Sandy used chalkboard contact paper. I found some on Amazon for $8.22, an 18 x 6 sheet which would have been plenty for me. But I bought precut labels for $9 from Chalk and Talk to save some time. I also bought a NeoChalk Pen for $2 because Amazon suggested it.
Here is my pantry after labeling:
About my pantry - the shelving is elfa. When Jim walked into The Container Store and saw their display holding a heavy duty KitchenAid mixer, he immediately put in an order.
The top shelf has the things I don't use much - a deep fryer, cake carrier and aluminum pans. They're all light and easy to get down.
The next shelf down has all of my cookbooks, organized by size. This shelf has a liner so none of the cookbooks slip down.
The middle shelf has canned goods, a few snacks, and breads.
The next shelf has my mixer, some cooking pans that are too big for my cabinet, breakfast items, and snacks. The sections are separated with elfa dividers.
The lowest shelf has all my baking supplies. And the bottom of the pantry is storage for glass punch cups we inherited from Jim's mom along with paper goods. You can't see the floor, but it has beverages like canned cokes and water bottles. I usually have a stepladder because I'm short, but I took it out for today. By the way, I'm the shortest person in the family at almost 5 feet, 2 inches, so I thought if I could see the labels, everyone else could. Now using them? That's a different story. Also, the pictures are from my viewpoint.
Okay, now that that's out of the way, onto the labeling. I started on the third shelf from the top going from left to right. Can you tell I work in education? The first box I wanted to label - Meals in Boxes - has Hamburger Helper, Kraft Mac & Cheese, and Ramen noodles. Don't judge. I didn't want the label to go over the holes, so I trimmed it and put it on the solid corner. From a standing vantage, it works for me.
Notice I moved the pineapple juice? I couldn't see the "instant rice" over "cornmeal", so I just switched placement. Then, I decided I didn't like the juice cans, so I turned those for easier visual labeling.
And then, I turned them again.
These containers were hard because the labels didn't fit, but a quick cut with my old Fiskars paper trimmer solved that. And yes, it bothers me that the label says "drink mix" instead of "drink mixes", but I decided I could live with that for now.
Here is the breakfast section. The back shorter container is actually empty - room to grow! - so it's not labeled yet.
Next to that are some snacks and more breakfast items. I decided to label the tops of the containers because that's what everyone sees. Also, I put the containers so that the part I grab is facing outward.
Here is my baking shelf. For frosting items, I had to do the smaller, corner label again. I used "icing" because it fit better than "frosting". "Icing" seems to be an outdated term, but it tells me what's in the container. The next two boxes are actually ice cube trays, an old tip from Confessions of an Organized Homemaker by Deniece Schofield.
Last are my empty containers for chocolate chips and powdered sugar. I put the containers facing this way because it's easier to grab the lids with the grippers on the sides. Yes, I'm a nerd - I tried grabbing both ways before deciding. You can also see a glimpse of my wonderful husband's solution for messy chips storage.
About the labels themselves - I couldn't leave well enough alone. So I pulled out some old McGill punches. I used a corner punch for the biggest label:
I used a border punch for the medium labels:
The Good: Easy to do, I like how everything is visually and physically accessible.
The Bad: The pen smudges some.
Summary: I'm pretty happy with the pantry for now!
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