You either love your pantry, or you hate your pantry. As a Closet and Organizational Expert, I would rather you and all of my clients love their pantries because they are the control panel of the kitchen. When you have a well-stocked pantry that is organized and well constructed, there’s less mess and less stress.
Here are a few, simple and easy ways for you to remix your pantry, and I am going to share them with you in hopes that you put these tips to use right away.
Without further adieu…
Downsize & de-hoard
Most pantries are in disarray because they are filled with items that we either no longer want or may be past their prime. Take the time to take out everything (yes everything) in your pantry, and assess your haul. Put things that you no longer want in a box, and label it so that you can donate it to a local shelter or food pantry. Put the things that are expired in a trash bag, so that they can be disposed of. Then, put the things you want to keep in another box.
Create a system
Using a color system is a great way to organize your pantry and give it some flair. Take the box of items that you plan on keeping, and separate them into categories. With those categories, select shelving paper or shelf covers that are unique to each category.
Here are a few examples:
Green for canned goods
Yellow for pastas and cereal
Red for boxed foods like Pop Tarts
Blue for storage items like plastic wrap, parchment paper, etc.
Orange for snacks like granola bars and fruit snacks
Organize & strategize
Now that you have your items and they are separated by type and shelf paper color or pattern, begin covering the shelves with the paper and add the items to its appropriate color shelf.
If you have little ones, you may want to put the items that they reach for further down to meet their eye level for easy retrieval.
Label, please
Once everything is categorized and in its proper place, you can take larger boxes like cereal and pasta, and put them in containers made for storing food. Then, create labels for each storage item with the name of the food, and make sure to include the expiration date.
You can do this with label sheets and a marker, or get fancy by printing them on your printer, or using a DYMO label-maker.
Get the family involved & repeat
This should be a family affair, so repeat all of the steps above every three months to keep your pantry clean and tidy and free of out-of-date food and things that you don’t plan on eating.
If you find that remixing your pantry isn’t doing the trick, it may be time to update it with a new layout or design. I will be sharing tips on how to design your dream pantry on my blog, so make sure to stay tuned.
What do you think of my remix your pantry tips? You can get more pantry tips HERE.
