Check it Out! A Look Inside Mark Bittman's Pantry

We love getting a peak at other people's pantries - especially when that person happens to be food guru Mark Bittman!

He's been trying to get a handle on all the excess ingredients in his pantry and has vowed to buy no more dry goods until all this has been cleared out. He posted this shot on his blog, Bitten, to show his progress.

Aside from the voyeuristic appeal of seeing what Mark Bittman keeps stashed (Diamond Kosher Salt! Chiles galore!), we're in awe of how well-organized he keeps his pantry.

Which space-saving techniques and organization tricks do you spy?

We see...

• Grains inside old canning jars.
• Other miscellaneous dry ingredients in clear stacking containers.
• Half-empty bags neatly contained in larger (stylish!) boxes.

Knowing Bittman, we're willing to bet he's been cycling older ingredients to the front, too!

We have to admit that we're a little relieved to see that messy array of chiles on the top shelf, there. We were getting a little intimidated by all the organization...

• Read the full post "A Look Inside My Pantry" on Bitten, Mark Bittman's NY Times blog.

(Image: Mark Bittman via Bitten)

Comments (8)

this looks incredibly similar to my pantry - two small boxes on the bottom, mixed jars of grains, and all the other boxed stuff. and I swear it has nothing to do with my recent bittman obsession.

posted by amt230 on March 5th 2009 at 3:45pm
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I've just started transferring all my dry goods to glass storage jars from plastic. I found some great glass jars for only $2.50 each from the Dollar General. They fit my pantry shelves perfectly, two deep. Now that the storage jars are uniform, it makes the pantry look so much more organized! Of course there are still some weak areas, but bins and baskets help alot.

posted by mauka-makai on March 5th 2009 at 3:48pm
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Ok, I officially have to fix my pantry, he's putting me to shame. Guess that goes on the "to be done AFTER the PE exam" list. Otherwise I'll it'll be another strong entry in my "to procrastinate with" list.

posted by Tiamat_the_Red on March 5th 2009 at 3:52pm
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We installed shallow Elfa door shelving in one area of our pantry to hold little things like teabags, small bottles of extracts, tins of anchovies, and other things that would get lost on bigger shelves. It's very handy.

posted by heather77 on March 5th 2009 at 4:01pm
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I've had the same adzuki beans since... ? the early '90s. They moved across the continent, to 3 different cities, and now to Europe. Very well travelled adzuki beans.

(that comment about cycling older ingredients to the front, gulp, gave me a guilty pang)

posted by mschatelaine on March 5th 2009 at 4:25pm
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Oh, if only I *had* a pantry that I could organize... Sigh.

posted by Brooklynnina on March 5th 2009 at 4:41pm
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I love an organized pantry.

posted by rosebud on March 5th 2009 at 4:44pm
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I'm totally obsessed with organizing my pantry. I use leftover peanut butter jars (which, due to my husbands peanut buuter obsession we have an abundance of) for grains, flours, nuts and seeds. I probably have 15 jars full at the moment... grits, vital wheat gluten, quinoa, sushi rice etc... I'm trying to come up with some creative recipes in the next couple weeks to use up what I have before restocking the pantry with new stuff for spring/summer time recipes.

posted by fitzowicz80 on March 5th 2009 at 5:38pm
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