Sunday 17 June 2012

My Pantry aka My Modular Mates Fetish

Part of being organised with meal planning is actually knowing what is in the pantry.

My pantry organising fetish started almost 18 years ago. I had a older style smallish kitchen with little cupboard space and benches that were only 45cm deep. It made fitting in appliances and food and sometimes even big dinner plates a bit of a struggle. In the five years of living with that kitchen I made do and made room for a dishwasher a microwave cupboard (cookware and crockery storage underneath) and a 2door pantry. It made it liveable. It also started my addiction to Tupperware Modular Mates for pantry storage. I could fit so much into one shelf! Since there was only me and my toddler at the time, I didn't need big containers, just lots of them.

These Modular Mates have served me well. They have moved with me quite a few times, from that house to a bigger kitchen, to a downsized Sydney apartment, into storage/use in my mum's pantry while I was living there for a few months (they still have the little K on the bottom of them 12 years later!), into my own kitchen when I finally moved into my now husband's house, then through a kitchen renovation where they were allowed for in my pantry design, then to a brand new house that had the smallest pantry for the size of the house (just as well I had never upsized my containers), then out to a little country house with a massive pantry (a saving grace since we were 30 minutes away from the nearest shop) and now into town where we are close to shops and have a reasonable sized but corner pantry (not a fan). With this last move I have rediscovered my love of Tupperware and not just MMs. Up to party number 4 myself in 6 months and off to another one this afternoon.

My MMs have a variety of coloured lids. White were the ones I bought myself, maroon and blue were found in Hubby's garage when we cleaned it out, yellow were picked up at a church garage sale along with some maroon spice containers, maroon big containers I got when I thought that was the colour I liked, and black are my latest conquest and also the colour of the replacement lids I have needed recently. That's one of the things I love the most - lifetime warranty - break a lid or container, get it replaced for free.
Herbs and spices with packets underneath in baskets
Pasta, Access Mates and Cereal underneath


















I decided to upsize my pantry as part of my austerity drive. Yes I know I spent money to save it, but I did so sensibly. I had a Tupperware consultant come and do a Custom Kitchen Plan.  We worked out what I needed based on what I buy and use, worked around the containers I already had, and then worked out what I needed. I mostly got big containers like Super Oval 4 and 5 for cereal, rectangle 2 for flour, Access Mates for snack foods (empty at the moment due to the aforementioned austerity drive) and weetbix, and a Round 5 for a spaghetti jar that wont shatter when it hits the floor (I've broken a few) and even has a measuring device built in so I no longer overcater in the spaghetti area. I also spread the purchases over a few months and had a catalogue party at work which helped me out with some free stuff.
Sugars, rices, breadcrumbs and other small baking stuff, bottles in baskets and cans in the corner

Noodles, pasta, flours and rice up top (Anzac slice in the pink Tupperware container), VegOuts and oats down the bottom
I can see what is empty at a glance, even hubby helped me out with the shopping list yesterday (and noticed that one spice container is missing a lid - it's on order). Open packets don't clutter the pantry shelves with the food going stale in the process. There is room for other containers of baked goods and the like. Bottles and packets are stored in baskets picked up cheaply at KMart. Tins don't dominate as I hate the taste of tinned food - they are discretely located in the back corner. The top shelf holds kitchen stuff I rarely use and the bottom shelf has cake containers, a punchbowl that should bo to the kitchen overflow shelf out in the garage and this week's potato overflow (10kg of potatoes go a long way) and usually has long life juice and milk but it's shopping week.

My love of Tupperware doesn't stop at the Pantry. My Tupperware lady also did my fridge and freezer with Antarctica, FridgeSmart and Clear Mates a month or so later. I'm still picking up bits and pieces for those, so I'll show you them later. They are working a treat already though. Anyway off to another party now.

Kaz x

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