Step One-an organized pantry

We all know how it goes, work gets crazy and we find ourselves spending less time at home as we trudge on in the wonderful rat race of life. I don't know about you, but one of the first balls that gets dropped around my house when things get busy is food. (and laundry, but that's another story for another day LOL) There is food everywhere we go now-a-days and it becomes so simple to take care of other things and worry about food when I go on my lunch break. One less thing to worry about, right? Well, it may be easy, but its certainly not the healthiest solution to the problem.

My boyfriend text me earlier this week, presumably while consuming his own last minute lunch. We have both been wanting to eat healthier and he came up with an idea to get us both on the right track.  He suggested we both take turns cooking dinners that we can "exchange" with each other to bring to work. Since we, very often have opposite days off, this seemed like a great idea! I could prep meals on my days off for us and then, he could do the same for us on his days off. Or, whatever schedule we came up with. I got to work immediately!

I called my sister, a MASTER at home cooked meals, for any tips. (to be fair, I did call my Mom first, but she was busy helping my Dad with house projects so I got voicemail) Her biggest tip, she said, was to see what you have in your pantry FIRST and match what you have already and not have to buy or waste ingredients. Sounds simple enough right? Well.....then I opened my pantry and realized that there needed to be a different step one.......

I could not find my way around ANYTHING in this unorganized mess!! (enjoy my totally embarrassing pantry shot LOL)

To start with, I removed everything from the pantry.  I sorted it all and got rid of any and all expired products.  With a clear picture of what I had on hand, I picked out a few meals and made myself a shopping list.  I ran by Target first to grab some organizing supplies.

I  raided the dollar sport first and grabbed these handy little bins to keep small loose pantry items together like spice packets or jello boxes.  This way they could be in one place rather than floating around and getting lost in the back.

 

I grabbed a few magazine holder boxes for keeping my Ziploc bag boxes organized. (an idea I took from some pinterest posts)

 

 

I found these lovely stackable shelf units to better utilize my vertical space as well. Lastly, I picked up a few of these divided Ziploc containers for us to put our prepared meals in.

 



After a quick trip to the grocery store and a few hours of cooking, I had a fully organized and usable pantry and meals to get us through my work week. 

Not too bad for a days' work! It is just one out of the MANY projects that need tackling in my life, but its one step closer and the progress makes me happy!