Changing up the way I store food in my food cupboard was one of the projects that were on my mind prior to us going into the lockdown. Browsing through Pinterest (as one does for such projects), I found some great inspiration and I couldn’t wait to get my project started. As we all know Pinterest is very American, the items they show on there aren’t readily available to us, so I sought out to find food cupboard storage ideas that can be achieved easily in South Africa.

Before going out and buying containers and decor items, here are some tips on what to do in the planning phase of this project

• Write out all the food items that you need storage for and the quantities that you usually buy so you can work out the number of containers you need. For me, these items are flour, sugar, cous cous, beans, etc.
• Measure the dimensions of the cupboard and write those down. This will help in figuring out how many containers can fit along the length and/or breadth of the individual shelves.
• Don’t think you have to throw out all the containers that you currently have, use them as much as you can, even though they might not fit into the current aesthetic that you want – I don’t advocate for spending money just for the sake of it.

Below are some of the items that you can use for your food cupboard that are readily available in South Africa. There is much more available, these were just to give initial ideas and the shops where you can go to scout such items.

1. Consol glass jars are available in most plasticware shops
2. Takealot – 16 Piece Spice Rack, R590
3. Superbalist – Gold Wire Basket, R190
4. Sheet Street – Medium Weave Utility Basket, R100
5. Superbalist – Wire Basket (Set of 3), R500
6. Mr Price Home – Hyacinth Round Weave Basket Medium, R260
7. Takealot – 7 Piece Canister Set, R470
8. Yuppie Chef – Uashmama Medium Paper Bag, R430
9. Pep Home – Metal Rectangular Tin, R30 and Pep Home – Metal Round Cookie Tin, R37
10. Yuppie Chef – Removable Labels (Pack of 36), R70
11. Woolworths – Small Glass Container, R240 and Woolworths-Large Glass Container, R280

Shops like Checkers, Game and China Mall Homeware stores are other great places to find cute storage container, so be sure to go look there as well. I’d also recommend checking out Tupperware, they have very functional storage containers especially the larger ones. I’m counting down the days till the lockdown is over so I can get to my project. I’ll update this post with how my food cupboard looks like after I have completed the project.

*Feature image sources: 1 and 2