How to Organize Your Pantry in 5 Simple Steps

Need to save time and money and have less stress around meal times? An organized pantry can help! Busy mom’s need to know what they have on hand for trips to the store and to make quick meal decisions. You CAN organize your pantry in 5 simple steps.

Thanks to COVID-19, yesterday marked the 6th week I have been working at home, home- schooling, and social distancing. Like so many others, we are quarantining at home. We are choosing to make the most of it and knock out projects. For various reasons, many things around our house have been neglected for a while. I am not happy about or proud of that fact. I will not lie, I have really enjoyed the extra time at home to work on projects and organization. One area of our home in desperate need of attention was our pantry! It amazes me at how quickly this area gets out of control!

Organizing the pantry wasn’t something that excited me but I knew I could do it best with little distractions. So, I decided to tackle it today while my husband and little boy were out doing guy stuff. I don’t know about you, but I usually find creative ways to put off things I don’t want to do. The most common reasons I procrastinate are because I don’t know where to start and I anticipate it will take a long time. Below are the simple steps I took to reorganize our pantry Also, I timed myself to evaluate at the end if it was worth the effort.

The 5 Simple Steps to Organize Your Pantry:

Step 1: Take a pic before you organize your pantry. It’s so satisfying to see the before and after and see how far you came.

Step 2: I moved out all the big items so I had more space to work and sort. Our pantry holds more than food. So I also went ahead and removed all the recycling in there also – broken down boxes and glass containers. I put all recycling in one area of the kitchen to be taken to the recycle center.

Step 3: I went through all the food items and trashed anything expired. We live on a farm and have goats, sheep, and pigs (to name a few). I put items that had been open too long in the scrap bucket to feed the animals later – such as bread, crackers, and cereal.

Step 4: Once I determined all the things that would be staying I cleaned the shelves and floor.

Step 5: Time to put things back together! One reason I needed to organized my pantry (other than because it was driving me crazy!) was so I could find what I was looking for. I needed to know quickly what I on hand to cook and what I needed when I went shopping.

Re-organizing Your Pantry:

When putting things back, it is best to group like things together. This way, you are better able to find what you are looking for. Groupings in my pantry include canned goods, cereal, paper products, salad toppings, and condiments. Also, I combined things where I could. For example, I had 2 open boxes of popcorn. I put them all in one box and was able to trash the empty box.

Closing thoughts on Organizing Your Pantry:

Overall, this project took me 1.5 hours. This was with no interruptions and I stayed on task throughout. After putting everything back, I realized I didn’t need Frosted Flakes, salad dressing, or tortilla chips for a while. In all the hustle to get in and out of the store, trying to stock up on things (due to COVID-19), and not knowing when I would get back has resulted in too many things on hand. Now I know at a quick glance what I have on hand so I don’t buy things I don’t need. Our pantry is supposed to be a walk in pantry but I couldn’t get in it very far before this project started. Furthermore, it was even more difficult for my 9 year old to get what he needed.

Again, this project took me 1.5 hours. If you add up all the items I purchased that I didn’t need or items I trashed because I didn’t use them (mostly because I couldn’t see them), the amount I would have saved was well worth the time spent. Plus it just makes me feel sooooo good for things to be clean and organized. My husband and little boy were surprisingly excited about it when they got home too. Perhaps the most valuable thing in this whole project was finding 3 jars of my mother-in-laws famous tomato soup. She passed away last July. We miss her terribly and these jars are priceless. They will bring us much joy to eat in the coming weeks. There’s nothing in this world like Opal’s tomato soup!!

Items Needed to Organize Pantry:

• Trash can
• Storage containers
• Boxes or bags for recyclables
• Rag and cleaner of choice

Steps to Organized Pantry:

1. Before pic
2. Remove large items and any trash or recycling
3. Trash expired or bad food
4. Clean shelves and floor
5. Consolidate open packages and group like things together

I’d love to hear from you with additional challenges you have with your pantry.

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