Humoring the OCD in me

Woohoo! It's pantry makeover time! I love to organize, so this kind of thing is almost as good as a trip to Disney World.  Now that I have large amounts of staples like rice, flour, and beans in my basement storage room, I need a way to store what I bring up for current use. I decided to buy a large amount of air-tight food storage containers and got a great deal on it, even when you factor in shipping.

First I bought what they call a "10 piece Canister Set".

It's only 10 pieces if you count the lids, but it still worked out for me. The small, 4.4 cup ones on the ends are filled with salt and yeast respectively. The canisters are freezer safe and a small one will easily hold one of the pound bags of yeast I keep stashed in the freezer. I've started buying salt in unwieldy boxes from Sam's, so it is also nice to have a more managable container to put it in.

The mid-size containers hold 11.1 cups. They hold regular rolled and quick oats. The largest one holds 15.9 cups and is perfect for rice. Looks like I need to refill these bad boys from the basement.

This set also comes with a bonus of three long handled measuring scoops.

The next item that I needed to find a storage solution for was pasta.

To that end, I bought three pasta canisters. I only store three types of pasta - penne, spaghetti, and elbow macaroni. I used to buy lots of different types, but I find that these work for most applications and I can buy them in 6 lb bags at Sam's. I was able to fit an entire 6 lb bag of spaghetti in a container, but only about half that for the other two types of pasta.

Contrary to all things OCD in me, I realized it really wasn't feasible to get all matching containers. I had to consider function as well as form.

These are part of the MODS line of Snapware. I thought they were a better fit for brown sugar, sugar and all purpose flour. They hold a TON (that's over 7 lb of sugar there in the middle) and stack easily.

My flour and sugar containers have an added bonus. The lids flip up and the opening will easily fit a measuring cup.

I could've gone crazy and found the perfect storage container for every item in my pantry, but I think this is good for now.

The finished product:

Hopefully I'll be buying a lot less "Sara Lee" and making more "Emily" with my food storage.

I love my pantries with the sliding shelves, especially now that they're organized.

Over the next few months, I'm going to be re-organizing my long-term and short-term food storage areas. Heh heh hehe! (Rubbing hands and cackling with glee) More fun awaits.