We’ve all seen those gorgeous pantries with amazing pantry organization where everything is in coordinating baskets and bins that are clearly labeled and somehow magically fit every box of macaroni and cheese perfectly.  I’ve come across a few while showing homes around Locust Grove and that immediately makes me believe that the owners don’t have young children who will grab a snack, leave the box on the floor, place the wrapper on three different shelves, and forget to close the door.

While it may not be a realistic expectation to have a flawless pantry, I’ve deferred to my better half to share some of her pantry organization tips for getting and keeping a pantry organized. Here is what she shared with me.

  • Start by completely emptying the pantry: Take a few hours to completely empty the pantry. Check the expiration dates on foods. Combine items when you can such as two open boxes of the same pasta. Keep a list of items that you need to restock while cleaning out the pantry. Make sure to save a spot for these items when you are putting everything back in the pantry.
  • Put the foods into groups by types/usage. Group all of the baking ingredients together, dried pasta, soups, kid snacks, ect. before you start putting things back in the pantry. It helps give a visual of how much space you will need for different groupings.
  • Pantry organization needs to be functional. Decide what bins and baskets, if any, you need. Baskets are nice for storing things at the top of the pantry that you don’t use often. But it quickly gets old grabbing a heavy basket out of the pantry every morning just for the cereal or peanut butter. Since our pantry has the wire shelving, we have found that the plastic cafeteria trays work really well at grouping our food items together and keeping things from falling between the cracks. Risers for can foods are nice because you can see what the items are. Turntables work well in small spaces or in corners to keep jars accessible.
  • Measure before you buy. If you want a bin to store food in, first consider what is going in it and also measure your shelf to make sure that it will fit. Don’t bite off more than you can chew; I think that the clear storage containers for cereals and pastas look great, but I know I can’t keep up with them.
  • Place items back into the pantry where they are easy to see and based on who needs to reach what items. Cereals, chips, extra flour are on the top shelf of our pantry. We keep cans more at eye level since it is easier to see. On the bottom shelf we keep snacks for lunches in small bins that our daughter can easily reach for when packing her lunch.
  • Remember to rotate. Pantry organization can help you to not waste money. When you buy a new can of tomato sauce, put it in the back of the pantry and push the rest forward; this helps keep items from getting lost and then expiring.
  • Plan to straighten. About once a month before our big grocery shop, we will go through each shelf of the pantry, put things back in their places, and make note of whatever we need to add to the shopping list. If there seems to be a lot of a particular item or one that is close to expiring, we plan a meal for the week that will use it up. Taking these few minutes once a month for pantry organization helps to keep it clean in the long run.

Hopefully these practical tips will help make organizing your pantry a breeze!