food storage and rotation

My favourite app of all time has to be Pinterest and i am on there whenever life lets me but if life happens while im on there god help you ! 

I have been researching food storage, i need to get on top of my kitchen clutter and tidy my life, we have had visitors from social services who have said my home is a health risk and so i am now on a quest to sort it all out.  I have been declutteering and cleaning for a few months now and i (we) feel that food storage options should be looked into as we cant do much else til we work this one out.   I currently have cupboards filled with food, in tins, in packets, in tubes but there is no order and no rotation so i hate to think about the dates on the cans at the back.

Anyway i digress ... Pinterest, my love, has opened my eyes to vertical can storage, and no i dont mean stacking cans in great towers like jenga games.  

I mean this, the lovely people at Amy and Toby blogspot have created and blogged about the creation of their food rotating stacking storage thingy.  

http://amy-toby.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/canned-food-storage.html  this is the link that takes you there.

Now looking at this, i thought i can do that! I have a budget of zero, lots of scrap wood and pallets, wht could go wrong?

So, with the help of Emma (my homestart support worker) we set about planning (i dont move fast, either physically or mentally).  And with the aid of OH and his power tools we made a start.

Tins of different sizes were sorted, laid out and had wood bed slats placed between them to get an idea of spacing.  

Wedge shapes where screwed to the bottom of the pallet between the bedslats to "kick" the cans forwards allowing easier removal. Then i went to

 Poundland and bought a pack of 'L' shaped metal things (thats the technical description don't ya know). Which OH screwed to the wedge to catch the can which has been kicked forwards by the wedge.

Now to clean the pallet, out comes the wire brush and elbow grease and the stupid questions are released from lips "how clean does it have to be?" I meant " how much of the green do i need to get off" " do i really have to get this back to wood colour? ".  OH reassured me i was just getting rid of the icky bits so it would be nice and ready for painting. Phew !!

[pic of nikki with wire brush] 

 So i did what any sane perrson would do and i delegated the task to roped in NJ who as you can see did a spectacular job!

Now it is ready for painting and everyday since it has rained, oh well maybe tomorrow.

Starting the school year

Just a test to see how this comes out, after a very busy year of giving up smoking and trying to loose weight, loosing family members and gaining new friends i am trying to start this blog again.

So what do i write about?   I could just poor my heart out as if this is my diary, i could try and give people advice about things i know very little about, or i could try and make it my own personal recipe folder online, taking some heat off my Pinterest account.

Lets see how things go, but first to the name of this post - school starts again in under 2 weeks !! Woohooooooo!!! Im excited, i love my kids and all, but my goodness i am stir crazy and they have cabin fever.   They need there friends and so do i.   

Yeah we had a week at Butlins Skegness and what a week that was, but that was over a week ago, JW returns to work on Tuesday and i have a week and a half to keep the kids quiet before school restarts.  And this is where the blog comes in, you will be my companion, confidant, and sounding board for the next 11 days and hopefully beyond.

I want to share our life with you as if i was talking to a close friend or relative so please treat me nice?

Jules.