Thursday 20 October 2016

Pantry special

Pantry special!! Some time last month I started harping on about the pantry.  After much deliberation, I decided to go with plastic containers for my pantry over Kilner Jars.  Firstly, my children help with a lot in the kitchen (my kids are 9 and 6 for those who don’t know) and glass, kids and an extremely hardwearing farmhouse tiled floor are not a great combination.  Secondly, the Kilner jars were just too expensive to even make a start on.  We do already have a few Kilner jars but I think I would like to use these for the homebrew alcohol that we’re trying out.  They look very pretty lined up and the colours of the fruit in the alcohol do them justice.  I researched online for the plastic tuppawear type boxes, yes I am that sad, and settled on Tesco’s Klipfresh.  I have 'free' next day delivery with Tesco so they were ordered and turned up as expected, plonked in the greenhouse by our kind postman.
Now, they aren’t cheap either.  I do however manage to easy my conscience with that knowing that they are an investment (I can hear my husband’s comments in my head as I type this).  I think they are an investment anyway.  Remember my comment about flies a few weeks ago?  Well these containers keep their contents fly and bug free (think weevels in flour) and moisture free too.  If items that are decanted have a specific cooking time, I will take a photo of the instructions but to be fair, I don’t tend to follow packet instructions when using the Aga.
Here’s what the pantry looked like, unedited, on the day that I ordered the containers. 
I spent a long time, with the help of my daughter, sorting the pantry out so that it now looks like this.
Anything that was open in terms of cereal, flour, sugars etc, were decanted into a container of suitable size and a label on to remind us what it was.  If an item was not open, it was stored with other like items for when it was needed.  I did notice the self-raising flour was coming to its use by date and given that we now have a freezer with lots of space in it, it would be criminal not to bake some cakes and freeze them sliced ready for unexpected guests and packed lunches, wouldn’t it now? So that's on the cards for the weekend.
Overall I am rather pleased with how it turned out.

5 comments:

  1. 😍 it looks so pretty! I'd love a proper dedicated pantry space, but the space I had picked out isn't suitable 😔 so I have to make do with a bookcase in the kitchen lol I love kilner jars too, I'm buying the small ones in advance for next year when I can start preserving what we grow etc and they're only £1 so almost I'm buying 1 a month so j should have a nice wee stash by next year haha

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  2. I have a lot of plastic containers, some I have had for donkeys years, I now store bulks of dried stuff, flour rice sugar oats pasta etc in air tight food grade buckets they are sitting in the utility room as of yet I dont have a pantry, I decant into smaller containers for kitchen use, it took years of collecting to get enough storage jars and containers for everything.

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  3. Ooh I love a panntry post, Tracey. Looks great and child friendly, too. I have collected quite a few litre plastic jars that fruit came in when I used to shop at Aldi. I also use good sized jars that I have bought pickles and other stuff in to house pulses, rice etc. I have been lucky in that for two birthdays I have been given Kilner jars and then I treated myself to some with birthday money this year. It does take a while to collect containers but if you look after them then they should last. I have open shelves in our kitchen and I love them but you have to take the regular wiping of dust from the Rayburn as a given but I wouldn't have it any other way. I look forward to being able to clear out some of the cupboards to decant to the cellar.

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  4. Love it. What is it about neatly stacked shelves with all those goodies on them. All perfectly lined up....? Makes you feel warm inside right? I have full on pantry envy right now. I am green. Just call me Princess Fiona.

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  5. So neat and tidy and so much room.

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