Who doesn’t love a great DIY pantry make-over? Having an organized pantry is high up on the satisfying scale! (Adult life)
I’ve been buying, returning, planning, and organizing my pantry for the last month and I’ve boiled it all down to eight steps for you!
Eight Steps to an Organized Pantry
- Take everything out!
In order for this to work, you need to start with a clean slate, and yes, I know this may take you all day. Set aside a few hours over the weekend, take everything out of your pantry and lay it all out on your dining table. Go through your pantry inventory and throw away all your stale pretzels and those miscellaneous weird items you will never use or eat. This is probably something we should all do every 6 months or so. - If you have wire racks, line them.
We splurged on our closet systems when we built our house, so lining wasn’t necessary for me. A quick search on Pinterest brought up various lining ideas from foam boards to plastic shelf lining from uline.com. You can make them as simple or festive as you desire. - Sketch out a plan.
If you’re a visual person like me, you’ll want to see what you’re doing before you make 10 trips to the store. This will help you figure out how many storage containers, baskets, and bins you’ll need. TIP: Use high shelves for items you don’t use very often. This is where I keep any party supplies, paper/plastic supplies, candy or sweets (to hide from kids). Use floor space for overstock or non-food items like reusable grocery bags, paper towels, and cleaning supplies. Use lower shelves for snacks you want the kids to have access to. Use higher shelves for glass containers (if any).
Pay no mind to my mad drawing skills
- Get Clear Storage Food Containers (with tight-fitting lids)
Not only do clear containers look better than a hodge-podge of boxes, they will maintain your food’s freshness longer than the box they come in. It has also helped me not buy a bunch of different snacks at one time, cluttering the pantry, and allowing things to get pushed to the back and never eaten..once again. Don’t you hate when you grab a box of crackers and discover there’s only one left in the box?! With clear storage containers, you’ll see which snacks are available and/or almost gone, just by a quick glance. I’m obsessing over the OXO storage container. You can find on Amazon or Target.
- Use Organization Tools!
Pantry organization tools like Lazy Suzans and Raised Bleachers for cans, spices, and jars are a huge key in this game. They allow everything to be in plain sight, so it won’t take you 10 tries to find your garlic powder. - Purchase different types of baskets.
You’ll need see-through baskets for higher shelves, shallow baskets for snacks, and decorative deep baskets for floor. I highly recommend purchasing the see-through baskets for higher shelves so you’re not guessing what’s in them a month from now.
- Organize food by functions:
Each basket, bin, and lazy Susan can be organized by your families needs. You can create a baking basket with your baking soda, powder, salt, vanilla, icing, a breakfast basket with pancake/waffle mix, oatmeal, and syrup, and an Italian basket with pasta, sauce, and breadcrumbs. Do you cook tacos every Tuesday? Make taco night basket! - Labeling!
This may or may not be necessary, BUT it looks good, so go ahead and get that label maker out! You will find a lot of baskets and glass jars with chalkboard labels already attached. This is great for when you need sugar instead of flour, or almond flour instead of wheat flour.
Hope this helps in your quest for organization this year! I know it was on your GOALS list! 🙂
