Pantry Sorting

[quirkycooking]

Oh, KJH, I'll never complain about my small kitchen again!!! Wow, that would be difficult with no kitchen sink!!!  We couldn't use the kitchen sink over Christmas because of the flooding (sink water wouldn't go down) so had to wash dishes in a bucket - such a pain.

Yes, Flipper, I freeze anything that can go rancid (nuts, oats, linseeds, pine nuts) or get weevils in it (grains, flour, oats, sesame seeds) or otherwise get old tasting or suffer from the damp, humid weather we have here.  Nuts and seeds should always be stored in the fridge or freezer as the oils in them go rancid quickly.  I divide them into ziploc plastic bags, and pull out a bag as I need them.  The rapadura probably doesn't need to be kept in the freezer, but at least ants can't get into it there!  I store my cacao powder in the freezer too because I buy it bulk.  I have a very small pantry, so it's easier to use the freezer for my bulk items, and then I know they'll keep longer.
 
My grain and flours and rapadura come in 12.5kg bags, and I just put the whole bags in the freezer, scooping out a couple of kgs at a time into glass or plastic containers for my pantry.  (Although I don't store grains in the cupboard usually, except sometimes a small amount in a container in winter when the weather is drier and cooler.)  Basically, if you keep your flours, nuts, seeds, oats, grains, etc, cold and dry, they'll last a lot longer!!  I've had some stuff in the freezer for 2 yrs and it's still good

[meganjane]

I'd love to be able to do that Jo! You must have a gigantic freezer. My kitchen is too small to have my freezer in it so it's over in the shed. (We have three blocks where we live, the house block, the middle one which is vacant and the shed block which is on the corner. That's where my Skinflint workshop is.)

I recently cleaned and sorted my pantry, but it's still not flash and needs another tidy up. I'm on my Mac right now, so have to use Flickr. I can't work out how to insert the actual photo instead of just the links. Flickr is much more complicated than Photobucket!

http://flic.kr/p/95wYct
http://flic.kr/p/95wYcp
http://flic.kr/p/95wYck
http://flic.kr/p/95wYcg

[quirkycooking]

My freezer can't fit in the house - it's a pretty small house, with a very small kitchen (but not as small as the galley kitchen in our last house, thankfully!)... Our freezer's on the back verandah!

[Caroline J]

Meganjane, I love your filing system for your bakeware!!  Did you make it?

[meganjane]

My darling BIL made it for me. I love it too!

[Thermo Jo (aka Jodi)]

Oh my! I'm in love with your pantry MJ. <3

My pantry is just a single door, rather small. Which is a shame because of the amount of cooking I do.

One day when we get our dream home in the country, I will get my magical kitchen. One day......

[meganjane]

My pantry was originally the end of a hallway. We blocked off each end and I had the shelves built. It worked really well and I love it, but would also love it twice as large!!