Pantry Tales

And the saga continues.  The Pantry is still not quite done but we are not far off.  Perhaps rather than Pantry Tales this should be Tales of Woe!

On Thursday May 1st I was up at 5am watching the Dawn and the festival of Beltane move in on this Wheel of Life.  I ended up going into the Pantry first thing and the kitchen, working between jobs in there.  However, I did manage to do an awful lot of sorting and organising between boxes.  It was only later in the morning when the plant delivery took place that I had to down tools and sort the plants out otherwise I would not have had any plants.

I had to chuck everything outside the back door to sort it as space was at a premium in the kitchen.  The kitchen is a long galley kitchen and does not have any space at the best of times.

The first photo shows my spices and herbs which are kept in small quantity only.  As I cannot be doing with chasing small bottles around the Pantry I keep them centralised in one large container.  Easier to find that way on.  The spices and herbs I use in larger quantity usually on an everyday basis are stored in the Condiments Cupboard which was recently organised but is still a Work in Progress (WIP).

All the Pudding sachets or jellies, jelly crystals, blancmange mixes, Angel Delight, Creme Caramel mixes are stored in a wooden box for ease of access.  The jar to the side houses my paper cases once their boxes are open.  Keeps them clean and also in one place and you can easily see what patterns are in there.

Then we have in the second wooden box (above) Mug Shot snack packs,  pasta mixes for G and a different one for me, Rice sachets, Soup Mixes, meal mixes, ready bought spice mixes for adding to meat and vegetables etc.

The box above holds some of my cake decorations, liquid glucose etc.

The biscuit box for open biscuits in this house is a large poly tub.  It does not have its lid on at the moment.  It was washed recently and is somewhere in the house but have not tracked it down yet.  It will be reunited soon as.

The box below holds chocolate pieces, chocolate chips, chocolate sweets for adding to cakes etc.  It is also missing its lid for the same reason.  Will be reunited as soon as.

During the sorting out process and re-organisation I ended up with an empty box which is a novelty around here.  However it has since been used  up to store some other bits and bobs in like Gelatine powder and Glucose powder.

I keep my stock pots in large jars, sorted out by type in my Condiments Cupboard which was recently sorted out and re-arranged but which is a constant work in progress.  This cupboard holds all my jars where I store larger quantities of spices, and herbs etc.

Today at some point I am going to go through the baking chest and see what is in there.  I have designated one of the boxes for all things baking which can be pulled out specifically when I am going to bake and so that I have everything to hand.  My existing Pantry on the baking front is not big enough to accommodate all the jars needed, and therefore to simplify things I opted for the baking chest.

I have however sorted out a box for dried fruit, cake decorations, chocolate for cakes and cake decorating, herbs and spices, a box with packet mixes in including soup mixes, some pasta snack meals and also puddings i.e. jellies and blancmange and Angel Delight.  All the items are organised and easily found now. Phew that is part of the problem sorted.

However I still need to go through the big baking box sort out what is in there, and establish whether I have dedicated storage elsewhere for some of the items.  There are then the other boxes to go through and do the same with.  This Pantry is the Dry Larder where all the dried ingredients are stored.  There are bought pickles, jams and jellies in this Pantry.  However the Preserving that I do is stored in the under-stair cupboard and is due to be expanded into the Fireside cupboard.  There is a lot of preserving to do yet.

Saturday May 3rd 

My birthday I did attempt to do the Pantry again, but I failed dismally.  I therefore am going to regroup and do it on Sunday.  That is the project for the day I seriously need to get this done and dusted so that the Pantry and food situation is organised and under control.

I have added a small electric steamer to my stash though today which will be ideal. I already have one but when I want to bulk make some Creme Caramels for instance and also have a meal on the go, then I need more space.  This new one (which is smaller) will work in tandem with the one I already have which will be great when we have company as well.  Only cost me £3 at the CS and it has been PAT tested.  I also found another beautiful cut glass cake stand in excellent condition for £1, and a small jug which will be ideal for some flowers (really it is a posy vase) and it has strawberries all over it also £1.  So for £5 I found some nice finds and also helped the local Church Charity support vulnerable parents and children.

Sunday 4 May 2025

I did not want to get up this morning I was out for the count but we had arranged to nip over to see my S daughter and family's home this morning as she had a small present for me.  When I got home, it is a very striking Pussy Cat Tin under a brand Monty Bojangles and the chocolates within are to die for.  Never heard of this brand before but the Choccies are scrummy.  Plus I have a small distinctive tin for storing things in the Pantry once the choccies are gone.  I just love this it is a very vibrant Pussy Cat tin.

My S son and his wife visited yesterday and have left me with some money and I am going to purpose this towards some plants which is my current passion at the moment.  I therefore feel I did extremely well for my birthday.  It is not about presents though its about thoughtfulness and giving in whatever way you can. Not everything has to be an item. Sometimes though we cannot give as we would want to or are expected to do and that often offends which maybe was never the intention in the first place.  

After our visit we nipped to the Moor Farm Farm Shop at Newborough and G treated me to breakfast.  Needless to say we came home with some more goodies.  We have a piece of Venison for tea tonight.  I have eaten Venison before but I have never actually cooked it so this is a first for me.  From what I have read, it needs to be cooked slowly like Beef.  So will see how I get along with that.  Tea will be a little later as I will be concentrating on the Pantry.

Anyway back to the Pantry

I have a lot to do here and so I am going 

Now back into the Pantry.

Well I got the old girl bottomed out properly this afternoon and the floor has been scrubbed.  Just waiting for it to dry at the moment.  Then I will go back in and re-arrange things in a better order for me using them and make my life a little easier when it comes to baking in particular.  I also need things like sugar and bread flour easily accessible as well.  Slightly re-arranging everything so that I can find stuff when I need it.  Starting to go through some of the other boxes to get stuff into the Pantry.  Hopefully will get the Pantry finished tomorrow.  Am nearly there with it, but still have boxes of stuff to unpack.  I have to locate some of my containers as well.

Drying the Mint in bunches off the Pantry Shelf

The Herbs cost me 30p a packet.  The only thing you really have to check is that with the Thyme in particular you may have to chop part of the stem off especially if it appears Wet or Sweaty otherwise it will develop mould and will not dry and will have to be chucked.  I had two packs of Mint and three packs of Thyme.  All are being air dried the Thyme between layers of tissue though, and as have said the Mint in little bunches off the Pantry shelf.

The bottom of the Pantry is boxes/tubs but sorted with stuff in that is not used as regularly. As I have said there is a baking box and then stuff in front of that. At least it is not all over the shop, and when I bake I will have to drag out boxes. Side effect of too small a Pantry for the type of items I keep in stock. Some may have to go in the under-stair cupboard.

Will be continued tomorrow as sadly although I have got an awful lot done, still loads to unpack.

Hope everyone has a lovely evening.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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