One of the areas that I’ve struggled with the most over the years is how to organize the pantry. No matter what system I’ve tried, it seems to become a complete mess within days of organizing it! I have no idea how it happens. After spending an embarrassing amount of time one afternoon searching for chocolate chips, only to realize I had TWELVE bags of them, I decided it was time for a major pantry overhaul! I apparently also needed to do some baking.
Really….twelve bags of chocolate chips.
Here’s a before picture of my pantry. Messy, I know. Now you understand why I couldn’t find anything.
An organization project like this can be overwhelming. Here are my top 3 tips for organizing and the 5 simple steps I used to tackle my pantry organization project. (Note: we did a home remodel in between the time I took the before/after pictures, so the cabinets are now white!).
3 Tips to Make Organizing a Success
- Only keep what you actually use or need.
- Give each item a specific home!
- Label. This allows other family members to understand your organization system.
5 Steps to an Organized Pantry
Step 1: Take everything out. And I mean EVERYTHING. As you take items out, sort them into piles. As you sort, check the expiration date on everything and toss out the old stuff. I usually sort into the following categories:
Items for baking (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, my twelve bags of chocolate chips, etc).
Breakfast (pancake mix, syrup, cereal, bread, oatmeal)
Canned goods, vinegars, and oils
Kid food (goldfish, crackers, rice cakes, squeezy pouches, fruit cups, juice boxes, milk boxes)
Pasta, rice, and sauces (pasta sauce, enchilada sauce, bbq sauce)
Step 2: Throw out or donate anything that you really won’t use. Be honest, that jar of dip that would be the ‘perfect party appetizer’ for the party you will never get around to having can probably go. 🙂 Not that I’m speaking from experience or anything.
Step 3: Find pretty containers to pour pantry items into (bags of flour, sugar, pancake mix, cereal, granola, baking powder, cocoa powder, chocolate chips, oats). I used glass containers from the Container Store. For things like flour, make sure the mouth of the jar is wide enough to get at least a 1 cup measuring cup in. I love being able to measure right out of my container!
Step 4: Label your containers. I love these labels. They are easy to put on the containers, easy to write on, and I think the chalkboard look is so cute! I’ve had these on for months now, and they look as great as they did when I first put them on!
Step 5: Put everything back in. Be sure to wipe down all of the shelves before you put everything back in! I have five pantry shelves, so my shelves are organized in the same order as the list above (baking, breakfast, canned goods, kid food, pasta).
Having everything labeled and specific shelves for like items has meant that we’ve actually been able to keep it organized! Really – it’s been about 7 months now and my pantry really, truly is still this organized. And with extremely minimal effort. Once in a while I check expiration dates, but I have not needed to do a major re-organization! You know me; a pretty, organized space makes for a happy momma! The best part is that Noah knows exactly which shelf is his! He is so proud of himself for being able to open the pantry and get out his own snack. I hear a lot of, “I do it, Momma!!!” He’s two. 🙂
How do you keep your pantry organized?