Appleshine: Nashville Pantry

Most southern kitchens have the luxury of cabinets, drawers and closets- all hard to come by in a small NYC apartment (like mine!)  True to it’s intention, this Nashville pantry should only hold food and drink items (with the occasional servingware exception).

First, I removed materials that were meant to live outside the pantry (charcoal to the garage, deep fryer in the cabinet, etc).  Then I took all the items off the shelves and grouped them into categories.  When putting them back up, keep like items together (condiments, dressing+marinades, canned goods, baking supplies and so on).  Place the categories according to frequency of use.  Your everyday goods like canned veggies and soups should be at eye-level while larger, less-frequently used items like flour and sugar should be down low.  Save the higher shelves for special occasion items and servingware.

Tell me, Appleshiners, how do you organize your pantry?

PS- A great cheat sheet on how to keep your pantry clean and functional for your family.

A list of 10 must-have pantry staples.

Know the life of a spice.

Pantry art– I love this one (but not this one because I hate, hate, hate pickles!  I’d write ‘cherry pie’ instead.)