Wondering how to organize a pantry?
When organizing a pantry, you first need to consider your current system. What is not working? What is working? Once you have identified the problem, you can get to work creating a new system or tweaking the old one.
Pantry Categories
As you pull everything out of the pantry, we sort the items into categories. Some categories that we use are:
- baking
- canned veggies
- canned tomatoes
- sauces & seasonings
- paper products
- pastas & rice
- produce
- etc.
Reduce the Number of Pantry Items
First we are looking for expired foods and duplicates. We toss the expired foods that are dangerously outdated. A manufacturer’s expiration date is typically a suggestion, not set in stone. Use your best judgement when considering whether to use expired food or not. Sometimes we find a few duplicates, which reinforces the importance of an organized pantry! If you know what you have & where it is stored, you are less likely to overbuy or purchase duplicates.
Location inside Pantry
When we put the food back into the pantry, we take a few things into consideration when arranging:
- how often the item is used
- how heavy it is
- what type of container would help you group like items
Labeling the Pantry
After the food is all returned to the pantry in an organized manner, we label the shelves (& containers) with basic categories. This labeling will help each person in the household to be able to maintain organization.
Now that your pantry is beautiful, organized & labeled… it’s up to you and your family to maintain it! 🙂