The Disney Diner’s Pantry Makeover

First, let me say that I have been blessed with a huge walk-in pantry. I love that I have a place to keep our food that is separate from our kitchen cabinets (as we previously did in our old house). Now let me tell you that although I like to keep things organized and in their designated places in the rest of my home, I must confess that our pantry has been the exception (well, the garage too). 😀    What I am about to show you is the disaster that was our pantry. It was my “Monica’s Closet”. If you don’t know what I’m talking about let me explain: Did you ever see that episode of ‘Friends’ when they are trying to find out what the obsessively compulsive Monica is keeping hidden in the hall closet? Well, the friends finally open it to find a huge mountain of clutter! She feels so ashamed. That’s how I felt about our pantry but no more!   So, let me get on with the pictures. But first let me tell you that it is not normally this bad. This photo was taken the day that we brought home our 2-week supply of groceries and were about to head out to Walmart to buy all of the supplies to organize it. So, I told my boys (that are in charge of putting away the groceries) not to worry so much about where to put them because I was just going to come home and take everything down again. Obviously they took my suggestion to heart. lol Here are the BEFORE pictures:

What a mess!

Please ignore the little black dog looking for food in the corner. 😀

How did I ever find anything??

Tsk, tsk, tsk.

I stored all of my cake/cupcake boxes & supplies in the top cornerand always had to have one of the boys help me get them down when I needed them.

We even had our homeschool stuff in here too! :O Now here are the AFTER pictures:

Ta-da!!

Look how everything is in its place!!I bought all of my organizing tools at Walmart for $1.97 – $3.97 (each piece).

The canisters on top are durable plastic and are great for things like:flour, sugar, cornmeal, rice, etc. I think I’m going to buy 2 more for Saltines and Ritz Crackers.

The 2 folding racks are great space-savers for organizing cans.

I purchased varying sizes of baskets for different things:The red one on the left keeps bags of chips in place while the large white one on the right is holding a 10lb sack of potatoes.And the little one in the middle worked great for packets ofinstant cocoa, apple cider, Kool-Aid and tea bags. This allowed me to throw away all the excess boxes/packageswhich added to the clutter.

The red plastic containers are actually dish washtubs.I found them to be much more economical andI liked that they were deeper than most other baskets/containersand easier to clean.

The 3 handled baskets shown above were actually bought atThe Container Store (last year) but I did see Walmart sellingsimilar containers. Since this room is also our laundry room,I stored our laundry products in a separate basket in the bottom corner.

I used a label maker to create labels for each canister.

I did the same for the glass jars I bought.I filled them with things like:brown sugar, powdered sugar, oatmeal, chocolate chips, etc.

I think the jars are my favorite.They make it so much easier to see what we are running out of.And they are just plain pretty!    So I hope you’ve enjoyed our pantry makeover (I know I have) and maybe inspired you to do the same. If you decide to transform your own pantry, be sure and send us (before & after) pics, we’d love to see them!   Now what can I do about that garage…………   Have a Magical Day!! 🙂