Other People's Pantries #121
From Betty, in Munich, Germany:
I found your website a few months ago, and it inspired me to do a big clean and organization of my pantry and kitchen cabinets -- and here are the great results.
My husband and I live in Munich, and like most big cities our apartment is small. It has a nice galley kitchen and whoever built this apartment house must have loved to cook, because they built a little walk-in pantry next to the kitchen. This feature is unheard of in most Munich city apartments, so we consider ourselves lucky. We put our non-European big fridge (also a luxury in these parts) in that room and bought an IKEA Leksvik shelf for our pantry goods.
The three middle shelves are for baking goods, canned goods, cereal stuff. The top shelf is for my pitcher collection and bottom shelf for cookbooks. The fridge has a nice size freezer so we buy meats, fish etc in bulk and freeze in ready to cook portions for two.
In the kitchen cabinets over the stove I have spices, seasonings, etc. You can see my pantry inventory list and menu plan for the month on the inside of these doors. This has helped immensely to not have to think... what do I make for dinner? and do I have what I need on hand? I started doing this in September 09 and I can't tell you the difference it makes!
Things I use all the time like olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper grinder I keep right at hand next to the stove.
I had to include the photo of my Twinings Tea Tin collection as well as my little window herb garden where I keep fresh basil, rosemary and thyme year-round.
Even though it's just the two of us, we love to cook a nice meal and enjoy it with a glass of wine at the end of a long day.
On Saturdays, we peek into Other People's Pantries.
Come on -- show us your pantry.
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Oh truly a wonderful kitchen pantry ... so lucky to have two who love to cook in it and enjoy the wine!
The dinner list is way out there for me.....cant even think what i want to eat tonight, and what if PP has mouth watering recipe one must try NOW???,,,,but the rest of your place is really VERY amazing, Thanks for sharing
What a lovely pantry it has inspired me to get cracking and re-organize my kitchen pantrya nd cupboards. I might even send in the photos.
This is the loveliest pantry/kitchen organization I've ever seen.
It takes a lot of time to do this I know because I've tried/failed.
I do keep a list of easy dinners in a notebook. Thanks for sharing your pantry.
I think I want to live in your kitchen/pantry! It is so pristine. I have a feeling the rest of the apartment is the same way!
What a lovely and well-organized pantry. I am going to try to create a list for at least a couple of week-nights instead of improvising every single day. What do you use to clean your refrigerator? The stuff that came with our refrigerator worked well but had such a horrible smell that I haven't wanted to get more of it. The other things I've purchase just don't do a gleaming good job.
Thanks for sharing your pantry.
I love your pantry - it makes me want to come over for a cup of tea! (Your teapots and pitchers are so pretty!) Everything is so neat and clean, and I love your little herb garden. Do you actually plan your meals for a month at a time? I could never be that organized....
Thanks for sharing!
Hi All, thanks for the nice comments. To answer some questions:
@Judy F. I clean the fridge with a german product called "Stahl fix Matt" it is by SC Johnson, so perhaps there is a similar product in the USA. It is a thick liquid that goes on with a cloth.
@Can-Can/Mykitcheninhalfcups - I menu plan only a week at a time, usually on Mondays and that's also when I go to the grocery store. It's not so bad and sometimes it doesn't go to plan either.
After I took these pictures, a few weeks later I completely purged the spice cupboard. Threw away ALL of them, some which were shamefully about 6 yrs old! And all those mish mash of jars - some tall, some short and most plastic. Then I bought only the ones I really used from Spice Islands so the jars would be all the same size and glass. The funny thing is, since now all the labels are in German (we moved here in 2008) I can't find anything. For instance cinnamon is "Zimt", bay leaf is "Lorbeerblatt", tumeric is "Kurkuma". Well at least dill is "Dill"! And the spice cupboard looks really spiffy now too!
Fabulous pantry. I adore your storage jars!
What a fabulous pantry! I have the same bookcase and like that you use it in your pantry. Nicely done!
Lovely pantry and great storage ideas! I think I will arrange my tea tins and teapot the way you have done yours, but mine will be on top of the microwave, not on a darling shelf. My problem with my pantry is this: I spend a great deal of time purging and organizing the pantry which looks great - for only a couple of weeks then it ends up a hodge-podge again. Sigh....
Ok, I’m jealous you pantry is lovely
WOW! I love your kitchen/pantry!
and can I just say that I have the same exact rolling pin and holder, I use similar mason jars the same way to store and I have the electric grinders! I feel a kindred spirit with all the organization too!
(BTW I only use plain Windex and paper towels or lint-free rag on my stainless - it works great!)
Now, this is a pantry! Beautiful!