Pantry makeover.

Because of MLP's line of work, he is often away from home for periods of time and this is when my Virgo-perfectionist-obsessive nature reveals its true self. I try to keep myself busy so the time alone passes more quickly.  Well, those are my excuses for what you will read in this post.

The morning after MLP left for his latest adventure, I looked in my pantry and saw, to my disgust, nothing like the beautifully organised pantries I kept seeing in blogland.  Also, because of MLP's line of work, we are renting, so organising the pantry had not been given high priority. But, with time on my hands and a lot of pent up frustration from being unable to find, well, just about anything in my pantry, I set forth on my mission.

I wasn't about to spend a lot of money.   I could do nothing, zilch, NIL, about the physical set-up of my pantry.  But, I could make it more functional.  I knew in my stash of goodies I had some printable labels from Officeworks and I knew I had an entire range of various glass bottles which had been collected for who-knows-what reason.  So, if I put the two together, it might be a start. And, it was.

My newly labelled bottle.

I  didn't go so far as to spray paint all the lids to the same colour.  I'm not that far towards the extreme end of the Virgo continuum.  Some ridiculous number of bottles and labels later, and a number of heated discussions with my poor old laptop and my printer, my pantry makeover had begun.  

A trip to the local Woolieworths and I had a small stack of sistema Klip It plastic containers ...  You know, the clear ones with the blue clippie bits on top ... and I was beginning to feel I was in Virgo heaven. (Wouldn't that be a nightmare. Heaps of Virgos all trying to be perfect together!)

My lovely clippie containers.

Sadly, if you look closely, you'll see I've labelled the top of my spice jars so now I don't have to scrouge around through EVERY jar to find what I'm after.  I know.  I know.  I can see the heads shaking and hear the questions being asked.  But, really, you'd be surprised how happy this made me and continues to make me each time I reach for the herbs and spices container.

My pantry has gone from this

A wasted top shelf.

Unlabelled bottles in a huddled mess.

to this ...TA DA!!

A place, bottle, label, plastic container for everything.

My previosly wasted top shelf now has one clearly visible layer of labelled bottles.  I can see my collection of cooking needs, neatly, one beside the other!  My odds and sods and herbs and spices are tightly packed in my clear-plastic-clippie-containers.  And, right down the bottom, my remaining bottles (Yes, I've still got a few.) and those weird bits that I never seem to use from my food processor are stored in those beautiful wire baskets I snavelled from Target on special. (I think I'm going back for more.  I'm in love with wire baskets at the moment.)

I've sorted my recipe books so only the most favourite-est ones are close to hand.  The others lie around the corner in a less accessible spot.  And, of course, in easy reach, on the back of my pantry door are my aprons waiting patiently to be called into use.

My beautiful aprons.

My pantry makeover, to the extent that renting will allow, is complete.  I'm Virgo happy and I'm sure the removalists will be happy when they come to pack my pantry at the end of the year.

What is the state of your pantry?  Is it pantry make over time at your place?

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