Moving forward from a Pretty Pickle - Part Two - Continuing with the Pantry

So sorry for the lack of action and posts this last week which has very much been down to what has been going on around us which I will not go into detail in on here.  However despite the things that are sent to try us, I have managed to get stuck in here and there; it has been a case of having to, to keep my sanity more than anything else. Time has been against me all the way around and I have not had a few minutes to myself as a result. I had originally started to compile this post before everything was thrown up into the air, and I will have by now posted an intervening post as I was not quite ready to put this particular post as "Published".  There is therefore a little bit of cross-over between posts.

To recap;

I have been in the Pantry again, have turfed out some tubs of stored items, replenished jars, sorted things a bit more in the Pantry for ease of use more than anything else and I still do not have room for everything.  I have turfed out some of the contents of other tubs and popped them on one of the shelves. I need to be able to access some things more readily than others.  I had expressed that I was going to put a lot of my preserved goodies into the under-stair cupboard once that had been decorated out.  However first things first, Pantry needs first dibs at my attention particularly as I will be going shopping imminently. Not only that, my clearing will also release space in the dining room which is very much needed.  I will need somewhere to put the stuff from within the under-stair cupboard when I sort that out, so am trying to do what I can even though it has put the house into a bigger mess than usual.  The dining room is the room that seems to be the catch all room in the house as it is the main thoroughfare to the rest of the house. 

Anyway back to the Pantry; the Popcorn kernel jar has been topped up; very useful for a quick snack if the fancy tempts me. A lot easier to buy in bulk (I get 1kg from the local Asian shop at quite a good price).  Works out a lot cheaper buying this way compared to how the supermarkets normally sell it, and it means you can have more popcorn for treats overall. The Extra Strong Canadian Bread flour jar has been topped up, as has the SR Flour jar and Plain flour jars all ready for some action. The Wholemeal Bread flour is in its bag in one of the Crocks! I also have a designated bucket for storing my Canadian Extra Strong bread flour in as well which came from Shipton Mill.  

I have also found a tub suitable to make an improvised bread prover with the aid of a small heating mat which I am keen to put into use, especially bearing in mind that even in the middle of summer my kitchen is extremely cold!  Can but give it a try to see if it will help a bit especially as I have the new Kitchen Aid stand mixer to help with this.  I am trying to get "all my Ducks lined up in a row"!  My loaf pans are easily accessible in the cupboard as well.  I intend to make some different breads once the kitchen is restored to order (after the Pantry of course) so that I can find everything easily.  Might be more towards the weekend before will be able to do anything.  

Initially when I went into the Pantry I had sorted a couple of the shelves out and popped everything back.  However, I deconstructed it again as I was not happy with the results. In the end I have opted to put all the tinned stuff back to where it was originally in the Pantry. This was originally before the Pantry was painted out earlier in the year i.e. on the deeper bottom shelf. I tend to keep tinned stuff and the like in quantity and there is a bigger surface area as well as depth on this particular shelf, which makes it easier to see things (if G goes in it will be right under his nose and he should not be able to miss anything).  There are no guarantees that the shelves will now remain as they are as it is always a moving feast as it were as I am always trying to accommodate different items.

The shelf above that now has a roller top bread bin which I use for storing my stock of honey in.  I have some to use up and have decided as I have not made any Mead before to have a go at that and probably making a flavoured Mead; probably a mixed fruit. Will see how things go.  That would be something useful for Christmas 2025.  Always thinking forward - yes making work for myself overall, but "playing" keeps me happy at the end of the day.  Can but try it.  My Nan used to make Mead as she used to get honey from my Uncle Basil after my Granddad had to give up keeping them.

The shelf above the now re-positioned bread crock and also my cake tins will now be used to store some of my stash of dried goods that I use on a regular basis things like Rice, Porridge Oats, Almonds, Dried fruit that sort of thing.  Will not  be able to get it all on but some will make it easier to access than scrabbling around trying to locate stuff.  This to me seems the easiest option at this particular point of the evolution of this particular Pantry.  Trying to restore order to everything.

Have started dealing with the bagged items and getting them onto the next shelf up.  Progress has been made albeit slowly.  I may make up a "Baking Box" of all the general stuff that I use for baking for ease of access out of the Pantry.  Will see how things go. It may make more sense for easy access to baking ingredients. I am very pleased however with a lot of the items I have uncovered.  More there than I had anticipated.  Trying desperately to get the Pantry under real and tight control before I go for the big top up shop.  Then I will know what I need to buy in (although I now have an idea in any event).

I have emptied out a deep poly tub, one of three that I have in the dining room in order to get some of the stuff on this shelf.  If I can get more on I will do.  I am now down to the bottom of the second tub, but that is where it will stop for the time being.  I need to locate another bucket as this is further flour that I have.

