As you know I am trying to work out and eat healthier to get in better shape. I have the DVD set called Chalean Extreme and one of her DVDs is about eating right. She had a beautiful walk-in pantry and as she was standing there talking I noticed a few things that I wanted to implement in my own small pantry. It didn’t hurt that my pantry was also a huge mess and needed straightening up anyway. You know how bad they can get. I had a system so to speak but no one else would ever figure out where anything else was.
Here is a slightly before picture. I forgot to take one before I started pulling things out.
So the first step was to take everything out of the pantry. Whew. Thank goodness I had my son there willing to help with the demolition. My original thought was too put it into two piles. Staying and throwing out. As you can see from this picture I ended up with 3 piles because even though my pantry is small it was amazingly full.
The craziest thing I found in my pantry was this ball.
The stuff on the island was to be thrown out.
My reasons for throwing something out:
- out of date
- completely unhealthy
- an empty box (yes I actually had empty boxes in my pantry)
I ended up with 2 big trash bags of items to throw out. I also threw away boxes for some items that I was keeping. I took those items out to be organized into 3 boxes. In the video she was standing in front of beautiful wicker baskets. Well I didn’t have nice wicker baskets that I could use, nor did I want to go spend a bunch of money on them. I did however have one of those plastic 3 drawer systems that I wasn’t using for anything. So I took out the drawers. I knew I wanted to separate the food into 1 kid drawer and 1 adult drawer. My son has food allergies so I wanted him to have a drawer he could go into and know everything was safe for him to eat. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with the 3rd drawer initially. I ended up using it as a second adult drawer.
Next I took items out of boxes and put them into the appropriate boxes. My son loves popcorn so I try to keep a box on hand for movie nights or a treat in the afternoon. Well I just bought a new box this weekend because I thought I was out. I actually had 3 boxes of popcorn in my pantry.
The other point I took away from her video was to get everything in proper portion sizes and ready to eat grab bags. I found my food scale that I had never used and quickly read the directions. It’s the Eat Smart Precision Pro Kitchen Scale. It was a snap to use. I would have liked to have put things in little snack bags but all I had were sandwich bags so that’s what I used. I took it a step further than the video and wrote on the baggie what was inside and how many calories you would be consuming by eating the snack. It was horrifying to see just how small a portion size was compared to how many calories something had. This little cashew trail mix had 190 calories! Do you think when eating this I would have ever stopped at this little bit? I could have easily eaten 3 of these and never realized I had just consumed close to 600 calories! Yikes. On the flip side look how many cracker crisps you can have in one serving.
The baggie system is also helpful because when I make my husband’s lunches in the morning I can just reach in and grab one and save a lot of time. Anything that makes things easier on me in the morning is a plus.
So here’s what my pantry now looks like. I also added my children’s picture to their box and my husband’s picture to our boxes. This way my kids know exactly which box is their’s and which one is not. It will be a great reminder for anyone coming over to watch my kids what they can safely give them for a snack. My husband loved the new system so it was a big hit. Now I’ll just have to keep it looking like this. 
The other change I did was put my food scale in a top drawer where it will be easy to grab and use. I plan on weighing out more of my food so that I know exactly what is a portion size and cut back on overeating. I plan to organize my fridge this week so stayed tuned for that post.
Great ideas Kristina! I love the idea of preportioning things – I just never think I have time, but of course I just have to make it!
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Thanks Daria! Yes you def have to set some time aside for this. It took me well over an hour or two to do this. It’s worth it though; especially if you’re trying to lose weight.
Great ideas! We recently cleaned up our pantry space a bit, but it didn’t occur to me to use baskets or containers. Also, I LOVE Chalene Johnson!! I have been a Turbo Jam fan for years, and I recently completed 12 weeks of Turbo Fire. The portion control is a great idea! I even purchased a food scale recently for shipping purposes, but I am now using it to watch our caleries, too. Yesterday morning I weighed 13 grams of sugar, because that is what is in one yoplait “Light” granola cup. Shocker- it’s actually a Tablespoon of sugar!! Plus my seven year old son is in a measurement unit at school so it is also an educational bonus for him and my other kids. You have motivated my to clean up a bit. Thank you!
I love having things in nice portion sizes. I sometimes will pop up popcorn and then have it in small portion bags in a pretty bowl so the kids can just grab a snack that’s decently healthy. Love the idea of having the drawers for kids snacks and husband’s lunch. Great ideas!
Great tips and ideas! I need to do the preportioned snack bags. My dh and I are having smoothies for dinner and trying to eat our calories at lunch and breakfast. I lost 2 lbs yesterday when we started that. Gotta get the weight off!
These are great tips! Now to get the motivation to do it!
(oh and I find empty boxes in my pantry all the time…ah kids!) lol
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I love the idea of bins with their photos on it! I have something similar – a red plastic bin – that the kids know they can snack from. I’ve also tried doing the portion sizes in to baggies but that didn’t last long. I only did it that first organizing day actually LOL But, you’ve reminded me to go do it again! Thanks!
Great job organizing and thanks for the tips!!!
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i have never heard of this DVD before…but I know I like it and can learn from it. good for you!! thanks for the new ideas!
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i have never heard of this DVD before…but I know I like it and can learn from it. good for you!! thanks for the new ideas!
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Super pantry makeover. Visiting for Jade Louise Designs. Great idea to put munchies is serving size portions. Also like having different bins for kids and adults. You new organized pantry looks great! Happy Monday!
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This is such an amazing idea! Thanks for sharing!
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As a mother its a headache to see our pantry messing and not organized. Having a wide pantry cabinet everything is in a right place and in a right label.