The great pantry update

To know me, is to know about my obsession with my pantry.  Remember when my old nanny reorganized it for me?  Since she left (I know it’s been awhile), my pantry hasn’t been quite the same.  It’s grown up over the last year adding to it more toddler sundries, canned food and cereal than I care to discuss.  Its wire racks are bogged down with too many bags of flour.  Its floor messy with chip crumbs.

The food and garbage repository formerly known as my pantry.

It was time to make a change.  So I called the people who make dreams come true: professional closet organizers.  I’ve had the sketches drawn for months now, but could not arrange the installation until early this week.  I waited patiently for my laminate shelves to arrive, for my pull-out drawers to work.  But first, I had to clean out the beast.

Cleaning out your pantry is like reliving the great ups and downs of your life.  Diets, babies, childless days, bad habits – the pantry knows all.

The photos tell all:

The cashew hold-overs from dinner two months ago.  We couldn’t be bothered to actually eat the remaining three in the bag.

And so begins the journey of really old packaged goods.  These hail from Summer 2006. Not bad.

That’s right. December 2004.

No dates listed.  I’m pretty sure these letters and numbers are code for: “Don’t open me unless you want a mean case of botulism.”

The one that takes the cake, er, brownie. July 2003.  This box could be considered old in my LAST place of residence.

But once I got over the mound of canned food that was still edible piled on my counter and hauled out the 3 large bags of trash filled with food gone bad, I realized I had the makings of fine food closet.  No expired food, no random bags of snacks.  Only the best junk food has to offer.  In an organized fashion.

I never knew smooth laminate shelves could smell so good. I will never go disorganized again.