I still have the top shelf and the right hand side top shelf to deal with. Currently there is a lot of bottled fruit and Tomatoes up there - these are also going into the under-stair cupboard or in the alternative if I can turn the fire-side cupboard into a proper general store I will. Will see how things pan out in that respect.  However, I think more dried goods will end up going on the top shelves still easily accessible with the aid of a small step stool that I have, which is high enough for me to get to the top shelves easily.  

I had not quite realised how much Pasta I had managed to accumulate.  Trouble is we have a fantastic little Italian shop that is family owned and they have all sorts of goodies in there and I always buy one or two bags of pasta whenever I go there which is not often so I tend to make sure that I have for at least a couple of months.  I tend to buy my tomato sauce from there as well as the prices for the Mutti sauce are really good and double the size of the supermarket versions.  They also do another Italian brand which is also very good value.

I will also be storing in the bottom of the Pantry in one of the retrieved poly tubs some of my other cake tins and storage that I use from time to time which is pretty useful and which I do not want to get rid of.  It does include my collection of Tupperware which is depleted to what it was, but still very useful.  

I already have three full boxes of preserves in the bottom of the Pantry from the shelves sorted and have the top shelf at the time of writing this post still to remove. There will probably be four boxes by the time I have finished.

Saturday was a particularly naff day, no doubt hindered by the severe lack of sleep over the past few days in respect of Missy. It was drizzling/mizzling and raining throughout the day and also chilly. The heating had to go on for a little while.

Something nice did happen though in amongst all the chaos.  I received an order from Temu. An embroidery kit that I had ordered and which cost me approximately £10. I must say I was not expecting much. However I have been very pleasantly surprised. The quality of the materials is very comparable to kits bought in the UK although this one was a lot cheaper but nonetheless quite a substantial kit. The difference being that the canvas is printed, and there is a chart as well to work from. The kit also uses a combination of quarter stitch, half stitch, three quarter stich and full cross stitch, back stitch and also bullion knots.  The threads are high quality threads and all are sorted and organised by code number and colour onto a thread organiser.

Unfortunately, I have come to the decision that Autumn decorating will not take place this year.  However, I am happy that I have managed to "collate" several lovely items which I am very chuffed with in readiness for next year.  I will probably do the same with Christmas items for next year by collating a few pieces throughout the year where I can.  I have also bought some autumn themed cake moulds as well as a couple of further cross stitch kits to work in readiness for next autumn.  I have found if I keep myself and my hands busy with things it keeps me calmer and at peace with myself (which I am often not). Often running around after G and the animals it is rare I get some focused me time.  A lot of the time I am my own worse critic!  Keeps me distracted and away from everyday issues and I am working towards something for the future.  I know it is not everyone's way, but it helps me get through.  At the end of the day no matter what happens you have to have faith and hope that things will work themselves out at the end of the day. (Dusted down with a little self-help along the way).

We have also been dealing with a very off-colour Jack Russell.  Fingers crossed she is now starting to come out of the really bad infection she has had.  The worst part is that she is very lively in herself and wanting to do things, but her body is just not co-operating. This upsets her and us. She has kept us awake for quite a few nights which has added to the stress.  Her headlights are not as good these days and she ends up bumping into all sorts of things and making a racket! There we are though such is life. She seems to be on the mend now although extremely "clingy".  Hates it when anyone goes anywhere without her which usually starts a "howling" session where she has to be calmed down.

Plans Going Forward after the Pantry is sorted

Once the Pantry is sorted out and it is all done and dusted, then we can set about the kitchen.  That will probably take a couple of days.  

Then it will be the under-stair cupboard, strip it out, wash it out, fill any cracks and loose bits and then decorate out.  I have decided that the shelves need a little ledge to stop some of the jars falling off the shelf.  Then the vinyl inserts will be popped onto the shelves.  G can then do the flooring and then will need to fill it all up again. Then it will all be nice and clean again.

Then it will be the Fireside cupboard.  This needs totally stripping out, washing down, patching and then repainting. The shelves then need lining with vinyl.  The cupboard can then be re-filled.  At the moment, I am thinking long term that I am going to store a lot of my heat processed Preserves in this cupboard as often it is a bit easier to access than the under-stair cupboard.  Let us just say that I have my work cut out.  I have however since I overhauled the Pantry earlier on in the year been keeping it tidy and on top of it. It got into a bit of a mess because I popped stuff from elsewhere in there out of the way for me to work on something else and I did not get back to it.  This is not the main reason for sorting it again, I was always going to do this just before going for a major stock up.

There are of course other things that have been going on in- between everything else.  However, more on that by the end of the week and the ironing pile is still swearing at me!  Working towards that one.

Have a lovely evening, keep safe and warm.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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