARE remarkable. I look forward to your posts! xo