Another Small Home Improvement - Pantry Upgrade

This was a super fun project for me.  With all of the prepping and stocking up we've been doing lately I needed a bigger pantry, but forget that.  We don't have the space to build a larger pantry so the one we have had to make due.  My best bet was to make our current pantry better.

The new shallower shelf actually works better to get things on and off

To begin with I went through everything and put all like items together.  I washed shelves and realized I could adjust some of them to give me better spacing and allow me to add an additional shelf.

The old top shelf relocated at the bottom is spaced to hold quart and pint jars
while the shelf above it is spaced for holding pint jars making for more storage

I removed the top shelf to give me the "extra" shelf I needed to hold my home canning.  I spaced it to hold quarts and pints as well as the one above it to hold only pint jars.  Then I needed to replace the top shelf.

These items found new homes

I happened to have a shelf out in the garage and although it wasn't as wide as the ones I have in the pantry I knew I could still make it work.  I cut two pieces of wood and screwed them in at the top, cut the shelf to length and in it went.  Although it is not as deep it is a much better size for that space and makes it much easier to use.

The top shelf now holds just what I needed

On the top shelf I have my extra food storage containers, some baking pans, picnic ware and our extra egg cartons.  That is all that I have in here for non food items.  Everything else in here is food.

Pasta, rice & beans are all in glass jars

I needed to relocate quite a few items I usually keep in the pantry, but that was fine.  I did find new homes for these things as well as got rid of quite a bit too.

On the floor of the pantry I had the perfect amount of space to hold my boxes filled with vacuum sealed dry good.  Each box has a label too so I know what is inside.  The temperature in the pantry stays pretty steady year round so it will keep nicely and the boxes will keep out any light too.

Like items together

Canned goods neatly organized

Simply adding a shelf gave me a much larger pantry and the perfect amount of space I needed.  Total cost to complete this project = $0.  Even better!