Having a well-organized pantry is part of having an overall organized kitchen. You may think your pantry is fine as-is, but these ideas to organize your pantry could save you time and money.
If you know where everything is, you save time by not having to look through shelf after shelf for a simple can of diced tomatoes, and you save money because you won't accidentally buy food items multiple times.
You'll also get an idea of what your cooking habits are and where you can cut back or purchase more.
Here's an easy list of ideas for organizing your pantry so you can store things in a tidy way and create magazine-worthy pantry space in your own home.
The first idea to organize your pantry is to remove all cans, jars and everything else from the pantry and space the contents on a dining room table or the kitchen counter so you can see everything. Place duplicate items next to each other. Then, wipe out the shelves of your pantry with an all-purpose cleaner, making sure you get rid of any cobwebs in the process.
Chances are, you have multiple food gifts, such as jams, jellies, boxed mixes and drink mix powders cluttering up your pantry. If you haven't used them in a year, throw them away. There's no sense in keeping food items, which have an expiration date, for sentimental reasons.
The same reasoning should go with unusual items you've been meaning to use in a recipe. If it's expired, you don't use it or you don't like it, throw it away. If you have too much of something to use in a reasonable amount of time, donate it to a food pantry.
Your pantry space should only house what you'll actually use. Those jars full of fancy goods you'll never open may look pretty, but they're taking up precious room for yummy stuff you'll actually reach for. Treat this storage space as you should any other and make room for actual, edible food.
A home cook should always have certain items on hand to throw together a meal in minutes with a few supplementary items from the refrigerator or freezer. Plus, you'll be prepared to feed your family in case of an emergency, such as the electricity going out in a storm.
According to Real Simple, you should always have olive oil, vegetable oil, balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, spices, herbs, canned tuna, canned or dried beans, chicken broth or concentrate, tomato paste, jars of marinara sauce, red and white wine, pasta, rice, all-purpose flour, sugar, potatoes, garlic and onions.
Your pantry organization should make the space more functional and easy to use, so make sure that's really what happens in your house! Keep commonly-used items on shelves that are eye level and put less-frequently-used items on the bottom shelf or the top shelf to make space for more common items.
If you stack things, put the items you use a lot on the top so you're not always trying to pull them out from underneath other bins or baskets.
For large items like bulky appliances, it's usually best to keep them on the lowest shelf. They take up a lot of space and are heavy or hard to handle at times — you don't want your expensive mixer to fall on you while you try to take it off the top shelf, so keep it lower where it's easier to pick up.
Another idea to organize your pantry is to go up! Your pantry door is more than a door — it's vertical space for storage! Take advantage of the door and place hooks or hanging racks onto it a place to store small items, like aprons, brooms, spices or canned goods. There are over-the-door pantry organizers that are basically little shelves to take advantage of all of that vertical space. You can add almost a whole wall of mini shelves for smaller items, such as cans and spices.
The big plus with these is that they aren't very deep, so you won't lose anything in a dark corner or forget about it because it's not visible — you're displaying everything all at once making it an excellent idea for more storage!
When things are in too tightly, it becomes difficult to take things out when you need them and it can actually create more of a mess. If you have to play Tetris every time you try to put something back into its spot in the pantry, then you've overcrowded your storage space and might want to either get rid of a few items or find a new spot for them.
The way you organize your pantry shelves will make the biggest difference in how your pantry functions and how easily you can find things. These ideas for organizing your pantry will help.
Divide your pantry into groups and create zones for each type of item to better find what you're looking for. Here's a category list you can group items into:
Keeping similar items together in such a way gives you a simple way of identifying where things go and where you can find them, so you can quickly grab whatever you need.
Using storage containers to store food to organize your pantry can make it easier to see things. You can also stack them and organize them to save space. There are lots of different types and styles to choose from, just try to keep them consistent and use the same type as much as possible.
For any type of dry goods, you can use clear plastic containers with a resealable opening for storage. Baking ingredients like flour and sugar are great in glass containers or stackable plastic bins with lids. For liquids, find matching bottles that are all the same shape and size. This can both look better in your house and make things fit more easily onto shelves or in cabinets for better organization.
Have you ever tried to get one thing from a shelf in the pantry only to have two or three chip bags fall on you and create a mess? Adding baskets or bins to your shelves will help you keep things contained so they aren't falling off of the shelves while giving you easy access to every item. It can help you group things together more easily and make items much easier to find when you need them.
Bins and baskets come in all shapes and sizes and styles, so choose those that will make the most sense for your pantry items and shelf space. If you have lots of smaller items and only a few larger ones, use many smaller bins and only a few large ones.
If you're storing snacks on open shelves that aren't hidden by cabinet doors, opt for a stylish basket or two so it keeps the same aesthetic as the rest of your home, but will allow you to store items for easy access.
Another idea to organize your pantry is to add labels to everything. Baskets, bins, drawers, containers, jars, cabinets and shelves can all have labels to remind you where everything goes.
You can decide how you want to label items, whether you make a category for each shelf section and add labels to the bins within the section, or you label each individual item and its place on the shelf. This way, when someone wants a snack, they can find the bin or shelf labeled "snacks."
If you're baking, you can go to one place in your pantry and find all of the ingredients to grab everything you need.
Lazy Susans are often used in corners, where it's a little crowded and messy at times. Adding a lazy Susan can help you access things from the back without reaching over and knocking down other items in front. It's a great idea for storing things like bottles and spices, which are typically smaller and can get disorganized quickly.
If you want to take your storage extreme level, try these ideas to organize your pantry.
To keep track of everything in your pantry all at once, you can keep a running written inventory. This will take time in the beginning, because you'll need to make a list of everything in the pantry and how much of it you have.
Then, every time you take something out of a basket or bin, you'll make note of it. You can do this using a clipboard that hangs on the wall inside the pantry doors or you can take it digital and make a spreadsheet you can access via your phone.
This can help you know what to add to your grocery list since you can look and see what you already have in your pantry.
If your pantry and your wallet allow for it, you can get custom-made containers and other pantry organization fittings, like pull-out drawers and pull-out shelves — there are even options for custom rotating storage for cans of all sizes.
This can get expensive if you're paying someone else to do it all for you. However, there are DIY options and you can learn how to add your own additional cabinets, shelves and drawers for storage.
If you have a deep corner that can get crowded or makes it hard to reach items in the back, you can opt for a custom lazy Susan.
These ideas to organize your pantry won't do much good if you or other family members don't follow them. When you purchase groceries each week, immediately place them where they belong.
Once a month, declutter and regroup items in the pantry to ensure everything is in its place. It may seem like a lot of effort at the moment, but it will save you hours of time re-organizing your pantry and will reduce your frustration when you walk into the pantry!
Morgen Henderson is a writer who grew up in Utah. She lived in the Dominican Republic for a year and a half, where she was involved in humanitarian service. Some of Morgen's work has appeared in State of Digital, The Next Scoop and TechPatio. In her free time, she loves to travel, bake, master DIY projects and improve her Spanish skills.