by Linda Bayley-Brown

Created on: September 16, 2009

As a young girl I loved to look at the laden shelves in my Mother's and Grandmother's walk-in pantries. There was so much to look at, indeed it was quite an education. It was like a guided tour of ingredients, flavours and aromas. Hanging from the ceiling were all sorts, ranging from baskets, strings of things tied together, utensils and stockinged meats maturing.

The stone shelf usually had an array of bowls containing dripping, yesterdays leftovers, today's pudding, cheeses, butter and the bottomless jug of milk that had been boiled in order to prevent it going off. If you were very quiet with the door shut, not only did it serve as a hiding place for games of hide & seek, but also you could hear the drip, drip, drip of the boiled fruit in the jelly bag in readiness for bottling the next batch of preserves.

So, with the above being my inspiration I always sought to own a walk-in pantry myself . I achieved this with the house I now live in and would never want to have to crouch down on my haunches to be able to select foods for meals ever again. Believe me mother really did know best on that score. Back ache is no longer my bete noire since I have been able to select foods standing up!

My recommendations for starting your own pantry are firstly to have easily washed shelf surfaces, walls and floor. As much airy space as you can afford in the space allotted. Plenty of washable storage containers and jars. Also if you have exposed ceiling beams as I have, plenty of hooks on which to suspend certain items, such as strainers, bread baskets, brown paper bags on a string, or foods wrapped in muslin such as preserved or dried meats. I even hang herbs and flowers from the ceiling too.

Lidded baskets for storing potatoes in darkness and a bread bin for bread and rolls is a must for your pantry. You may also find an electric socket or two useful. Should you be fortunate enough to have a counter top or stone shelf you could perhaps use a food mixer and keep it and the mix away from any busy kitchen traffic. I use mine to make yogurt in the electric yogurt maker.

Any recesses can also be shelved out or made into a wine storage area. At one point two doors led into the pantry I inherited and we blocked it up and put a very large wine rack which male visitors enjoyed perusing. Not to mention the wine being out of harm's way when excited children or animals were visiting.

Choices of food to store in your pantry are of course personal. However, I would recommend

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