Eating Insanely Well Starts With a Food Pantry.

by Lauren Hirt
My Nutrition, Organization at Home, Space Design

SOMETIMES "JUST DOING IT" IS NOT THE BEST IDEA

I got hungry after cutting out most of my foods in plastic packaging this week. No bread for peanut butter sandwiches, no crackers, no cheese, and so forth. Yes, in the back of my mind, I knew that I would need to bake my own bread and make my own crackers, but I did not actually make these ahead of time. Instead, I just dove in without a plan. Live and learn.

So, I’ve been snacking on what I have: muesli and peanut butter. It’s pretty good, actually.

THE PLAN: MAKE A MENU FOR THE WEEK

Besides avoiding foods packaged in plastic, I want to eat insanely well, which you might have guessed if I’m making my own bread and crackers. This means I must have a plan: a weekly menu + recipes + shopping + a whole lot of time to make recipes.

With Pinterest and Instagram, recipes are a cinch. I found recipes for vegan staples, breakfasts, snacks, baked goods, lunch, and dinner.

Since I’m starting a vegan pantry from scratch, I need to buy a lot of new ingredients. After several trips to the organic food shop, I realized I needed a lot of space to store everything.

DESIGNING A FOOD PANTRY

I’m staying with a friend in my current temporary life, so I don’t have my own kitchen or storage space. Here’s what I’m thinking: I want the shelves to be up off the floor, food should be easy to reach, with a little storage below for tea and coffee trays. The best arrangement for my pantry design has vertical storage space against a wall near a corner.

And most importantly, this support element should be something low, strong, and stable. It’s wonderful to design without worrying about earthquakes. 🙂

THE BENCH

The Action store in my neighborhood had just the thing: a bamboo bench for under €18. I have been scooping up a few sets of hanging boxes I love, which would work as shelves. That was my design; all I had to do was put the bench together and fill the pantry.

CONCLUSION

My pantry is even better than I expected. I like the spices on the window shelf to expand the pantry around the corner. I’m besotted with my pantry (and that’s a good thing because I need to start making meals and snacks STAT!)

As always, my goal is to make the best life for myself that I can. I pay attention to my new world around me, I try stuff, and open new doors.

I try six new things for my storyboard drawing project every day. You can follow my drawings on the About Jam page or on the AboutJam.nl YouTube channel.

How would you describe your food storage setup? Hit the contact button and tell me. Cheers.