Neatly stacking similar food groups helps you find things easily.
Cabins are often located in quiet, rural settings that invite people to escape from the whirlwind life or noise of a city. Living in a cabin can be a bit like camping, whether it's your residence of choice, a part-time getaway for a few weeks or a seasonal vacation. Whether you live in the cabin full-time or a short period, you'll want to stock the pantry with plenty of food for you, your family and visitors. Setting up a cabin pantry in an organized manner will help you find what you need when you need it. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Plan your meals and shop for the appropriate number of people during the course of your cabin stay. If you plan to stay for a two-week vacation, your shopping list will be quite different than if you're taking up full-time residency. Living in the cabin will require periodic resupplying of your pantry's contents.
2. Have basics on hand such as flour, sugar, pasta, rice, beans, dried peas, lentils, spices, cooking oil, condiments, dried fruits, nuts and canned fruits and vegetables. Canned tuna, salmon, chicken and other items can also help out if you'll be in an isolated cabin during winter months. Items you may have freshly canned or preserved from your own fruit and vegetable gardens are ideal.
3. Undo the packaging of dry goods such as flour, beans and macaroni and put these items into tight-sealed glass jars that offer instant visibility of what's inside. The main reason for putting food into jars is that rodents and insects (common to rural areas) seem to easily tear into some packaging materials such as boxes and plastic wrap, so storing them in glass jars will reduce invasions.
4. Sort the food items according to type and how often they'll be used. For instance, items such as evaporated milk or canned cranberries might be less frequently used than bread flour. Choose the lowest panty shelf for the less frequently used items. Stack them and organize them from left to right, alphabetically, or simply where you can see the labels or jar contents.
5. Store condiments such as ketchup, mustard, BBQ sauce and spices together on one shelf. If you get multiples, such as four jars of mustard, line them up or stack them behind one another. These items are often placed together with cooking or salad oils and vinegars, which are easily stored in their original containers.
6. Place the commonly used items on the easiest to reach shelves. Some pantries are like closets, with ample room, so this is not an issue. Other pantries only have four or five shelves, so use the middle ones to quickly grab items you use often.
7. Put large jars either to one side or behind smaller jars so you can see the contents. An easy way to organize the jars is to line them up by content type, going left to right. Dry goods can go on one shelf and preserved fruits and vegetables can go on another.
8. Put the canned goods together in one area. Stack multiples of corn, beans and so forth separately from the canned meats and soups. Line multiples in rows behind each other.
9. Arrange items used for baking together in one area. These might include baking powder, baking soda, yeast, chocolate chips, cake or pastry flour, cake decorations, raisins and nuts. Small jars help keep these fresh and free from insect or rodent invasions.
10. Put small items such as gravy or sauce mixes, seed packets and boullion cubes into a common basket. Small square baskets work well for fitting side by side on shelves. Adding a door organizer for some items, such as boxed teas and small condiment bottles, is an alternative way to stay organized. These can be found in many hardware and home stores.
11. Labeling shelves or jars is optional, but if you have a very large supply of food stored, it can be handy, especially for differentiating between jars of salt, sugar and flour types -- some darker grained flours are hard to tell apart once they're out of their original bag.
12. Keep a flashlight handy if you don't have an overhead light with a switch to view the pantry contents. If you want a snack in the middle of a dark night, it can come in handy.
Tags: items such, frequently used, fruits vegetables, glass jars, items often, jars that
