Pantry Heaven

As an organizer by nature, nothing gets me more excited than seeing photos of a pulled together pantry.  I seriously swoon when I crack open that pantry door, peer inside and witness utter perfection like these pictures…

I love this stenciled background and the perfect use of a corner!

Ahh..so much room…Costco here I come!

I love anything with pull-out drawers.

I’m speechless about this one…does it come with a butler too?

Let’s face it though, we’re all not so lucky with space and unlimited resources. My big piece of advice is when designing a pantry (whether beauties like those above or simple shelving like I have), really think about how your family will use the space and how committed they’ll be to keeping it organized. A pantry is something that changes all the time, so it needs to be very flexible and easy to use.  That being said, I have found a few ways to keep the pantry organized and easy on the eyes.

1. Purge, purge, purge! Before you dive into organizing your pantry, pull out all of the food inside your pantry and see if you can create a few meals with what you already have. Go ahead, pull out that pesto sauce in the very back that you were saving and plan a meal around it. Take inventory of everything you have and group by categories. My preferences: pasta/rice, canned vegetables, canned fruit, cereal, snacks, chips, etc.
2. Contain! Next, choose containers to store your food categories. Using uniform, clear containers isn’t just for a pretty look, but also allows you to better use all your space and very practically, with a quick glance you can see immediately what you are running low on.  There is nothing worse than grabbing a box of crackers to make a snack for your child and realizing that you only have three crackers left. My favorites:
• Glass jars from Ikea for snacks, pasta, rice, etc.
• Plastic containers not only keep your cereal from going stale and are easily handled by kids.
• Wire baskets are a great to keep foods in bags separate from one another.
3. No Hiding. Try to make sure you can you see everything in your pantry. When you start stacking things in front of one another that’s when it gets harder to take a quick glance in your pantry to see what you have on hand.  Once this starts happening go back to step one and use what you have before buying more. Considering this if you’re starting a pantry design from scratch, it is often better to use the height of your space rather than the depth. High narrow shelves are often better than deep shelves. If you do have deep shelves, I would recommend adding pull-out features so things like canned goods don’t disappear out of reach.
4. Use the pantry! In our house during the last week of each month we cook meals using only what we have in our pantry, refrigerator and freezer.  Of course, I do have to buy milk and bread but otherwise, it’s time to get creative and use up what we have. This simple step alone has allowed us to never go back to a crowded pantry again. If that’s too much, considering trying to plan one meal a week around an ingredient you already have in your pantry and buy only what you plan to cook for the week.

Here is a photo of my pantry and how I’ve applied the suggestions above…keep in mind this was taken last Thursday so it’s not as full as it would be if it were the beginning of the week when I go shopping.

This summer I want to implement a snack basket for my kids.  I’m definitely going to try an idea I found over at iheartorganizing.com. Jen uses bell freezing plastic containers (BPA free and dishwasher safe) to portion out snacks for the kids. When it’s snack time she sends them to the snack basket and they are free to grab something of their choosing.  I love the perfectly portioned snack and the no waste of plastic baggies.

Do you have any great organizing tips you use when it comes to your pantry?  Happy organizing!