The kitchen pantry often ends up being a cluttered catch-all for dry goods, cleaning supplies, and overflow kitchen tools. Here are some practical tips for organizing food and kitchen supplies to get the most out of your pantry!

Pantry Perfection

Whether you’ve been in your house for a while, or you’re looking forward to moving into a new custom home, your pantry can be a breath of fresh air every time you open the door. Instead of being a source of stress behind the closed pantry door, here are some clever organization hacks to help you make the most of every inch of every shelf, in a way that works for you! We’ll explain three straightforward steps to get your pantry from defective to perfected, and talk about some simple methods to get the most out of your space!

1. Check dates and duplicates

The first step in any organization project is to know what you have and only keep what you need and want. We’re  all guilty of keeping canned goods or crackers past the expiration date, usually these items get lost on the back of a shelf where we forget about it. Decide what dry goods you actually use for meals and snacks. For any food items you don’t need, you can donate the ones that are fresh, and get rid of the ones that are no longer usable. If you store cleaning supplies or kitchen appliances in your pantry, now is a good time to take a realistic look at what you use and what you can part with. Once you’re happy with the food and supplies you’ve sorted through, it’s time to move to the next step!

2. Sort and organize

Organizing doesn’t mean putting everything away… yet! First, you need to decide which things belong together and what should be most accessible for you to get to and use. You can group together common dinner foods like dry pasta, tomato sauce, breadcrumbs, and cooking oils, you can put together snacks, group canned goods together, put lunchbox items in the same space, whatever works best for you. Maybe you like to have healthy snacks front and center, in which case you might want to consider putting these items in view at eye-level. If you find yourself collecting 4 jars of peanut butter because you forget how many you have at home, try to find a way for these items to be visible so it’s easier to remember what you have and pinpoint what you need at the store.

3. Containers, containers, containers!

Loose bags of individual snacks, paper goods, small boxes, cans, and jars, can all easily get lost on deep pantry shelves. One way to manage and maintain organization in your pantry is to use containers to help keep your items visible and easy to get to. If you find yourself forgetting what you have, try using clear plastic containers (without lids) so you can keep like-items together and always know what you have. Not sure if you have PBJ ingredients or a certain canned vegetable? If they’re organized in clear bins, all you have to do is slide out your bin and see exactly what you have. Once your pantry items are sorted, choosing the right pantry storage containers can make all the difference! If you have small items like cutlery or small snacks, you can also try putting small bins inside a larger one, which can help keep everything sorted and usable, whatever you’re looking for.