Welcome to the ultimate pantry organization guide, where you can learn the tricks and get some ideas to organize your pantry in your own style.
Just imagine having a well-organized pantry, no more mess, no more searching for the ingredients, no more stress of expiring ingredients; doesn’t it feel good?
It is an art to transform your pantry into a functional and aesthetic space. Because the pantry is out of sight, it is mostly the storehouse of all sorts of clutter, from half-used grocery items, spices and snacks to randomly used kitchen appliances.
Benefits of Pantry Organization
An organized pantry is worthwhile in simplifying the meal preparation and locating the ingredients in no time.
However, it also helps in minimizing food wastage by tracking expiration dates of the ingredients.
A clean and clutter-free kitchen also calms your nerves and keeps you stress-free while preparing food.
Here are some brilliant tips to make your pantry organization clutter-free.
1: Clear Out the Pantry
The first step in pantry organization is cleaning. Take every single thing out of the pantry and deeply clean the cupboards. It is necessary to wipe down the shelves and walls to re-organize things in your own way and to make the process easier.
Check the expiry of every single ingredient and discard the expired ones.
2: Categorize the Items
To free up your space and energy, it is recommended to categorize your pantry items. You can group the similar items together, such as breakfast items, canned items, spices, pastas, baking items and snacks.
3: Evaluate the Categories
Once you categorized the items, then you should check the categories if you can combine any of them into one. In this way, you can also check which category is dominating the other one, and you can make your own category.
4: Utilize the storage container and jars
There are many items in pantry essentials that can stay longer, or you can enhance their shelf-life if stored carefully. The containers and airtight jars are game changers in this respect. First you should measure your pantry size and then select the containers that can be fitted to the available space.
Store dry food items like flour, rice, sugar, cookies, cereals and pasta in clean and airtight containers. You can choose the container or jars according to the food quantity as well.
5: Use Labels
Everyone wants to save time while working in the kitchen. It is always annoying to find the right ingredient if there are look-like ingredients in the cupboard. For example, a person who needs sugar could be mistaken for a salt jar if the jars are not tabled. So the best way is to label the jars and containers to find things easily.
You can use handwritten labels or printed labels that are available on markets. The choice is yours.
6: Utilize the Vertical Space
If you have a lot of stuff to store but not enough space, then don’t forget to utilize the vertical spaces in your pantry. There are available adjustable shelves in the market for the same purpose.
Install the adjustable racks in the vertical spaces to utilize every inch of your space. You can store jars and bottles and much more in these spaces.
7: Make Sections
In order to give your pantry an elegant look and hassle-free space, you can make sections of the items based on family needs as well. For instance, the breakfast sections may contain cereals, porridge, bread etc. Likewise, you can create sections for baking items, snacks, beverages, canned foods and many more. It will help you find things easily. You should always arrange a section for frequently used kitchen appliances, as well as blenders, juicers, toasters, sandwich makers etc.
8: Styling Your Pantry With Space-Saving Tools
When it comes to styling your pantry, space-saving tools help a lot. Uniformity is the key factor in creating an aesthetic sense in organization while arranging the pantry. Always choose similar bins, jars or containers to create a visually cohesive and well organized space. Choosing the same color of containers and jars also appeals to the eyes.
9: Maintenance
Maintenance of the pantry is as important as organizing. This is not enough to organize your pantry just for once. Don’t let your efforts go to waste. If you want to keep it always organized, then you have to maintain it from time to time.
Points to be Consider
- You should keep track of the availability or stock of ingredients.
- You should keep track of the expiration dates of the ingredients to ensure that your food is not putting your lives at risk.
- Make weekly meal plans to maintain the pantry and your cooking as it will help to check whether the required ingredients are available or not.
- Keep the check on canned goods as they have a short expiry once they are opened.
