Organising my pantry

As long as it wasn't a Tupperware party

I've got several glass Kilner jars from Dunelm with coloured pasta, old buttons, balloons etc on my pantry shelves. I never eat the pasta, it's just there to look nice. Moroccan cous cous is my favourite [I love it with ham], so that gets used up but I often find some of Ainsleys risottos lurking around. I've got some of my mums old crockery on the top shelf. It's annoyingly full and messy at the moment but when we went on holiday last year my decorator came in and painted the kitchen and the larder [it had green distressed shelves that had been fashionable once] and I couldn't wait to get home to re arrange it all. I'd like the door to have a glass top half cause I really like looking at it when it's tidy [it's not a walk in pantry just a big cupbard really]. My ex has still got a marble slab in his pantry for keeping things cold. I'm quite envious of that. Lyndy; I've got a tupperware jug with a lid that I still use all the time. Someone once threw the lid away and I had to rescue it from the dustbin.

We have that one I think, but not sure about the lid, haven't seen it for ages now I come to think of it - is the jug brown?

I just have loads of plastic boxes etc in a top cupboard which drive me batty because I cannot reach them, can never find the one I want and then the rest come crashing down. Now I have written it down I realise how stupid that sounds so I will look for another home for them soon. But where? I would have to use that top cupboard for something else and at least the plastic boxes are light.

It's a cream colour, but the top is in three parts so when you wash it it's easy to lose one of the bits. It's probably a collectors item now as most people will have lost the top. Do they ever have tupperware on Flog It I wonder?? I could be sitting on a fortune....

Pantry raid!!! Oops sorry..it was OH's idea.

I have the plastic boxes all in a big plastic box on a shelf in a cupboard. So I know where to find them - but can I find the correct lids?

I like Ikea but the one I use would be easier to get around if you had a map. As its designed to take you around places you need to go.

When we emptied DH's parent's house we found a lovely Mottoware jug which no-one else wanted. I took it and it started a bit of an obsession. I now have display cabinet full of great mottoware plus two large cardboard boxes at the back of the wardrobe.

Just after we started collecting, prices started rising. Unfortunately, now we have houseful, prices are at rock bottom.

Tegan- your tupperware jug sounds like mine but mine is light brown. Getting excited now, must look for the lid in case it is a collector's item!

chrisy69 our IKEA has maps every so often saying 'YOU ARE HERE' it doesn't help much though.

The Tupperware parties I went to were not as good as Ariadnes.!! glad to see I am not the only other Tupperware addict!

My gran had one in the middle of the house under the stairwell. This was a terraced house where the stairs went up through a door in the corner of the back room. It was stuffed with all sorts of goodies. The bottled blackcurrants and blackcurrant jelly from the allotment is what I remember most. I would love a walk in larder.

Just googled Mottoware; it's lovely. A bit like a rustic Clarice Cliff. By the way my tupperware jug isn't totally cream; it's a bit yellowy brown. On the subject of collectables, I was watching a Bargain Hunt type programme the other night and they bought a pheasant on a marble stand; the 'expert' said it would be easy to sell and was worth a lot more than they paid for it; annoyingly I didn't watch the whole programme because I saw one just like it in an antique shop on Friday and didn't know if it was a bargain or not. It's really bothering me now.

Oh now I want to go to ikea.

Margaretm I though it was only me! There is s cupboard, above the cooker, which I can only just teach without the step stool, and yes, every time I open it.....

But don't you think these plastic boxes have a way of tricking us? In said cupboard there are about four boxes without lids, and a small carrier bag with around six lids, none of which fit those boxes!

It's metamorhposis in action. Some of the tubs metamorphose into lids.

Either that or they get together and breed lids of the wrong size.

Or the lid fairy.

What about the coat hanger fairy? My hangers always multiply when I'm not looking!
I take bags of them to the charity shop and when I get home, they've done it again!

I read a scifi story once in which paper clips were the egg form of coat hangers and coat hangers were the larval form of bicycles (I think - may have missed a stage) It was very convincing.

If you look very carefully at the 'walls' in Ikea, you can see that there are well-camouflaged doors. I watched staff disappearing through them years ago, they are a brilliant way to get out fast if you don't want to do the whole tour of Ikea, ie. get to the bitsandbobs dept. in a hurry!

I used to have a pantry. I think when you have one, you do rather tend to hoard. I miss mine though, even if I am rather better organised, so have a pantry in an outbuilding instead.

My Mil is dreadful though. She once set us out a 20 year old tin of corned beef to have for lunch, when she herself was out shopping. It had blown! How she could do that I have no idea. It was green and purple when DBH opened it. She complained about the amount of shopping we take up with us when we visit, after that episode she dare not, and DBH inspects her fridge as he unpacks and casts a cautious eye over her pantry. She has since had a huge clear out, mainly instigated by his finding herbs dating from the 70s.

I confess that I scraped the mould off the top of the jam pot before I put it on the table yesterday, I do hope that no one noticed!