My revamped pantry

minimalistmommy@gmail.com — Tue, 13 May 2008 01:01:35 GMT

Everywhere I turn I am bombarded with information on BPA in plastic, not only baby bottles but everything we use to hold food. I started to take a long hard look at my kitchen and everywhere I glanced something I used on a regular basis was held in a plastic container. Now I have no intention of replacing everything I own all at once, I plan to practice common sense in this area and will definitely refrain from the obvious culprits such as heating them in the microwave.

While glancing over my cupboards at all of those toxic containers I thought "what better time to do a little cleaning and organizing?". While I was at it I decided to make use of the many glass mason jars that I had picked up at various yard sales and thrift stores. I neatly filled them with various pantry items that previously called a plastic container home. In addition to safer storage they look oh so cute lined up in the cupboard with neat little labels identifying their contents. The majority of my pantry items are bought at a local bulk food store and I pick up the exact quantity needed to fit perfectly in their specified container. This way I am without all those small bags and packages of miniscule amounts of ingredients that would not fit into the assigned containers.

I am still not ready to get rid of all of the Lock n' Locks that I purchased. When my kitchen renovation was finally complete I was so pleased with the final outcome as the measurements taken when the cupboards were being designed fit perfectly with the containers I had in mind. I no more stuck that final cayenne pepper label on the final container when the whole BPA thing hit the news. Great!. Now everything I own is sitting in these plastic boxes (darn cute I may add) but supposedly toxic. AGHHHHH. Instead of chucking them all in the garbage I decided to replace the items that have yet to be assigned a plastic container such as honey, blackstrap molasses and homemade pancake syrup. I will not be tossing the new lock n' locks just yet, rather I will continue to use caution in how I handle them. The ingredients in these jars are mainly dry goods and are simply filled up when depleted and never see the inside of a microwave.

So here is my new updated pantry in all its BPA glory....still pretty cute I must say.

For more stories on how others tackled something in their home visit 5 minutes for Mom

The Organizing Blog

My revamped pantry