Pantry Purge.

Time for the annual Pantry Purge! I do

clean out our pantry as well as our fridge

each week when we bring home fresh

food. But once a year, at least once a

year, I take everything out of the entire

pantry, wash out the storage containers

and wash down the walls and shelves.

Always feels so good after but it does

take quite a bit of time. I like picking a

rainy day or a day my family has an

activity that I'm not going to be part of.

When it's all done, I gaze at it all day!

~ Chy

Before and After.

We came home the other day with bags of groceries

and discovered there was no room in the pantry!

These 4 pictures are the "before" shots of the space

we have for our food storage and our little microwave.

Slightly organized chaos. I have bins and strategic areas

but in the end, it's gotten messy and totally out of hand. 

After several hours of purging and re~arranging, I am

happy to reveal to you the "after" photos of our pantry.

Ta da! Much better. So much space. And now we can

see what is in need of re~stocking and what is filled.

Every other shopping trip, my dh was bringing home

a new bag of risotto. During the purge, we discovered

we had 8 small bags of risotto hidden away behind other

items. So now he keeps asking me if he should pick

up some more .... always the comedian, my guy! No,

we do NOT need any more supplies. All stocked up.

Do you have a pantry for food storage?

Is it nice and neat and organized? Or chaos?

~ Chy

Grocery Deals.

My quick stop at the store on Friday netted a

few items to fill up our fridge, freezer and the

veranda. Here's the breakdown of my little trip:

* 9 packages of boneless and skinless chicken

breasts ~ a bargain as chicken has just gone up

in price and these were $4.25 less per kg than

the new price. My quick calculation shows I

saved a very tidy $32. Love deals like this!

* a whole chicken to roast for Sunday dinner.

* a perfect head of lettuce that last week was

almost $4 but on Friday, the price was $1.69.

* a bag of whole organic mushrooms, on sale,

cheaper than the regular ones and in much

better shape and size. Organic does pay.

* a big block of marble cheese for $13.98 but

the store price was $8.99 and then the sale price

was $6.99. We love cheese and use lots so this

is an amazing price for something we will eat.

* my treat: a box of Frosted Cheerios. Regular

price was $4.98 but on Friday, $2.98.

* just 2 Mac apples. Not on sale but still so good.

* finally, 2 pumpkins for the veranda, on sale.

Grand total: $102. If everything was paid at

full price, I would have spent well over $160.

Worth the time to research sales and look for

in store deals as well. And it only took me

less than 20 minutes to do this shop. We had

milk in the fridge, a fresh block of butter, the

pantry is full and the freezer has some items

so we should be good for most of this week.

How is your pantry looking this fall?

Any good grocery deals you can share?

Organizing the Pantry.

We've lived in our new house now for 8 months and I'm still thrilled each time I open up our pantry. It's such a treat to have a place to store food and to stock up when there's a good sale. But it can get messy at times and I've been searching for some nice bins to help create "zones" on the shelves. This will be a work in process. I finally found a system that I decided to try out and I love them.

See, it's getting messy again!

Too much stuff. But stuff we will consume.

The lovely bins, on sale, at HomeSense.

I took everything out and created my "zones" and

now look how sweet it all is. Nothing was thrown out.

Even a bin for hot chocolate mixes and popcorn packs.

And one for our teas, both hot and cold. I need more

and will be back to the store soon to pick up extras.

How do you keep your pantry organized?

Do you use bins or baskets or just stack items?