Using various baskets, bins, containers, and jars I have managed to make my pantry more user friendly.  Baskets make it easier to combine like things and keep small parts together.  One basket is for various canning supplies, another is for fondue pots, bowls and supplies.  Things I make quite often I have grouped together ex: Icing, I placed the items that I use to make icing and fondant all in one basket.  That way, I can just grab that basket and place it back on the shelf when finished.

Cereals are kept in Rubbermaid bins that have a flip top opening for ease of pouring.  Also, you can see if you are out of cereal instead of finding an empty box on the shelf.

I have placed like ingredients together in alphabetical order to ease searching time.  I keep my two shelves of cookbooks at eye level, so I can grab them when needed.  A small clear plastic bin is handy for little books or loose recipes.  The internet is great for recipe searches as well, but I have many cherished cookbooks that I can just flip open the book and know the approximate location of a needed recipe.  I have an ancient Fanny Farmer Cookbook that was passed down to me by my husbands grandmother.  It’s as close to home cooking as one can get in my opinion.  The beautiful vintage scale also belonged to her, it’s still in perfect working condition.  I usually use an electric scale to weigh out ingredients as I find you get better accuracy when baking.

Painting chalkboard labels on jars makes it easy to find spices, herbs, nuts, etc.  It’s an easy DIY that the whole family participate in.

I keep my all purpose flour in a large crockpot.  It can hold twp large bags of flour.  It’s vintage with no chips and the cover is solid with a perfect fit.  I have used this as my flour jar for twenty years.

I’m not a big microwave user and removed the microwave from over the stove and replaced it with a stronger vent.  I placed a small microwave in the pantry on a shelf.  Out of sight and not cooking my brain, while I stand at the stove stirring.

I did not paint all of these labels on the same day,  each section was painted on separate times.  I does take a little time so put on a movie, maybe a glass of champers, or tea and paint away.