Organizing the Pantry

The pantry had gotten pretty disorganized and I was avoiding more pressing housework, so the kids and I emptied it out, wiped down the shelves, took an inventory and put it back in better order.

I had Zero Waste Home out from the library, and I am looking forward to implementing a brilliant idea from it once we eat down our reserves: rotating pantry staples. Bea Johnson keeps one canister each for legumes, grains, pasta, etc, and then changes up what she fills it with. I hate winding up with bags of three colors of lentils, four types of dried beans, and five different dried fruits, but we also like variety. Why has this solution never occurred to me?

To keep track of what we have, I created checklists in Springpad. My goal is to only purchase food at the butcher shop and farmers' market for the rest of the summer and have as few pantry items as possible left when it comes time to move in the fall.