Pinterest Inspired Pantry Organization

First.  I LOVE CATHE HOLDEN.  I used her fantastic (and free) labels for this project.

My "pantry" is a big cabinet in the laundry room.  It looks like this:

 Well... it looks like this today.  Some days it looks better and some days it looks worse... much, much worse.  Let me take you on a short tour.  We've got a shelf with the roasting pan/crock pot/wafflemaker by the blue basket with the stick blender & accessories, electric knife, and salad shooter accessories.  There's the salad shooter in front.  Don't laugh.  I love that stupid thing.  An old applesauce jar of baking soda.  Then a basket of individual snack chips.  Raise your hand if you ever swore to not buy individually packaged food because it is so much more expensive.  Yup, me too.  Welcome to Camp Hypocrite.  Then we have a shelf of food (important mommy chocolate there in the front), rice cooker and a stack of plastic containers.  I think that bottom one has light bulbs and the top one in napkins and plastic silverware.  The stuff in the pink cup gets used to dole out cat food.  Ew.  TMI?  The bottom is more food, a brown box of condiments and stove top and a blue sweater box of things I'm afraid the mice would like.... cereal, grains, beans, brown sugar.

Anyway.... the point of the sidetrack tour was to see the jars of "white sauce" that my kids adore.  And next to them.... the latest project.  Also... bonus points to those of you who knew me in college.... yes.... still the same rice cooker.... still missing a handle......

We love rice.  I've always used the "dump in the rice and add water until it is at the first knuckle" measuring method.  It drives my husband insane.  BUT.  We recently switched to brown rice.  It requires more water and WAY more cooking time.  So I wasn't making it very often.  By the time I got out the rice, measured, measured more, cooked.... it just wasn't working.  So I actually read the rice package and learned 2 cups of brown rice need 4 1/2 cups of water.  Well.... 2 cups of rice just HAPPENS to be exactly the size of the empty alfredo sauce jars.  Out to the recycling bin I went.  A little goo gone and a run through the dishwasher and I was ready to go.  I put 2 cups of rice in each jar.... and realized it would never work because Hot often starts the rice and wouldn't know about the water..... so I found these cute labels by Cathe Holden and fixed them up.  At the same time I was spray-painting some plastic bins in the garage (note to self:  Do NOT spray paint things that are lattice-work and not solid... it takes forever and two cans of paint.) and had a bit of lovely "lagoon" spray paint left over.  So I gave the lids a blast and attached the labels (cut out by hand.... I should get a punch) with a little scotch tape.  Ta-da.

Simple.  I know.  But if it gets dinner on the table 3 minutes faster (and without boiling over the rice cooker and sliming starchy goo all over the counters) then I call it a win.  Bonus that it keeps the mice out and reuses some jars.