Once you've made the decision to convert your pantry into one stocked with organic foods and environmentally friendly products, you'll want to take an inventory of what you already have and what you'll need to shop for. With food prices on the rise, adding a few extra organic items to the cart each week will save money in the long run and you'll have a fully stocked organic pantry in no time. A good rule of thumb is to have a backup for every bag, box, can, jar, or personal product that you use on a regular basis.

 

A pantry is not so much a cabinet or closet to store food and supplies, but an assurance that your family will be stocked with basic items in the event of weather emergencies or unexpected guests who were "in the neighborhood" and thought they'd stop by :)

 

Think of your pantry as your own personal grocery store of consumable products. When shopping, you know where to find the things on your list because the store is organized by product type. For example, the canned vegetables are on the aisle with all the other canned vegetables, and all the green bean varieties and brands are grouped together. The pastas are all on the pasta aisle, grouped by type, shape, and brand. The spices are on the spice aisle and the condiments are on the aisle with all the other condiments and salad dressings. Grouping similar items together on your pantry shelves makes it easy to shop from your own supplies and rotate the stock so you use the oldest products first.

 

 

Pantry items are considered staples or dry goods. They tend to store well and stay fresh for a long time, eliminating extra trips to the store. Every family's pantry is based on their own needs, wants, tastes, and lifestyle, so don't buy anything on the list you know you'll never eat.

 

The grocery store has overhead signs to help you navigate and shop quickly and effortlessly. Have you considered adding labels to your own pantry shelves so everyone knows where items belong? Labels take the guesswork out of "do we have any _______ ?"

 

Your home is filled with your "supplies for living". Organizing your consumable products into categories like they do at the grocery store makes it easy to set up and maintain a well-stocked organic pantry.

 

 

On August 26, 1992, Hurricane Andrew skipped across the Gulf of Mexico and headed straight for Baton Rouge Louisiana, where we lived at the time. My family and I had taken all the necessary precautions to prepare for the storm. We stocked up on water, non-perishable and kid-friendly foods, diapers, and batteries. We took photographs of every room in the house including the insides of the cabinets and closets. We carefully packed an old trunk full of scrapbooks, loose pictures and memorabilia, tucked inside plastic garbage bags for safekeeping. We also had a plastic bag full of "important papers" (copies of our driver's license, social security cards, credit cards (front and back), birth certificates, and other hard to replace family documents and photos, our renter's insurance policy, and a copy of a recent power bill) and an overnight bag with a change of clothing, snacks, flashlights, a radio, and toys. We knew where the Red Cross shelter was located and the directions for getting there. I optimistically had a Pat O'Brien's "Hurricane" cocktail before retiring that evening. Maybe we'd get a little rain...

 

But, we never thought we'd need all that stuff! At 2AM our young son awoke with the howling wind. Trees in the backyard were swirling around like lollipops on a stick. We grabbed a few blankets and pillows along with the bag we packed the night before and headed to the evacuation shelter for the night.

 

The morning after the storm, we returned home to find the largest tree in the neighborhood had fallen across the back of our house, poking holes in the roof, breaking out windows, and splitting the brick facade from top to bottom.

 

Thankfully, we had taken pictures of the inside of the house before the storm and were able to use them when making our insurance claim. We rented the house across the street (that was for sale and vacant) for three months while ours was being repaired. I won't say it was easy recovering from Hurricane Andrew because we were prepared, but we didn't add any extra stress to the situation by getting caught off guard and thinking it could never happen to us.

 

Click here for a checklist of supplies  so you can be prepared for the worst while expecting only the best.

 

 

www.epicurious.com 

Have you tried epicurious.com yet? It's one of my husband Steve's favorite sites for recipes.

 

He says "It's free to join. Recipes are from Gourmet, Bon Appetit & others. Good/honest reviews from people that offer suggestions in changes, additions, deletions, etc."

 

There you have it! A great resource when you're in charge of organizing the neighborhood block party this summer.

 

There's so much talk about recycling and re-using things. Do you have any ideas for re-using ordinary items in a fresh, new way?
                                                                                        -- Mandy
A:

Why throw something away when you can use it more than once? Reusing product packaging to contain something new is a great way to repurpose items you already have.

 

What are your favorite ways to recycle items and get a second or third use out of something? Send me an email and let me know your ideas. I'll post the responses on the web site at www.SouthernHomeOrganizers.com .

 

Do you have a question about how to organize a particular area of your home? Send me an email and I'll answer - promise!