Harvest Some Thanksgiving Traditions

It’s that time of year again. That time when I begin to plan my tasty holiday meals with the intent of feeding friends and family mouth-watering food and create warm memories.

While I enjoy all of that, it’s around this same time that I face the truth – behind the pretty maple cabinets, my kitchen is a wreck. In the way of pantry storage, well, I kind of have none.

An old, quaint house, my home has a lot of wonderful character. But what the architectural details offer, the functional accommodations like pantry storage lack.

Each year as I plan those big fancy meals, I also plan out some time to go through and clean out the kitchen cabinets. I find there are lots of staples I didn’t realize I had, and I discover lots of other basics that make great additions to the collection we make for the local food pantry.

With the turkey doing its thing in the oven and the stuffing melding its flavors in a pot on the stove, I often start by removing all the items from the cabinet where plastic storage containers are kept. Mis-matched lids or bowls get tossed into the recycling bins. I’ll take the disorganized piles and nest the containers from largest to smallest. Finally! I can find things again.

Then I move to my dry goods cabinet. This is where pantry storage becomes really important, because if cans and boxes aren’t organized properly, I could end up with too much of one item and have nothing on hand for another frequently needed item.