How to Finally Organize Your Pantry Once and for All
I’m a pretty organized person, except for my pantry. I can never remember what I have and what I have run out of, and finding things there is a lost cause. In the end, I decided to finally take control of this, hoping that I would not find an annoying amount of the same goods on the shelves *. Spoiler: I did.
Set yourself
First things first, get everything you need to properly organize your pantry: a trash can, a stool or chair (to sit down and deliver everything if you’re short like me) and containers. I used two types of containers: sealed containers for storing dry goods and plastic boxes with lids for collecting similar items. I’m not that fantastic, so I just used masking tape and a felt-tip pen to stick the labels on the containers, but if creating a pretty look brings you joy, you can opt for prettier labels. Play The Great British Baking Show (my guilty pleasure) or your favorite playlist for more fun.
Be prepared to throw out some food. Watch out for food that has gone bad or expired ( expiration dates won’t necessarily help you with this). I have no problem throwing anything away if I know I won’t eat it (stale chips, bloody), but my boyfriend hates food waste, so I tried to do it while he was busy playing video games to actually get rid of it. from things. If you’re dealing with food waste in your home, put any food you plan to throw away in a box and date it maybe two weeks later. Everything that you have not eaten by this time goes to the trash can.
Figure out how to sort things
Taking a step back and thinking about the best places to place everything actually made it easier for my pantry to organize, so take your time and just start throwing things across the shelves. We’ve already established that I’m short, so I put what I eat the most, like tea, baking supplies, cereals and pasta (mmm, carbs), on the middle shelves. I hid heavier items like canned food and glass jars of dried beans on the lowest shelves – they fall off, they won’t have to walk long. The snacks my boyfriend and I ate the most, these crispy curls from Trader Joe’s are addictive, they were placed in a plastic box at the front of the bottom shelf (sorry dried fruit, nobody likes you) for an easy snack.
I also assembled (I mean, cut open the cardboard box) DIY shelf dividers to separate all the sauces and oils. I sorted them according to taste because that’s what excites me. Oils, including toasted sesame and walnut, on the right, are hot (soy sauce, ponzu, and peanut butter) and sour (apple cider, red wine, and balsamic vinegar) in the middle, and sweet and spicy on the left. Sauces are important for making things taste divine, so being able to quickly grab the one I want will be amazing!
Dive into
Now all that remains is to put things in their places. I made an overflow spot on my pantry floor (which I think should actually be a linen closet …) for anything that took up too much space, like cans of pasta, beans and rice. The last thing you should do is guide someone in the house through the new pantry so they can arrange things in the right places, too.
* And if you’re still curious, here are the duplicates I found: four cans of furikake , two packets of kombu , two half-filled packets of rice, two cans of garlic chili oil, two packets of dried tomatoes, and two packs of black garlic. Yes … there are too many repetitive items.