My Pantry Storage Part One (a) - My Dining Room Dresser top

My Pantry storage under normal circumstances consists of my fridges, freezers, my actual Dry Pantry and under the stairs, and formerly the shed.  However the latter two I am careful what I store in there.  I also have one of my Dressers which I use to keep a lot of my ground glass storage jars (vintage ones).  

My Dry Pantry holds my large old Roses and Quality Street sweetie jars for more bulk storage. I buy both sets of jars when I can locate them.  They do seem to attract a premium though.  I also have enamel ware tins for storage of small cakes, a large cake platter, bread bins, and my old sweetie tins from Heroes, Roses and Quality Street which are also used for baking - normally the Christmas cake or fruit loaves.

You do not need a pantry for food storage, however it does help.  Mine is far too small for my needs but you have to make the best of what you have and I am lucky to have one. You can literally use whatever is available to you like a small cupboard, an old blanket box, the tops of cupboards, under the bed in a cool room.  You can even turn old freezers into a storage cellar for the likes of carrots and root vegetables.  So there are ways of achieving things and making do.

I have today started stripping my dresser top of its jars and some of its contents, cleaning them and replacing contents where necessary and labelling the jars. I use hot water with white vinegar and a splash of washing up liquid to clean with especially for glassware as I find it makes the glass gleam and also cleans the wooden shelves nicely in readiness for a good polish with beeswax.  Cannot beat beeswax polish to my mind.

As part of the cleaning preparations I have also started to compile in draft a Master check list of the items I buy for my pantry.  The idea is that I will create a check list of the items I do need (and which I will pop onto the computer in due course) and use it to plan what contents I am getting short of and need to replace on a regular basis.  All part of an early spring cleaning regime.  I have to deal with other aspects in this room and so it is first on the list to deal with.

I have for many years collected ground glass storage vessels and I have started to accumulate quite a few.  Every so often when I find them I add a few more. Therefore this is an ongoing collection.  They are stored on the top of one of my dressers as the Pantry is too full to house them.  I also collect vintage crocks, tins (and new special edition commemorative pieces) and Kitchenalia, a big problem as I  only have a tiny kitchen!  My Kitchenalia collection started with my Mum's old hand whisk that she used to use for baking until I was about 10 years of age.  I kept it.  I also have a lot of "stone" storage containers (Moira) which are also part of the pantry storage/

So lots of cleaning to do as usual; but I am hoping the early start means that I get everything sorted and bottomed out before we start going off in the van again.  A little decorating would not go amiss either, however I may have to wait a little longer for that.  Getting everything square first is the order of the day.

Here is the first top-shelf on the dresser, not the top outer shelf, (although there is plenty of storage on there too) but the first inner shelf.

Left hand side

Middle

Right hand side

The three photos cover the whole length of one shelf, which is part of the 6 foot dresser.  Some of the medium sized/smaller jars are two deep on the shelf.  There are therefore an awful lot of jars, which steadily keep increasing.  At least this shelf is now clean, tidy and sorted and I know what is in the jar.  Next row yet to go.

Will probably catch you all again at the next Shelf.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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