my whole foods pantry

Today I bring you......my pantry. 

My friend Amanda awhile back said to me, "you totally have to blog your pantry." And while that was like, forever ago, I finally pulled out the flash and took photos. So uhm, here it is.

I figured a good time to share was after a restocking trip....

 

 

 

 

 

The pull out drawers are my favorite. I love them. Those and the butcher block island are a must have in the someday-forever-house. 

I'm in the midst of this class. Week seven right now and still loving it. I've been looking at my pantry a little differently and with a little more gratitude. There are a lot more beans in there now compared to 6 weeks ago. I'm cooking up double batches of beans these days and freezing half of them for easy dinner night. Just toss the drained beans into a quart mason jar and freeze. Hello super easy dinner. I love this!

As you can see in the first picture, I buy a lot of pantry items in bulk. This is the bulk option at my health food store. They do offer a few bins.... but the majority of it is in pre-weighed packages. Bonus - I don't buy sandwich sized bags anymore.

For storage, I'm a glass jar girl all the way. Louisiana is known for bugs. Cockroaches in particular. When we moved here we were told you had to spray for them. We did. Twice. Outside only. (it's a monthly thing). I decided that I would rather keep a very clean pantry/kitchen with everything stored in jars of some sort before I would spray for the four years we live here. We're a few months shy of three years and guess what? No bugs.

Favorite glass jar tip : Sharpie markers to label. They come off with a gentle scrub from a sponge. I recently started labeling our drinking jars/glasses at the beginning of the morning too. Guess who is tired of washing 4 times as many glasses as there are people?

Also, Mandy just shared her genius idea of flipping the lid upside down for storing frozen/dried goods if you have old school canning lids that contain bpa. We're hoping to convert our stash this summer with bpa free lids & rings.

Just for fun, here are some favorite whole foods books with excellent pantry tips : 

~ Feeding the Whole Family: Recipes for Babies, Young Children, and Their Parents by Cynthia Lair

   (Feeding the Whole Family was my first whole foods cookbook.... it led the way for changing how we ate!)

~ Urban Pantry: Tips and Recipes for a Thrifty, Sustainable and Seasonal Kitchen by Amy Pennington

~ Super Natural Every Day: Well-loved Recipes from My Natural Foods Kitchen by Heidi Swanson

 

 

 

 

Eating whole foods is not cheap. Humanely raised, organically grown foods will always be more expensive. Sometimes I struggle with the amount we spend on food. ($200 most weeks to feed 5-6 people 3 meals a day) Heather shared something in class last week that really resonated with me, that helped me rest a little easier about this expense, this investment.

 

"Many of us who include high quality whole foods in our diet have found it important

enough to make sacrifices in other ares of the family budget to accommodate the

expense. Clothing is sought after second hand before purchasing new, dining out and

travel is limited, books/furniture/household goods are often purchased used, traded or

decided not really that important. Families seek entertainment by way of local parks,

libraries, free in-town music festivals, and nature activities as a way to go easy on the

budget and still have a life." ~Heather Bruggeman in the Whole Food Kitchen

 

This is so true for our family. Somehow when you know you have friends in this journey, it makes the road traveled all the more worthy.

 

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p.s. I'm over at Rhythm of the Home today too...... come visit!

 

Comments

[Jennifer Wingard]

I love this pantry! I store all my goods in glass jars as well (roaches, weevils, and ants are the bane of my existence--gotta love the south), although not in mason jars--some of those square-ish glass canisters with metal lids from Walmart, I think. I chose those because, for some items, I need far more volume than I can get in mason jars. I use vis-a-vis markers to mark mine. I love the pantry cabinet itself, though. Where in the world did you find it?

[Stephinie]

Thank you! The pantry is a built in and was all ready here when we bought the house. It's a deep pantry with slide out shelves. I know I have seen similar styled shelves at Ikea & Lowes as well.

[Dawn]

Looking at pictures of organized pantries, full of good food, just makes me happy. Yours is beautiful. I'm certainly inspired. I need to try using my cloth bags for bulk items when shopping again. I used to, but I got so many dirty looks from checkers who didn't like to open them up to see what was inside. I don't like the plastic bags though.

[maria]

I prefer to purchase good quality food, than drive a brand new car.

Your pantry is wonderful...thank you for sharing.

(visiting you from the 30day vegan workshop)

m.

[Stephinie]

Thank you! And yes, I know those looks. I made some vintage produce bags and this woman looked at me one day and said "You put your apples in a pillowcase?!" I was speechless. "Uhm yes. I don't like plastic." I told her politely. She really thought I was a little crazy!

[Stephinie]

Me too. What a beautiful bit of truth there. Thank you for saying hello :)

[Karen]

HI Stephanie,, I am in taking Heather's Vegan class with you and wanted to check out your pantry. Great idea using sharpies. I am so going to do that. I do not like having to wash around the labels on my jars. This is such an easy solution!
Karen from CT

[Sarah]

Very nice pantry!

[Stephinie]

Thank you Karen. I also write the kids names on their glasses at the beginning of the day so we don't go through a dozen each! They love drawing on them & it scrubs right off :)

[Stephinie]

Thanks for visiting & taking a peek :)

[denise]

I love love love your pantry! I have been looking at pantry designs considering how I want to re-do ours (not very functional with just shallow shelves). That is fantastic with the sliding drawers and multiple shelves. :) I store everything in canning jars too, and the shallow shelves we have (plus kids rifling through things) always makes me afraid something will shatter. That looks sturdy.

[Gaby]

just found your blog through heather's course and i'm so jealous of your pantry ;) we have bugs here too, but mostly it's the moths driving me crazy. so frustrating.

[JennO]

Love the Sharpie idea...why hadn't I heard of that by now?! Thanks for opening your home to us. You've inspired me to share mine in an upcoming blog :)

[Stephinie]

Oh those moths! We had trouble with them once up north..... I stood in the kitchen and vacuumed them out of the air. Not the most fun day ever...... but certainly laughable now!

[Stephinie]

Wonderful! It's always great to share bits of our spaces with one another. Thanks for taking a moment to say hello :)