A few days ago, I posted the contents of my refrigerator. Here is the other half of that…a look into my “pantry,” or really the three cabinets that hold food products in my kitchen. You’ll notice that there are still a good number of packaged products. I think that is to be expected since the turnover of shelf-stable foods is slower than that of refrigerated foods. I’m planning to use up the items currently in my pantry, eventually finding replacements for the heavily packaged items (for example, I recently learned how to make coconut milk after using my last can recently).
This is our main stock of food. I’m still figuring out the best organization system. I’m hoping that we’ll eventually clear out some of these categories of food, and I’ll be able to come up with a better layout.
Top left: tom yum spice mix, fried shallots, rice paper, rice noodles
Top right: Chef Boyardee cans that my boyfriend insisted he’d eat when I travel for work. Not something I plan to prepare.
Second left: Oats, sticky rice, regular rice, pasta (mostly bought in bulk)
Second right: Various nuts and dried druit (sliced almonds, dried apples, and dried mangoes bought in bulk)
Third left: Quinoa, steel-cut oats, shredded coconut, dried chickpeas, dried black beans (some bought in bulk)
Third right: Plethora of granola bars, all my boyfriend’s (he works crazy hours and sometimes that’s all he’ll eat). Also some cereal bowls he brought home for me from work (I’ve since asked him to only bring me these if they are going to be thrown away).
Bottom left: Microwave popcorn, a bag of potato chips, and bags of Popcorners (also for my boyfriend to eat at work)
Bottom right: Various candies, cough drops, gum, and sauce packets from take out
This is a corner cabinet, so it’s difficult to capture all of the items since some are hiding on the sides. I’m now realizing how disorganized this cabinet is as well! I’m planning to dedicate one row for baking supplies after noticing this…
Top: Chia seeds, flour, cornmeal, coconut flour, Italian seasoning, hot sauce, olives, capers
Middle: Molasses, baking powder, sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar, cornstarch, cocoa powder, almond extract, kosher salt, Hawaiian sea salt, Lawry’s seasoning salt, Old Bay seasoning
Bottom: Baking soda, various spices on a lazy susan. Not all of the spices fit, so some of them sit off to the side. There are also a few small bags of spices since we didn’t want to bring almost-empty containers with us when we moved.
Top: Vitamins, supplements, and medicine, which neither of us take often. I need to check expiration dates to see if they are even still good.
Middle: Curry paste and seasoning packets, onions/garlic, blocks of curry mix and pho bouillon
Bottom: White vinegar, premium olive oil, rice vinegar, white balsamic vinegar, premium balsamic vinegar, regular olive oil, canola oil, vanilla extract, another rice vinegar, red wine vinegar, olive oil spray, soy sauce, coconut oil, regular balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar, and coconut oil spray. Clearly we could do some minimizing in this section, but it takes a long time to get through these items. We won’t be replacing about half of these.
Believe it or not, the cabinets are looking a lot better than they did a month ago. I’m able to find replacements for most of the packaged goods we eat, although some will probably be difficult to find without packaging or make myself (e.g. rice paper). I’m looking forward to continuing to use up what we have and clearing out some room in the cabinets, even though as it is we have plenty of extra room. It has been really fun making my own versions of items rather than purchasing them (granola, Worcestershire sauce, balsamic glaze, and coconut milk of late), and I am excited to keep going down that path.
KELLY (almost) GREEN 