We’ve had a busy weekend… well, I have. I’ve been working on my pantry makeover and I’ve completely moved things around 3 times already! I will post pictures as soon as I have it the way I like it but it is an improvement already and I think it makes better use of the breakfast nook space that just didn’t work for us.
I forgot to take a ‘before’ picture but here is a picture of when I remembered:
Here are a few ‘in progress’ pics:
Everyone will probably kill me but I just thought of an even better way to reorganize the area to get about 90% of the functionality that I would like to have from it. Do I dare to rearrange again? Suspenseful music playing in my head.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FINISHED ARRANGEMENT… LOL.
Then the pantry makeover led me to completely reorganize the kitchen. I probably moved 80-90% of the items in the kitchen cabinets to create ‘zones’. We now have the following zones in the kitchen:
- Breakfast/Beverage/Snack zone – supplies for coffee, tea, cocoa plus cereals, oatmeals, syrups, and honey as well as the kids quick snacks and things to make PB & Js because they are always eating!
- Food storage zone – foils and wraps, baggies, Tupperware, empty jars, and reusable lunch boxes plus my pretty serving dishes and my Mom-mom’s Pyrex bowls that I don’t want to be broken are on the tippy top shelves. I did something I never thought I’d do when I put the Tupperware in the upper cabinets but it is so much easier to find and store!
- Cleaning – most of our cleaners are stored in a different place to keep them out of reach of curious little ones but we have the dish towels, rags, and scrub brushes under the sink.
- Baking – I have all of our mixing bowls, measuring cups, and baking supplies within arm’s reach of the stand mixer. I also made a place nearby for the cake pans, loaf pans, and cake decorating supplies.
- Pantry – This area holds the bulk of our foods as well as buckets under some of the pantry ‘islands’ that hold the extra flour, sugar, rice, and other bulk foods.
- Cooking- all of our frequently used pots, pans, utensils, and appliances are within arm’s reach of the stove but the others are on an open shelf in the pantry area. I also reorganized the small cabinets above the stove and removed the duplicate spices so that we could actually find what we needed. I made a space for the extra spices on the pantry shelves so we can keep them out of the way until we need them.
Our lower cabinets are really awkward so I have been using banker boxes like these to create ‘drawers’ so I can pull things out for easier access. We use shorted cardboard boxes on the lowest shelves so we don’t lose things in the bottom of the cabinets. Maybe one day I will actually buy some totes or baskets to use in place of cardboard boxes but they work for now.
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We’ve also been making some plans for St. Nicholas Day and the upcoming festivities. The kids are excited that we’ll be decorating for Christmas this week… I’m feeling kinda drained after all this pantry work but I know decorating for Christmas will be fun. We still haven’t made the shoes I wanted to make yet either.
I think we’ve completed the biggest majority of our Christmas shopping so that’s a relief. I’m now focusing on getting the menus planned for the month so that I can try to knock out the majority of the grocery shopping next week. I don’t know about your areas but our stores have been a little empty looking and things like milk, eggs, and flour are getting harder to come by… I haven’t been able to milk the goats as we let them dry up when I had surgery and the chickens are being lazy but I’m trying some new ideas to get them laying.
Here are some pictures of the shoes they made and what they got for St. Nicholas Day:
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Our Polar Express menu looks a little like this right now:
- Ham and Cheese Sliders – I want to try out a recipe for a sourdough version of the sweet rolls
- Chips and Dip
- Pigs in a blanket
- Sweet and Sour Meatballs
- Fruit & Veggie Tray
- Meat & Cheese Tray
- Various homemade cookies
- Brownies?
- Salted Caramel Cupcakes – maybe a batch of chocolate ones too!
- Snack Mix
- Fudge – can’t forget the fudge!
- Hot cocoa
- Popcorn
- Lemonade
- Sweet Tea – made with Monkfruit
(I’m putting all of this here so that I don’t forget as my Holiday Planner has been misplaced during the pantry reno.)
I believe we are going to make some Mason Jar gifts as I have some new ones in the shed and I think we can find most of the ingredients that we will need. We are planning to use some of the recipes for the cookies and snacks that we will be serving for the party. Here are some links for other gifts in a jar that you might find easy to make… many of them don’t even require cooking so even all of the kids can help even the ones who have some extra challenges.
Mason Jar Gift Ideas for Christmas (mommymadethat.com)
Gifts in Jars: Homemade Cookie Mixes, Soup Mixes, Candles, Lotions, Teas, and More! **
Gifts In A Jar For Christmas: Mason Jar Gift Ideas **
Bonus: We will most definitely be counting this as schoolwork because menu planning, reading recipes, following directions, and measuring are all very important skills to have.
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One of my favorite items I received this week was a vintage cooking menu plan… I also ordered this cookbook from Amazon. I was fortunate and found the menu plan from AbeBooks for a decent rate. I love this little book but it’s in very fragile condition so I’ll be making copies of the book so I can use it and then binding the pages and putting the original in a safe place.
Our eggs are doing well in the incubators. We had one rotten egg but the rest seem to be developing well and the kids really like to watch the progress as we candle the eggs every so often. It’s definitely a learning experience so science is taken care of for this month as we chart the progress of our little birds! We do have some other fun science experiments this month as well.
I honestly haven’t been out to check my garden during the past week as it’s been a bit chilly and rainy. I have been out of the house but I just haven’t walked over to the garden… the chickens had gotten into it the week before and decimated some of the plants. I can see the beans taking over the trellis though so I think that’s a good sign. Maybe I’ll try to get out there later today and see if we have any squash or greens that are ready to pick.
Updated pics:
We’ve got our first broccoli and cauliflower starting to make heads… Yay! We have been eating some greens from the garden and they are so good!
Anyway, I’ve got to get off my butt and figure out what’s for dinner… I also have a load of laundry in the dryer that will need folded and put away as it’s my laundry day. I just remembered that I never finished making the bed either. I’m just so scatterbrained here lately and it’s frustrating but I’m sure things will settle down a bit soon.
We hope you all have a great week!
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