PANTRY ORGANIZING HACKS FOR THE NEW YEAR
Updated: Oct 4, 2019
If your pantry is anything like ours after the holiday's it looks like a tornado went through it. With hosting, guests bringing extra food and stocking up on extra items for the holiday's mine has become an absolute nightmare.
In this post I'm going to walk you through how to get your pantry back in order.
CLEAR/CLEAN IT OUT:
The first thing you need to to in order to get your pantry back in order is to clear everything out. Yes this is going to make a big mess but it is essential in order to make your space function properly. If you don't clear it all out and just try to organize it as-is you will just be putting a band-aid on it instead of fixing the problem. It has to get worse to get better.
Since everything is cleared out it is a good time to go ahead and clean your pantry. Wipe down your shelves, clean the walls and sweep the floor.
GROUP BY LIKENESS:
As you are clearing out the pantry group things by likeness. For me I made a pile on the floor with all of our appliances, the food went on the table etc. It will be so much easier to start sorting through everything if you have items that are similar grouped together.
CREATE DONATE/GIFT/TRASH PILES:
As you are starting to clear out items create donate, gift and trash piles that way as you find something you no longer want or need you can add it to one of those piles. Be realistic with yourself on what you plan on keeping. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Have you used it this past year?
- Do you have the space to store it?
- Is it necessary?
- Is the date still good?
UN-BOX ITEMS:
A great way to cut down on space in your pantry is to un-box items. Instead of having several boxes of packaged snacks take them out of the packages and create a snack bin instead to house them in. The other thing that I like to do is to utilize clear storage containers, my favorite place to shop for these is at the Dollar Tree. You can find so many great options for such a great price. With having the containers clear you can easily see how much you have left and know if you need to restock.
PUT AWAY BY CATEGORY:
Once you have gone through everything and it is time to put things away take note of what you have and group like things together. For example does not make sense to store canned goods with your cereal. Instead store all of your canned goods together, then all your cereals together etc.
As you are putting things back, put them back in a way that makes sense. For things that you use often put them in an easy to reach spot. For example in my pantry I keep party/serving ware on the top as I only use it a few times a year and then my baking goods and canned goods I keep those on the shelves easier to reach as I use those items weekly.
USE BINS AS DRAWERS:
In our pantry we have very deep shelves so I needed to find a way to be able to maximize the storage but in a way where I can reach everything. What I ended up doing was using some large plastic bins and utilized them as drawers that way I could easily pull out the bin and get to the items in the back. Using bins will also help with keeping like things together as you know that all of your baking stuff is in the baking bin.
LABEL EVERYTHING:
The last step once you have everything where you want it is to label, label, label. Labeling is going to be key in keeping your space organized. If you do not label it is very likely that things will not get put away in the appropriate spot and it will end up as a mess all over again. Labeling is also helpful if you have other family members or friends that are trying to find something in your space.
My favorite way to label is with my label maker but you can easily have the same effect with a piece of tape and a sharpie. What I would concentrate on labeling would be the bins that you put your like items together in. So for example in my pantry I have all of my canned goods in one bin so I have a label on that saying cans.
I hope these tips will help you get your pantry whipped back into shape after the holiday's and throughout the year. Now keep in mind that you will have to maintain the space throughout the year, I typically do a big clean out like this at least once a year and then just keep it maintained the rest of the year with quick organizing sessions.
Let me know in the comments below if you would like to see how I organize a different size pantry.
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