Special Delivery!

So last Wednesday, I got flours in the mail!! Yes, I can spell... So yes, I got FLOURS in the mail. hehe.

 I use a LOT of flour making my own breads and muffins and bagels and so on. But I only use specialty flours, no all-purpose enriched, so buying it at the store can get a little pricy. So I found some for a GREAT price on Amazon and went ahead and ordered two 25lb bags, one whole wheat flour and one spelt flour. I'm set for a while and so happy! I told my husband about getting the flours in the mail... and how it's a possibility that I was more excited to get flours than I am getting flowers! ha! Flowers are pretty and all, but I can't DO anything with them... but I sure can with FLOUR! Yay! That's my excitement for the week! And in receiving them, it made me think of a GREAT movie, eh, probably in my top 25 I'd say... Stranger than Fiction. I love that movie. And Will Ferrell. And Maggie Gyllenhaal! When he buys her flours? But they all different types of baking flours?!? There is NOTHING more romantic and sweet than that... I LOVE it! 

But anyways, back to MY flours... They take up space. This led me to the realization that once again, my pantry had spun out of control and I needed to tidy it up to make way for 50 pounds of flour. It was somewhat organized a few months ago but it tends to get a little out of sorts with a 2 year old that likes to reorganize for me. And I also ordered freeze-dried fruits and veggies from Amazon too, so I had to make room for those too!

The dollar section at Target is my hero. They have drink buckets that are the perfect depth for my pantry and help keep things tidy, especially when it comes to our snack shelf. With a two year old and a one year old, snacks are a staple for the pantry. So my organization looks a little like this:

I wrote on the side of each of the buckets and on the containers of flours and sugars and what-not... and I'm sure I'm not the first one to think of this; I could probably do a google search and find hundreds of other smart people that beat me to it, BUT I felt like a genius for thinking of using a dry-erase marker! Right? SO perfect, in case I want to change things around. I love it!

We have LOTS of cereal... some of it is on hold until my husband gets back... but I mix about 5 different cereals into one bowl on mornings when I have cereal. That's thanks to Hungry Girl, but that's for another blog... but I face all of the boxes out so I can see the sugar content of each easily!

Here it is in its entirety

Well, actually THIS is how it normally is, because I refuse to look at a highchair all day in my dining room, unless there is a cute kid in it... so when off duty, into the pantry it goes! Awesome!

So, to aid in my pantry organization and meal-planning, I've got this trusty binder:

It's got all kinds of recipes from magazines in it that I would like to try and its also got this:

Pantry and freezer inventory lists. I have a crazy habit of stocking up on things when I find new recipes but then I find SO many recipes and end up with SO many items, sometimes there just aren't enough days in the week, and then time goes on and they may be forgotten! But this list helps me stay on top of it and better plan my meals around inventory rotation!

So yay! There you go! And now to go use up some of these pantry items, I'm going to go try my hand at Nutella Avocado Brownies! Wish me luck! If they're good, then I'll post it! ;-)

And if anyone has any helpful tips or tricks for the pantry?? DO share!!