Best Tips for How to Organize a Pantry
It’s almost the new year. Whether fitness and meal prep are on your mind, or you’re just trying to de-clutter your home, organizing your pantry can simplify your life.
Invest in pantry storage products
Food pantry organization is far easier if you invest in storage products. Jars, tubs, baskets and bins are perfect for storing different food types.
It’s worth looking at the items you have in your pantry before buying storage and then considering what you need. Soft and perishable items, like bread and fruit, need storage that helps keep them fresh, protected and visible. You don’t want these things hidden and forgotten at the back of a shelf.
Airtight storage will also protect items from being contaminated by odors from more pungent items, like garlic, onions and spices.
Bags of chips can take up a lot of space, but will be no good if squashed, so a basket to hold those can be a great solution.
A set of pull-out drawers or baskets at floor level, if you have a deep food pantry that can accommodate them, is a great option, especially if you have children and want to make some kid-friendly selections available for them.
Drawers and shelves also help to keep vegetables out of the sun, while rotary shelves inside your pantry allow you to get to things at the back easily. Heavy items like cans will need to be on a sturdy shelf to avoid overloading.
Make sure all food is visible and spaced out
For pantry organization that really works, items need to be easily retrieved and replaced as often as you need them.
Creating defined sections within the pantry for different items, means you can see where everything is and what needs to be replaced on your next visit to the store.
This can also help to reduce waste. Perishable items lost at the back of a pantry can be unpleasant to deal with, attract bugs and prove costly if it means you have to throw things out. Pull-out trays and baskets and revolving shelves can help with visibility.
See-through tubs and jars are great for pantry storage, as they mean everything can be neatly and securely stored, as well as visible. That includes mason jars, plastic tubs of differing sizes and cereal containers. Cereal containers, with their easy pour functions, can be a great option for pasta, grains, pulses and flour, too. Being organized on trips to the grocery store helps to ensure the pantry remains organized. If you make sure that you buy only what you need, it’ll save you storing lots of duplicate items that just take up space and may be out of date before you use them.
Every now and again, a little spring clean of your pantry, will ensure you’re not holding on to things you no longer need.
Group similar foods together
It’s useful to group similar items and store them together. It may not be a new idea, but it doesn’t make it any less effective.
It makes sense to have one area for all your canned goods. Sometimes the bottom of the pantry is best for this, to ensure you don’t end up overloading a shelf with all that weight.
When you have a number of cans of the same food stuff, consider stacking them on top of one another. By putting a different item in front of the lower cans, leaving just the top one visible behind, you’ll have better sight of the range of goods in your pantry.
Ensure perishable items such as bread, cake and any fruit or vegetables kept in the pantry are kept toward the front to avoid them going stale without you realizing.
Any items that are odorous, such as garlic or spices, need to be kept away from things like bread, cake and flour that will soak up the smells.
Cakes and cookies should be stored in different boxes so that the cookies don’t soak up the moisture from the cake, which will make it hard and the cookies soft.
If you store cookware in the pantry, it’s worth having a good sort through the items you have and deciding if you really need to hold on to them. If you have blenders, cake tins or old coffee makers that you never use, maybe it is time to get rid of them. Less clutter always makes for a more organized home.
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Keep it all organized with labels
Simple labels are a great way to keep a pantry organized. Consider labelling shelves, baskets and tubs to show where different items are stored. This is especially good for busy families and couples as everyone who goes to the pantry can understand and follow the same system.
Adhesive labels might be good for the shelves and racks that are unlikely to get dirty and need regular washing. For tubs and containers that need regular cleaning, permanent marker may be better. You won’t have to keep replacing soggy labels that way.
Getting on top of pantry organization is one of those jobs that it’s really easy to put off, but once done, it can alleviate so much daily frustration.
If you need more space in your home to create a spacious pantry area, a storage unit could be the perfect solution. Declutter to find out what you want to keep and what you can donate or throw away. Pack up what you want to keep, but don’t have room for, and pick the right size storage unit.
