Organising Your Pantry

How To Organise Your Pantry

Organising your pantry will make cooking, baking and enjoying your kitchen so much easier. All of your ingredients in the one space in easily accessible storage solutions will make all the difference. The pantry is a staple in a family home and introducing a few simple organisation techniques and storage solutions will make your pantry thrive regardless of the space you have available.

Your pantry can be anything. Traditionally, it is a large cupboard separate from the kitchen, often built into the wall or a totally separate room off the kitchen. Its purpose is to hold your kitchen essentials from food to cooking equipment. It is a must in any home for organisation and in more modern settings it can be a large free-standing cupboard you’ve placed in the kitchen specifically for holding all these things. If you are organising your pantry for the first time, the first step is to identify your pantry and start from there.

Empty the pantry – and sort through it 

Clear everything out so all your shelves are empty. This will give you an idea of what you have, what you don’t have, what doesn’t need to be in there and you can see the space you have to play with. Get rid of any food that passed it sell by date or no longer need. For non-perishable foods that you simply want rid of, donate to a food bank or drop off at the supermarket in the food bank bins. 

Separate the food groups 

To organise effectively with your storage solutions, separate your food groups. Organise spices and herbs, tinned foods, grains, cereals and any other items that can be grouped together. This will save time for when you are placing them in the storage boxes.

Deep clean the pantry

Once you get everything out of the pantry, it is the perfect opportunity for a wipe down. Dust and wipe down the shelves with a cloth and wait to dry. In the bottom of the cupboard, hoover it out if you have the room.

Identify the storage solutions you need

Now you have organised your pantry contents, identify which storage solutions you need. Baskets are useful for organising boxes of food such as cereals. Rack shelves or storage towers are useful for stacking kitchen equipment for making the most of a shelf. Jars and boxes are good for storing grains, flour and sugar.

Hanging under shelf storage baskets is great for placing snacks higher up in the pantry and makes a lot more of the space. A spice rack is a great for displaying all your spices in an organised fashion. Categorising them in alphabetical order will make cooking a lot easier.

Extra Pantry Tips

Placing a folding foot step in the bottom of the pantry is also a great tip for reaching the higher up shelves with ease. A hanging kitchen organiser placed on the back of the door on a hook is also a great place for tidying away kitchen paperwork, any leaflets and recipes.