Hi, I’m Narelle from Cook Clean Craft. I love to share family-friendly recipes, household cleaning and organization tips, and fun crafts, including sewing, crochet, felt and cardboard. I’m happy to be sharing a project with you today for Pantry, Closet and Cupboards week.
Let’s have a look at my pantry:
Nothing special, you’re probably thinking, maybe a slight obsession with Tupperware, fairly organized, but a bit of chaos creeping in. But what’s that down there?
I’d like to say I’m a super-organized housewife, with detailed menu plans and delicious feasts lovingly prepared each night, but that’s not reality. There are times when it gets late in the day and I have no idea what’s for dinner. That’s when I’m thankful for my DIY Pantry Meal Kits. I can instantly see I’ve got the key ingredients for three of my easiest meals: at the moment, that’s Tuna Mornay, Nachos and Creamy Tomato Pasta.
Simple white baskets with the added cuteness of a fabric lining and attached recipe card. Let’s see how I made them:
Materials
Plastic basket
Pretty fabric (depending on the size of your basket, a fat quarter should be plenty) 2” Bias tape
3/4” Elastic
Matching thread
Sewing machine
Scissors
Index Cards
Self-Adhesive Book Cover
Stick and Sew Velcro (hook and loop tape)
Directions:
Print out recipes on index cards, with title and ingredients on one side and directions on the back of the cards.
(Note: The index cards jammed in my printer, so I ended up printing the recipes on normal paper and gluing them to the cards.)
If you’re messy in the kitchen like I am, cover the index cards with self-adhesive book cover (or use a laminator if you’re fancy!).
Place the sticky side of the Velcro on the back of the recipe cards.
Measure the size of your basket – mine were 8” x 5” (and 2.5” deep). Cut a piece of fabric that is sized as follows:
Width = 8” (basket width) + 2×2.5” (basket depth) + 3” (overhang and seam allowance) = 16”
Height = 5” (basket width) + 2×2.5” (basket depth) + 3” (overhang and seam allowance) = 13”
Pin bias tape around the edge of the fabric.
Sew bias tape into place, leaving a small opening for threading elastic. As you’ll be threading elastic through, it doesn’t matter if it’s not perfect.
Position the Sew-on Velcro on the short side of the fabric.
Sew the Velcro into place.
Thread your elastic through the opening:
Sew the ends of the elastic together.
Sew together the opening and even out the gathering of the elastic.
Place your pretty fabric cover over your basket and stick on the recipe card.
Fill with the pantry ingredients and store in your pantry.
Depending on how organized I am, I even measure out dry ingredients like flour in jars and put onions etc in the baskets, as needed.
The baskets turned out so pretty, my mind is ticking over for all the other places I could use some cute organization!
Thanks for having me on the CSI Project. Pop over to Cook Clean Craft when you’ve got the time!