Organising your pantry

We have this inside joke in our home where my husband calls me a Fern, reason; he says I leave spores everywhere. Where ever I have worked I leave a trail. He came up with THE LID THEORY, sorry I can’t put a link to it somewhere on the web because he made it up.

But it goes something like this, when you use something close the lid of the toothpaste, make the bed after you get up, close the cupboard doors after opening, and fold your clothes after wearing them. That way you will never have to tidy up because you won’t leave a road of destruction behind you.

I am working on it and I am already a lot better, but you need a certain kind of focus and not an undiagnosed ADD kind of mind to follow THE LID THEORY. But I am trying and I really do love being organised, it gives me a feeling of calm and being in control. You need that with kids around.

I decided to redo my kitchen pantry to see if it could help my fern-ness. Out of all the rooms in our home, my kitchen is now the most organised. Everything has its place, almost everything is labeled and I know exactly what ingredients are almost finished or needs a refill. My assistant is brilliant at setting up my classes and with everything labeled she is confident about what to get it out for a recipe. And every few months we just wipe the bottles down or give them a quick rinse if they are dirty.

I don’t have ingredients in my cupboards that are 10 years old, and also don’t have a mite or ant problem because everything is sealed.

It will give you so much JOY getting your pantry organised so just do it!

For every minute spend organising, an hour is earned

Benjamin Franklin

My 10 tips for getting your pantry organised

1. If you don’t have a massive budget for buying all the Consol jars, start recycling jars and use them. I got 3 massive jars from a charity shop they were R30 each, and are great for flours. I also got a few from my moms old conserve bottles. Remove stubborn stickers with olive oil.
2. Visit the Consol shop in Woodmead or Stellenbosch and stock up, the retail shops are generally a bit cheaper and sometimes you can get good deals. Consol also has an annual clearance sale.
3. You can use a variety of containers and sizes, but it is best if they are see through. It also makes your pantry interesting and allows for different quantities of ingredients.
4. Stick to the same size jars for herbs and spices and either store them in a spice rack or a drawer.
5. Take a before and after picture, I forgot so my satisfaction was not that great:)
6. Make sure all the lids can seal well
7. Once you have jars you can also consider going zero-waste by shopping at the Refillery in Fourways or ordering from the Unwrapped Co. and just decant delivery into your own jars.
8. Make a list of all the ingredients you regularly use and start getting bottles for them first.
9. Use Pinterest as a source of inspiration for how you are going to organise your pantry. Have a look at my Pinterest board for some inspiration.
10. Label your jars! DIY it or order my Wholefood pantry labels from my online shop.

I challenge you, get your pantries organised and if you use my labels please please tag me on IG with #wskpantrylabels it would be great to see your pantry makeovers!!

Photographs by Melanie Wessels