frugal ways to set up a pantry

[justmama]

Let's say you have a very small home with very little cabinet space and no pantry but a lovely big basement.  You want to start a good stockpile.  But you are broke and can't afford expensive shelves.  :)  What would you use to make your pantry in the basement and store your stockpile in an organized fashion?  Something thrifty please.  Shelving units?  Rubbermaid storage containers?  Any thoughts?  I have the basement space, just not the organizational items.

[EmsMom]

The old standby for cheap shelves was always bricks and boards.  Not sure that would be the best for pantry items which could get heavy.  Ikea sells some decent shelves for not too much.  But you could probably also just ask around from friends and family and scrounge somethings up. 

[doubledutch]

i know this depends on the area, but craigslist, thrift stores, rummage sales, etc are good around here for book shelves.  just make sure you put the heavier stuff on lower shelves and lighter weight stuff up high so it doesn't tip (or ideally, secure the shelf to the wall).  otherwise, if you have exposed studs in the basement, it can be cheap to set up a shelving system with those steel tracks and little steel brackets that hook into them, and then you can lay any boards across them (can often get boards leftover from someone else's construction/remodel project, or they shouldn't be too expensive).  or the good old concrete blocks and boards as pp mentioned!

[justmama]

Oh I also should mention I rent.  So I can't be doing any serious holes in the wall.  My landlord is a nice guy but. . . . . . :)

[lmonter]

I'd be thinking bookcases off Craigslist or freecycle (anchor them to the wall, put heavier stuff on the bottom few shelves and lighter stuff up top - only leave behind a small hole in the wall like a photo would).  Heck, I use regular cardboard boxes for some of my things - home canned and store bought.  For easier access and stacking.  The folks at Costco don't even blink when I take a few extra strategically sized boxes home with me.  :D  Subway dough boxes are about perfect for pint jars, too (yeah, that was a weird, roundabout discovery) and are decently strong.

Local bakeries for cheap/free 3.5-6 gallon buckets.  My local donut shop sells their empty food-grade buckets for $2 including lids - you can stack those suckers up quite nicely.  May not be perfect or aesthetically pleasing, but it'll work.

I didn't and still don't like shelves up against bare studs.  Because things will fall back, unless you cut out a notch in each board for each stud.  If that makes sense.  Hubby thought I was nuts for wanting him to throw up drywall on a few walls of the pantry before redoing shelves, but this way my hard work doesn't get shoved down back and down all over other things making a mess (I have four kids, it would just be a matter of time), and it looks cleaner.  We didn't mud or plaster, just screwed the drywall on - not *too* complicated.

[laohaire]

Yeah, you can scrounge, but you can also get relatively cheap plastic shelving units. We have 2 of them, 5 shelves (if you count the top, which we do use - not for pantry though). I'd put cans, jars and boxes of pasta and such on those.

Are you planning to store whole/fresh vegetables and fruit as well? Those would require a little more special care and attention to the type of storage.

If you are storing grains like rice, oats, flour, wheat berries, I'd recommend putting them in 5 gallon pails, which are pretty good mouse deterrents. Depending on how moist your basement is, you may have to consider putting in packets to keep them dry and change them every now and then. Food grade buckets with lids can be yours for free if you find sources (grocery stores might have them, restaurants might, your local food co-op like Wild Oats, etc). Make sure they are food grade, though, you don't want to store your food in a container that previously had nasty chemicals. You can also buy them at hardware stores - I got a 5-pack from Home Depot for $12 I *think* (with lids... or maybe I had to pay a little extra for those).

Scrounging is cheapest and most environmental, but if you just want to spend $20 and get started today, plastic shelving is an easy way to dive into it. You can expand as you go, which will also lessen the hit.

[gnutter]

if you go with boxes--liquor store boxes are super heavy duty--plus if you ever use them to move you get the benefit of people seeing you carry box after box of liquor into your house LOL!

[justmama]

Well I want to avoid cardboard boxes because we had a really horrible time with mold in our last house and my kids' playroom is down in the basement as well so there's no way I want the potential for mold from porous items.  But I think I may scrounge around for some bookcases or shelving units.  I'm not going to be doing fresh fruits and veggies for right now, just non-perishables like baking supplies, pasta, rice, canned goods, etc.